Overcoming inertia

There's a phenomenon that we kid each other about at work. We call it severe gravity distress syndrome. The theory behind it goes something like this; there is a microscopic black hole on the seat of everyone's chair and if that person ever sits down the vortex keeps that person orbiting the event horizon for eternity. Practically speaking, when you sit down you don't want to get back up. It takes considerable motivation in order to get up and do any beneficial work. I get that way about the hobby sometimes. The other night I watched a boring ball game knowing I had a few things I could be doing in the studio. At bedtime I went to shut everything down and stopped in the studio to look at a project. Seeing a couple of flaws, I proceeded to take care of business. Before I knew it, I had been in there 45 minutes. How much could I have gotten done if I had sat in my studio chair instead of my easy chair?

I moved all of my figures from two cabinets in the family to one larger one in the office. Thematically it works out better because the office is nearer the studio. The cabinet is nicer and lighter. I can see things a little better. I looked over some of my first dioramas and figures. Oooooh, not good. I keep them out though. I like looking at them no matter how amateurish they look. They remind me of a time when I was most enthusiastic about learning new things. There's a real timeline there.

Workbench update;

I have finished up the basework for the sci-fi dude. I'm about to complete one of the OIF figures I had started a while back. Anders copied a few heads I sculpted and I was very pleased with the results. One 54mm head is particulary good if I say so myself. One of the 1/35 heads is better than the other, but both are pretty good. I'm working on a Pawnee scout for Der Bunte Rock and I expect that it'll be one of those figure that goes on its energy and one day I'll finish it without realizing I've spent much time working on it.

I can't believe how quickly time passes sometimes. Last weekend was the Tulsa show. It was a bit smaller than in the past, but still high quality as usual. Some key regulars weren't there, but they were offset by a couple of surprises, and several newcomers. The work of Doug Cohen, Fletcher Clement, Chris Mrosko was missed. Bob Bethea, also absent was represented on the table however. I usually go down on Friday afternoon, but didn't make it until Friday evening this time. I felt like I missed so many folks in the short weekend. I judged again and this is a great way to learn and also to insure that you get a very good look at all the displays. The miner I did was well received and earned a Gold medal along with the Royal Horse Artillery. Joe Hudson was elected the newest Tulsa Medalist and Jason Green won his second BOS. Jason's work has to be seen to be appreciated. It looks good in pictures, but in person one can appreciate the smooth finish and subtle but well contrasted color pallette. Hopefully the work Kevin Wheeler and others put in to the photography will show up on the web soon.

I've been trying to train for a 50 mile hike that my son and I will soon take. His Boy Scout troop is sending a handful of us to Philmont Scout Ranch for a ten day trek. I have a nagging knee injury that's dragging me down a lot. I've been eating ibuprofin like candy and icing the thing as much as I can stand.


Workbench update. I finished my part of the joint project with Kreston. I have to say that I enjoyed the bulkheads and deck the most enjoyable. I could fiddle the thing to death and finally had to say enough is enough. I think I'll do something similar to the Sci-Fi piece I worked on earlier. I'm back on the modern figures I started a while back, and the Pawnee I started about the same time. I doubt if I'll get a chance to get anything else ready before Chicago in the fall. We'll see though.