Start Of The Week: Situation....

Just a quick one. There is a lot going on this week. Lots of family stuff and I might even be getting a dog. I think I am going to finish the Halfling Blood Bowl team this week. I should probably call it to be the equivalent of thirty minis but given all the G Dub extra details, I will call it forty five. Not there yet. Something about counting chickens...etc etc.

Along the way I should probably have a plan for the next few weeks. One that doesn't involve hexes or Blood Bowl.

It has been a slow week, if not a slow month for buying anything new. Right now that is probably a good thing. I've just spent a bit of money and, well, as I like to say, Christmas is coming.

Another End Of The Week (0)

It has been a busy week. Too busy to get much painting done. The insomnia doesn't help either. There has been some progress on the Halfling Blood Bowl team. Not nearly enough, but some. Realistically I have one more base colour to do and then its on to doing some detail. There isn't too much to finish so I am fairly hopeful that these guys are going to be finished by the end of the week coming.

Busy With Insomnia

I seem to be busier than usual. It is that time of year. My sleep patterns are pretty peculiar at the best of times. As soon as the clocks go back they go crazy. This may explain why I have been awake and farting around since 5am. This may explain why  I managed three posts yesterday and October is becoming my busiest month for blogging in almost a decade and almost the busiest ever.

Given the level of insomnia, I suspect I am about to crash. Still I better make the most of it. Back to the Halflings.

Patrick Stewart RIP

Another sad day for the sci-fi nerd in me. I heard that Patrick Stewart has just died.

So back in the mid eighties, I liked to watch by horror film I could get hold of. This is back in the days of VHS and an absence of  age checks. Given my height, demeanour and facial hair, I had been able to get away with renting the best horror films since I was 14. I had a few favourites, mostly involving zombies, or something like that. 

One such film was Lifeforce. Not true zombies but something like space, zombie vampires. So perfect for me. This is the film where I first remember seeing Patrick Stewart. A classic Shakespearian actor in a trashy British horror film.

Images of him have featured in my blog many times. My image of him is as Mr Perdue, the maître d at the L'Idiot restaurant has become my personal motivator on many occasions. This was a character that touch a place in my head that perfectly matched my sense of humour. Rewatching him in L.A. Story is one of my favourite things to do. 

This was all before Star Trek: The Next Generation. This still continues to be relevant for me down to the image of his face on a Christmas jumper, surrounded by snowflakes over the words "make it snow, make it snow, make it snow". I watched every episode of this show. Multiple times. Star Trek is the other faith from my Sci Fi pantheon but it is a pretty cool one.

He has been in a lot of other stuff over the years. Not least of which was Coronation Street. This was a bit part in a show that would mean nothing to anyone beyond the UK. As the voice of Avery Bullock in American Dad always amused me. Not to mention being the best version of Professor X.

Just as a side note, I saw the band of the Guards doing a tribute to Patrick Stewart. They did however play the wrong theme.

Direction Of Travel

A bit less ranty today. I had planned for this to be my day this week. I sat down at the bench at about 07:30 with a view to getting things done. This went well until about 10:00 when the real world stepped in. Again. Still around all the stuff going on I managed to do a bit of shopping and get a haircut.

Unlike my recent past, I had a desire to finish some stuff off. This was not going to be the halfling Blood Bowl Team. I figured I could finish off the hexes I had been working on. The general idea was to finish off some edge hexes. Enough for my table at least. So this is what I did. As these are now interlocking hexes I need to finish off some more before the sets are complete. This involves roads, paths and tracks and some rivers and streams. The next project perhaps? This is just for the green scenery. There are half a dozen other sets to do although not all need as many pieces as this. Only most of them. My hex project is a long and ongoing project. There are a few more pages of hex terrain here.

There is also some progress on other terrain. This is just a piece of scatter terrain. It is made of bits of an old and broken Star Wars toy. Although primarily done for Star Wars Legion, I can dozens of uses for it. The basing bits are finished but I still need to paint up the metalwork. I appreciate that this is probably the wrong way around.

Finally I did make some progress on the aforementioned Blood Bowl halflings. Not as much as I would like but still this is me heading in the right direction Of travel.

Ten Years Since The End Of An Era

Just a little over ten years ago my dad passed. I have been thinking about this a lot in recent weeks. It seems like a long time and no time at all. He was always in good health. I recall helping him mix concrete a year or so before he died. So far there has yet to be a day I don't think about him.

Back then I was fostering. The kids were great. I loved them dearly. Having a child of my own is not quite the same. I did things for them because it was the right thing to do. For some of them it felt like I had a sense of duty to care but there was a stronger feeling for most of them.

Now, being a father, I can see that my life is different and it has perhaps given me more of an insight into my parents. There is more of a sense of propulsion. Right now most of what I do puts my daughter front and centre to what I do. 

My daughter was born a good long time after her grandfather died. She will never get to know him. This is a shame as the two would have really got on. I feel the need to be there. 

Miss you dad.

A Short One

I managed to get in front of the bench. If a little late in the day. I've finished the skin tone bits. there is a lot of skin on halflings in general but these seem to have extra. A couple of bits of accent colours too.

I haven't made huge progress. Nor am I expecting to. Well I have to be happy with any progress. It has been a fun day.