Interlude: Fell On Black Days

I occasionally get inquiries about this blog.  Why don't I post more frequently?  I try not to have any snide reactions, but sometimes I just don't have something to say, or the time or inclination to post.  While my goal is to post once per week-one that I am certainly not meeting at the present time-it's important to have something worthwhile to write about.  The last month or so, I haven't done a lot of gaming, and other activities have gobbled up my gaming and paint time. I'm gonna share some of THAT with you.

As you know, I'm a teacher.  One of the favorite parts of job is advising students on our high school newspaper.  Our first issue came out on October 22nd, and it was good, I liked it.  Getting the paper out requires a lot of time, a week's worth of 12-15 hour days.  Not conducive to gaming or painting unfortunately.  We enter our second production cycle this week.  More skimpy game-related schedule coming up.

It's always important to have something important to blog about.  I could share with you what I'm thinking, when I'm showering or how happy I am scratching my dog Jack's tummy, but how that relates to this blog is probably not very important.  I haven't played a game since September 18th at Fort Steilacoom.  Got busy and didn't put up a blog post about that.  However, tomorrow is our annual Museum of Flight day, one of my favorite gaming days of the year, and I'm really looking forward to that. 

I confess to a being in a bit of a painting funk.  I'm concerned about the struggle I'm having with painting.  I just am not seeing very well.  I've been to the opthamologist, gotten bifocals and those are ghastly for painting.  I'm using reading glasses.  They're comfortable, but give me a headache after about 45 minutes.  It's hard to get much done under those circumstances.  I haven't picked up a brush in about ten days.  I usually go through periods like this during the year, so not to worry, but it does impact my time on task and slow down my projects. I'm working on a couple of British AWI units

One thing I've willingly surrendered some time to is reading.  I love to read and always have, but 2010 has been a big reading year for me.  I've always been a read before bedtime kind of guy, but lately I've been a big read all evening guy.  And it's a good thing too, because I've been focused on some massive tomes.  Hersch's biography of Willie Mays weighed in at 600 pages, Massaw's biography of Andrew Carnegie was 800 pages, even Stieg Larsen's Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was nearly 600 pages.  No cheapies here.  I'm currently reading Richard Rhodes wonderful The Making of the Atomic Bomb, and I'm about 3/4s of the way through its 800 pages.

One other distraction was the baseball playoffs.  I'm a lifelong Mariners fan and usually when they are "finished" so is my interest in the season.  Despite the fact that this may have been the most ghastly season in Mariners history, I watched a lot of playoff baseball.  In this year of the pitcher, there were just too many great performances to let it slip away unwatched and unnoticed.  I loved the Giants/Rangers matchup and was thrilled to see the Giants finally win it all. Lincecum, Lee, Matt Cain, and Doc Halladay were fun to watch and it was worth the time and trouble to pay some attention. 

In any case, I hope to return this blog to our wargaming sponsor-the letter M for miniatures.  Until I do, I'll read and listen to Soundgarden or Iggy Pop (my current musical passions,) read a lot and enjoy the Museum of Flight.  Stay tuned, we'll return to regular programming soon.