I'm past 40

I've been doing some thinking this week about this blog, and I'm thinking about some changes.

I no longer have a big list to work through. So my ideas for articles are a little reduced. I'm still working on these goals, but when I started, I had 40 things to write about. I now have zero.

From here on out, I'm going to be publishing less. I'm not sure how much less, but less.

Also, I might start a new category of post. Something like, "meaning."  It'll be mostly about my hobbies and things that give my life meaning.

For example, I'm really bad at being patient.  If you ever want to see me have a minor panic attack, have me wait in line.

To teach myself patience, I found a hobby that requires you to be patient:  miniature painting.

After my first son was born, I started playing Dungeons & Dragons with a few friends.  (Nerdy as I am, I never played it before.  I heard a podcast where people played it and it sounded like a blast.)  One of the things the last edition of D&D had was the need to have little plastic people, (or monsters,) to fight.  The last edition, (4th,) was very much like a board game with a story tacked on.

The people at Wizards of the Coast, (the division of Hasbro that published D&D,) sold little plastic people but they got prohibitively expensive after a while.  Plus, if you didn't have enough, you had the problem of substitutions.  ("Is this green blob with all the mouths a skeleton or the evil wizard?")

Anyway, my friends that played with me often time had people they painted themselves.  They look crazy good.

I asked about how they did it and there are a lot of techniques you use to paint these little people that make them actually look like little people.

There's a company called Reaper that makes most of these unpainted little people and they had a Kickstarter, (you can still get it on it as of this publishing,) where you'd give them $100, and they'd give you like a thousand little guys.  (Plus some big guys.)  I went all in and started painting.  I also painted all the figures for a board game called Myth.

Over time, I got pretty good at it.

It's a slow process though.  Especially the last step.

There's a technique called dry brushing that brings out highlights in the pieces.  You dip your brush in paint, then rub it off on a paper towel, then lightly brush your model with the few molecules of paint left on the brush.

If you do it fast, it looks terrible.  If you take the time to set it up, and take your time doing it, it looks pretty amazing.

So, here's a gallery of stuff I've painted.  It's taught me to be patient, but, like the point of patience, it's slow going.