Gamer - Be all you can be!


Sometimes, I look around me and I think that my friends have it better than me. I know, I know... It's that old 'keeping up with Mr & Mrs Jones' thing. I see friends who appear to be earning more than I do, posting selfies of themselves swanking off ( I said SWANKING) and I sometimes wonder whether I should have stayed on the staid and solid path of a 9-5 in a government department and been a quiet conformist.

And then I look at what I do have...

1. I have my own studio built into my home.

2. I paint toy soldiers and write for a living. And that's full time, mind you. It's my JOB. 

3. Because of '1.' I can have a house filled with Scotties and a decidedly dubious Westie, and they are rarely left alone.

4. I get to create literally thousands of miniature works of art and things of beauty every year. Each one of those is, in the big picture, a little reminder of my time on this planet.

5. I can select the time I live in. I choose the 1980s and therefore I can create an audio, visual and aesthetic world to live in, popping out only to check the news.

6. I have a truly wonderful wife, am comfortably off (at last) but not excessively so, lest I forget myself. But I can go to see the bands I want, pursue gaming and now model railways in a comfortable yet controlled way and collect original pieces by those artists whom I worshipped all these years.

And let's not forget the wine! Never forget the wine.

7. If I want a day off, I can take it at the cost of a bit of hard work before or after or the sacrifice of a few pounds against a bit more freedom.

8. I can give to charities of my choice when I am 'on a roll' and can do so because I want to, rather than because it expected of me by work colleagues, passing around the hat.

On balance I think I can say that I am a very blessed and lucky man indeed. I mean, I get to be involved with my hobby 24/7 and to live and breathe the wonderful fantasy worlds that it has given birth to. Who could ask for more?

Well I guess anyone could, but who needs more than that?  True, I am seen as a non-conformist pariah by some, but at the end of the day, what the heck does that matter in the big picture? I am living a full life where I determine what the quantitive measure of that life is.

If I may be so bold...

If you are feeling ground down, or helpless, stop and reflect on my words. You can be what you want to be, but you need to be ready for some hard work and reflection on what you need rather than what you think others feel you should. Take a risk or two, try something out. If you have a skill set now, that skill set will be wanted by someone, even if you don't achieve your goals first time out. 

Nothing is beyond your reach if you really want it, and what's more, always remember that as a gamer you'll always have a little world of your own, to dive into when the world gets that little too hectic. 

And always remember that when life is good - share it!


TTFN

Popular posts from this blog

How, Over 40 Years Ago, A Guy Called Andy Changed My Life With 5 Words, And Other Reminiscences...

Image
 Of late I have been having long and vivid dreams wherein, I am often walking or travelling with people I have known, some living, some passed, talking over things we had done or said. I confess that it's been eerie but also very liberating. These coversations have been so real that I have awoken in the morning (more usually, half way through the night) and been confused at my surroundings.  Last night I was speaking with Dave Hoyles  - very much alive and kicking - of Q.T Models/Museum Miniatures. The only thing I have noticed is that is often been snowing heavily in these dreams. One of my latest dreams was of the late Ian Smith, another the comic book artist Paul Green - who, thankfully is still with us. This pattern began a few years ago when I had a similar experience with the recently deceased Pete 'Greblord' Armstrong. It was a very cathartic experience for me, as I had much which needed to be said. I may have written of this before, but this particular dream was d...
Read more

A Serious Post And Another Obituary But With Some More Positive Stuff At The End

Image
 I am at an age where I would expect the odd death of someone I know, but I am starting to realise that it's the younger end of the line which is getting culled.  This week I found out through a good friend that another friend in the hobby from the old days had taken his own life, bringing the total friends lost to 5 and drom that number the number lost to suicide in the last few years to 2. Now, I've been close to that I think, three times, but I've been lucky enough to be able to turn my illogical brain around and decide that the world and my enemies will not be happy if I thrive and stay alive. So, that has been my stated mission, to live long and be hated that much longer. The first time I was taken with thoughts of suicide, was when I was banned from Games Workshop Sheffield in the 80s (see my book or earlier posts) and my so-called friends allowed themselves to be bought off, trading silence as to what a set-up it was in return for part time jobs at the store. That wa...
Read more

The Passing Of A British Wargaming Legend

Image
It is with genuine sadness and heavy heart that I must record the passing of Sheffield Wargames Society founder member and long time Chairman, Steve Roberts.    I was 13 when I first met Steve (some 43 years ago, now). It was a chance meeting. I'd been playing Dungeons & Dragons for about a year and had taken some Citadel FTZ Zombies back to my Junior school to show my headteacher there, who'd always encouraged the creative arts in pupils.    He was impressed (as you'd expect) and told me that a wargames club met at the school now, on Monday nights run by a chap called Steve Roberts.    Well, of course I was interested, and together with my friend Alan Staniforth, I attended the club, to find there was no D&D...   What there was however were historical games, played by local kids with 'Big Steve' the only adult. But he ran that club like a champion, providing all the models and simple rules, which was just what you needed to hook kids in. ...
Read more