Well while I figure out which incarnation of The Doctor stole my month from me, I suppose I should be thankful that somehow I still have gotten quite a bit of Adepticon prep done, as well as continued towards my ultimate goal of losing 81 pounds of Miniature Tim. That doesn't make me sound so miniature, now does it? Trust me, I'm Irish, I'm short. The moniker is well-earned.
Anywho, let's see where we're at!
I said back in January that "taking a break" was not an option, even in this stressful time, that it would be the slow-death of this whole new way of living for me. There's no "break" when you are fundamentally changing a large part of who you are, your habits and your vices. "Break" is just a passive-aggressive way of saying "I Give Up".
I won't do that. It's time to move forward, not back.
Instead, I dug out out all my clothes from 3-4 years back. You know, all the ones I put away when I couldn't fit into them any more that I mentioned last month? Yeah, those. You know what I found out? I found I have a ton of gaming shirts. I found gaming shirts from the last two GW Grand Tournaments in 2006 and 2007! Yeah, I was a 2X back then, and was for a long time it looks like. Those shirts are special to me because in 2007, I won my first Players Choice award at that tournament, and it just pushed me to work even harder at painting and modeling, giving me the want and the drive to dive into this hobby whole-heartedly. That was a special day a few weeks back when I pulled out that shirt. I'm wearing it now as I type this.
"But Tim, it's just an old gaming shirt. Cool that you can fit into it again, but still…"
"But still" nothing. These milestones, no matter how small or big, are what will help drive change. You have to hit milestones like this and you have to make them special to you. These aren't "Participation" awards, people, these are achievements that deserve to be recognized. Yeah, I've still got a way to go, I'm not fooling myself with that, but I will recognize when I accomplish something. And so should you.
How does that pertain to our hobby? Okay, here are some examples.
"I've never used Green Stuff before, I don't know how."
Okay, so look up some articles on using it, grab some at your FLGS, and try. Put that Space Marine together, and instead of doing stock poses, shift out an arm and just fill the gap. Make it smooth and maybe even try creating that ribbed texture in it with your sculpting tool. There, now you've just worked with Green Stuff. That wasn't so hard, right? You start small, then push yourself to do a little more next time. Be proud of what you accomplished and use that accomplishment to drive the next one.
"I don't know how to use an airbrush, it's kind of intimidating."
Anything new to you is a little intimidating, whether you want to admit it or not. That's okay, and it's good to admit that to yourself. What you shouldn't do is let it stop you from trying if you really want to add the airbrush as a tool in your hobby toolbox. Do some research, watch the bevy of YouTube Channels and tutorials, ask for advice and give it a shot. Yeah, it's an investment, but so is anything you really want to do. Even just priming models with an airbrush is worth the cost of an initial setup. Practice, try a little more next time, put in the time and you will get better at it. You'll be surprised at how much that first step of priming with an airbrush will lead to. It's a small thing, but it turns into so much more.
"I really like "game X", but I don't know if anyone plays that around here."
If you really like a game that isn't widely played in your area, buy it anyway! It's your hobby, dangit. Instead of lamenting about how no one plays it, take the initiative to learn the game well enough to teach someone. Help build a community for that game in your area, and you will love that game even more. Yeah, it can be rough, but nothing good is easy. When you get that second or third player, it's a small group, but that 2 more people than you had to game with than before, and 2 more people to spread the word and teach others.
I could go on and on with more examples of how recognizing the small accomplishments are so very important to our hobby. Heck, our lives. However I'll let you think about these above, and maybe you'll recognize where in your life you accomplished something you set out to do, and give it the credit it deserves. I'm not talking about patting yourself on the back too much here, nor am I saying that you should give yourself a "Participation Award" for giving something a shot. What I'm saying is don't minimize your accomplishments. Use them to grow and achieve new ones.
Weighing myself last night, I am now down to 245.8. That's 4.8 pounds less than last month, only .8 pounds on my goal of 245 by Adepticon, and only 45.8 pounds left until I hit my final goal. 4.8 pounds doesn't sound like a lot…but when I look back to where I started, 35.4 total pounds lost is a pretty fair chunk of change. Progress, folks, progress.
- Tim