I'm not usually a fan of resolutions. It's like people think they're all just a bit of willpower away from being a multilingual, genius supermodel and all that was stopping them is that the calendar hadn't flipped over. I think that you have to want a change to make it, and I'm a cynic through and through when it comes to resolutions.
But I heard a phrase on New Year's Eve that I haven't been able to get out of my head: Put up or shut up. A friend has been interested in homebrewing, and he recently received a kit as a present with those exact instructions. I think it perfectly sums up my feelings for this year.
So this week, I decided to "put up." First, I grabbed my soldering supplies, cracked a window to the freezing cold to vent, and went to town on a few jewelry projects. I decided that I wasn't going to sit around being afraid to use my damn torch, that I'd watched enough tutorials, and it was time to cowboy up.
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| Several sewing supplies were drafted for double duty. |
I have been wanting to make jewelry for a while, but I'm pretty timid about using fire. I had a friend with a cell phone nearby in case I went up in flames, and I set to figuring out this whole soldering torch thing. Verdict: It was awesome. I love doing this and it's so much easier than I had feared.
The first one I made is on the right in the photo below. Brannen says I should claim it was a lucky charm salvaged from the Hindenburg because of all the scorching. The one on the left was my second, and far more successful, attempt. And I've only used about 1/100th of my supply of watch bits.
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| The pins are on the back, propping them up. |
In an uncharacteristic leap of faith, I decided on a whim to hit up a local Games Workshop (Fair Oaks Mall, to be precise). I figured that I hadn't ever been in one, and that it was high time I changed that. I actually hadn't intended to buy anything, but I've been curious about painting minis for a few years now. After Matt (the amazingly helpful salesperson) gave me a whirlwind tour of the settings and starter kits, I opted for the easiest-sounding: Space Marines!
Trying to do things The Right Way, Brannen and I split up the starter set and started slavishly following the directions. There was a lot of cursing, a broken gun, some glue.... About an hour in we realized that we should never have tried to paint the things after assembling them. Ah well, live and learn. Here are my little guys. The picture is huge but if you want to see details, you can open it up to full size.
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| Like paint by numbers, only much, much, more difficult. |
I know there's a bunch of rules about colors and tournaments and the fluff and canon of it all. So rather than painting them red and black, which seemed more sensible and badass, we stuck with the instructions. Overall, I think I could dump another hour or two into touching them up (or restarting entirely). But for someone trying to get a taste, the kit was the right size. I'm glad that the Games Workshop guy didn't try to talk me into something insane and overwhelming before I knew if I even liked the hobby.
So this week, I went out to a geeky shop I hadn't visited before (next time I'll try and hit up a truly local game shop rather than the Games Workshop, but at least I didn't order the pieces off Amazon). I soldered something without serious loss or injury. And I followed through on a hobby I've been curious about for over three years. Next step: being able to watch a full Warhammer game.
Resolutions or not: I hope that 2012 is full of opportunities for you all to cowboy up and follow through on some of those things you've been curious about trying.
(PS: Perhaps you could start by heading over to MAGfest this weekend? They're not sold out, and you might get to see me in a completely humiliating adorable Fluttershy hat.)
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