Just a quick one. I did a little carpentry for the computer.
Not up to professional standards, but the more I do the better I get. The scanner shelf used no nails or screws so I was quite proud of that.
I carpentered
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Tag Archives: enormous wobbly breasts
Puter
This is something I keep meaning to post for several weeks. Motivation for anything is hard. I have my journal where I set myself daily tasks and that can be struggle at times. There is no sat around moping, I am constantly busy, but it seems so pointless. Mostly I have set myself the task of going through various projects which have been started and the abandoned as I get distracted by something new and shiny. Generally they seem to be scattered around in various boxes, so I have been compiling them into one box or actually trying to finish them. One project, some Ork barricades was started twenty years ago. I have now started slapping some paint on them. I need to reduce my clutter which can seem overwhelming at times.
Back on topic, my new computer. It was a budget build and some mistakes were made. But lessons were learned.The reason I needed a new computer was that my old iMac died (again), it was the graphics card. A known problem, Apple had used a cheap solder which degraded over time. I could have bought a new card for about 200 Euro but there were two problems. Firstly my clever neighbour who has helped me over the years with technical stuff had died. And secondly the iMac really struggled with with anything processor intensive like Blender or BambuLabs slicer.
In all I ended up spending around 1600 Euros, this included several bells and whistles. Knowing what I know now I wish I had saved up a bit more and bought some more advanced parts to future proof. As I said it’s my first time.
On to what I ended up getting.
I bought two parts second hand. The first was this case. The NZXT Phantom full tower. Originally from around 2010. I now regret this. It looks lovely but it is huge and not really up to the job with modern components. It cost just over 40 Euro, with P&P, another 30 or so and I could have got a modern case.
The next second hand part was a BeQuiet! 750W Gold PSU. It arrived boxed as new and at half the price I would have paid if I had bought it new. No complaints.
For the monitor I chose the ODYS i27 monitor with a fancy Monitor mount.
Motherboard is an ASUS TUF Gaming B550 with wifi. Processor is AMD Ryzen 7 5700. 32gb of Crucial DDR4 ram. 1tb ssd. The GPU is NVIDEA GeForce RTX 3050. I got roasted so badly online when I had posted my build spec. When I had been researching it had been recommended as a decent budget GPU. So I am not quite sure where all the hate is coming from about this.
I did spend, probably too much, a bit on a keyboard. An Epomaker Leobog Hi86 mechanical keyboard with a solid aluminium body. It weighs a ton and feels so lovely. This I do not regret.
A Samsung Galaxy Tab 6E was bought for use as a graphics tablet. So far I have spent over five hours with Technical Support trying to the registration sorted out. It requests that a verification code is sent to my phone. No problem. However the code takes upto twelve hours to arrive. The verification window is two minutes. The helpdesk people haven’t been able to sort it out. Maybe there is a problem with my network? Well how come we are communicating almost immediately? They refuse to stray outside their script and when I request an upchain I’m told that there are no supervisors. I can’t request an escalation as the ticket is open. I am promised call backs which never happen which means I have to repeat the problem again to another person. GRRR!
My old scanner finally gave up the ghost. It was an Epson with the ability to scan negatives. The replacement cost was eye wateringly expensive. So I have gone with a Canon.
Money was spent on various USB cables, velcro strips for cable tidying, desk light Mouse, Mousemat, influencer lighting strips and a USB hub.
For sound I dug out my old speakers.
Once it is dark I will attempt to take some pictures so you can see it in all it’s influencer glory.
An Interlude
I got my Ender 3 in 2016 and although it has produced satisfactory results it needed constant tinkering and I had to deal with bed levelling and clogs.
My Neighbours asked me what I wanted for my Birthday and Christmas. I had been looking at a lot of YouTube videos and they were all pointing me towards the BambuLabs A1. And with Black Friday it was too good a deal to pass up.
All I can say is, believe the hype.
It is easy to set up and the print results are amazing. With the 0.2 hotend and highest print quality you are looking at a near resin quality. And if you apply the Three Foot Rule you would never know.
For very fine details resin is King. But dealing with the clean-up and the toxic waste is a right pain.
Was Geht
This was written a few months ago and a few things have changed which I will update in another post.
What’s going on? Well a few things actually.I have been seeing a Psychologist on a weekly basis, which has been helpful. Sadly this has finished due to cuts in Government spending. It did involve some art projects, which was nice. And to make a YouTube playlist starting from depressing to uplifting.
Originally it was supposed to have nine tracks, from a low mood, to middling and on to happy. But me being me stuff had to be added.
Health wise still pretty much the same. The Doctors at the Hospital still don’t know what caused the thrombosis, so I have to continue taking blood thinners. One of my cancers has to be biopsied and that resulted in another operation. When the results came back the tissue was precancerous. I had an all clear on the other one and having checkups every six months.
I did write a long piece on dentistry, but it was long and boring. I will just say I have ongoing dental problems.
Kids, go for regular checkups, worth it when you’re older. Damn my fear of dentists.
The Employment Service have enrolled me on a German course. Apparently my age and lack of German are the two big hurdles to me getting meaningful employment. After roughly thirty minutes it all starts to go “Blah, blah, blah” as my mind starts to get overwhelmed. I just forget everything and I feel so stupid. But I have to keep reminding myself that compared to some members of my classmates I am not that bad. It has been stressful and as a result I have had some spikes in blood pressure, giving my blurred vision in one eye and headaches.
My plan this year hobbywise is to finish off some projects. I get excited about things, start a new project…..
Oh look a squirrel!
….and then get excited about something else and this has left me with quite a few unfinished projects.
What I want to finish this year is Bloodbowl and HeroQuest. I also need a way of storing the components. I also have two unfinished armies from Dragon Rampant, Elemental and Undead, which would be good to have finished.
There are also plans to go through my stuff and try and de-clutter and sell surplus bits. And some work in the house.
Don’t worry there will be more hobby updates coming.
A bit of a photo dump
As, somewhat belatedly, promised here is a photo dump of painting from 2024.
As you can see a bit of a mish mash. I am trying to get get various projects into a state of completion. My focus is Bloodbowl and HeroQuest. I do want to get my Mighty Fortress parts assembled and painted. The problem I have is that I get easily distracted and move on to another project.
Slow Return
It’s been a while and still a long road ahead in terms of health, physical and mental.
One day at a time.
I kept up my painting. It has been a chore at times and I don’t take the same pleasure in it as I used to do.
One change I did make was to move my painting area upstairs. I used to paint in the cellar and that time was used to escape the clamour of daily life. Now I find it too isolated. Whereas upstairs I can hear voices and not feel so lonely. Plus I have cats sleeping in the window, drinking my tea and I have a view.
Having a view is nice. I didn’t realise I missed having a window until now. I used to have a view in London and it is good for the eyes to change focus every so often.
My lighting set up is still downstairs as it would be a mammoth task to unwire it all.
I didn’t realise that it had been over a year since I last posted. There are going to be posts covering this period. Yes with photos! One thing that did throw me a bit was my computer giving up the ghost. Yes I know one can still post on a mobile, but it isn’t the same.
I gone done and made another thing
I made something new. Don’t worry this time it is hobby related.
Years ago when I was taking the Boys to the playground I spotted something buried in the mud by the swings. I couldn’t tell what it was and being bored I dug it out with the help of stick. It was a mini tripod. I cleaned it up, stuck it in a corner and forgot about it.
I have started to use my “Handy” for taking photographs but I have a little trouble with camera shake. During my recent tidying I came across it. And now that I can laser cut again I had an idea.
I made a thing!
And technically it is the third iteration!
I was browsing through various woodworking tools online, as you do, and came across a centre line marker. It is probably not something I would use frequently, if ever, but I looked at it and thought, “I can do that!”
I replaced the side guide bolts with dowling to reduce the wobble following the adage, “Keep It Simple Stupid!” I wish I had discovered woodworking forty years ago rather than recently.
Don’t worry dear Reader I will be returning to the Hobby. This Blog needs a bit of a refresh and I plan to make some changes. My catalogue of lasercut bits needs a lot of trimming. I would like to start photographing my figures properly and make the gallery images standardised. And as the Mancave has stumbled to a halt I want to delete it and start a page focussing on the tools and equipment I use.
Physician Heal Thyself. Or. Third Time’s the Charm
I am trying to reverse engineer my way to happiness despite the best efforts of my lovely Wife. This is the philosophy I am attempting to use.
“Retrophrenology:
It works like this. Phrenology, as everyone knows, is a way of reading someone’s character, aptitude and abilities by examining the bumps and hollows on their head. Therefore – according to the kind of logical thinking that characterizes the Ankh-Morpork mind – it should be possible to mould someone’s character by giving them carefully graded bumps in all the right places. You can go into a shop and order an artistic temperament with a tendency to introspection and a side order of hysteria. What you actually get is hit on the head with a selection of different size mallets, but it creates employment and keeps the money in circulation, and that’s the main thing.”
― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms
Quote and image used without permission
I can gauge my mental state by my surroundings. The tidier and more ordered it is then the better mental state I am in. So I am attempting to reverse engineer a better mental state by organising my environment. Having a now fully functioning laser cutter has been a huge mind saver.
The third time is the charm. There are boxes of tools that I have inherited from my Father and Grandfather, and from my Wife’s Father and Grandfather. I have been sorting through everything, getting rid of any broken bits and setting up tool boxes for my Boys with any duplicates. What I have left has been slowly organised.
Had I enough wood I would have attempted a third go to correct those mistakes.
The corner is gloomy no more.
I have started painting a bit but the joy has been stolen and I am finding it hard to get my mojo.
This guy is going to be part of an Empire Mercenary band. Based for Dragon Rampant.
I must mention the competition being run by Old School Miniatures to design an Orc War Machine
https://www.oldschoolminiatures.co.uk/blog/design-a-war-machine-for-the-osm-mean-green-challenge
Greetings for 2024
I can’t honestly say that 2023 was amazing. Firstly dealing with the side effects of medication and the my Wife’s life changing announcement.
2024 looks like more of the same, a hostile uncommunicative environment.
The last half of 2023 wasn’t very productive. Any little pleasures that I used to have were stripped away. I barely picked up a paintbrush.
What I did manage to do was to get a new laser tube and have started cutting and designing again.
There are four big projects that I would like to bring to completion if only to get boxes of odds and sods out of the way.
Bloodbowl – everything is printed. It just needs assembly, painting and most importantly storage.
Heroquest – this need the characters and furniture painting. This one is almost there.
Then I have two big modular terrain projects.
The ruined city, all made apart from a few pieces which need laser cut tiles. And obviously painting.
Modular trenches. This has been made with pink insulation foam. It is about three quarters done. I have been laser cutting walkways and wall retainers. There are still some more tiles to make but before I do I need storage. A trip to Ikea beckons.
There has, understandably, been no product of the year for me.
I’ll sign off and wish all three of you a Happier, Healthier and more Productive 2024.
Bad news always comes in threes?
The saying goes, “Bad news always comes in threes”. I am currently at six.
Separation
Malignant Melanomas
Cataracts
Jasper
Pulmonary Embolisms
Gout
The separation is hard and has sapped any will to live. I love my Wife dearly, she has been the kindest most patient person I have ever met and she has enriched my life immeasurably. Not being able to understand people I didn’t see any signs. Only a week beforehand we had been watching “Death in Paradise” and she turned to me and said that she thought we were doing ok as a couple. What is hard for me is that she just blanks me now. We are not in a financial situation to move apart and the loneliness and the isolation of where we live is difficult. Just some basic civility would help me a lot.
As you hit a certain age, for me sixty, your Doctor will encourage you to have health checks. One of them was a check up of my skin. The Specialist told me that I had two areas of concern and he used the words “Malignant Melanomas”. I have an operation booked to remove them and there will be a biopsy performed to see if there is any reason for concern.
The next test was on my eyes and it was revealed that I am developing cataracts. That would explain why I need more light for painting. The whole process will take maybe ten years to fully develop. I will be going for a further examination in a year so that the speed of development can be more accurately predicted. What I am not looking forwards to is the period when the cataracts are not quite ready to be removed but the visual quality is impaired. My Wife made no comment when I told her about them which is a bit harsh as I am very visually active.
Some of you may have read past posts about the kitten, Jasper, who adopted me last year. He has been a constant companion and a great source of comfort to me recently. About three weeks ago I found him dead. There was no sign of physical injury. This has been very hard to deal with.
At the same time as finding Jasper dead I started experiencing pains in my left calf. After a couple of days and some ibuprofen the pains diminished. I didn’t really think anything about it but I went to see a neighbour who is a Sports Therapist. I was told, firmly, to go to the Doctors first thing. I did this and was promptly rushed off to Hospital in an Ambulance where I went through a series of ultrasounds and CT scans. The main concern was of Thrombosis. I didn’t have one but the CT Scan revealed that I had Pulmonary Embolisms in both lungs. Cue a couple of days stay in Hospital. I woke up crying after the first night that I hadn’t died in my sleep. Life is that low at moments.
The final of the six is Gout in my left foot. I usually have a small glass of brandy as a night cap. But since the separation I have been knocking back five or six in order to be able to get to sleep and I still wake up at about half past four with my mind whirring. Cue the Gout. The Doctor has prescribed me some Passiflora (Passion Flower) drops to help with sleep. So far I am finding them making me more depressed and I have been waking up earlier.
I have had a scan of my pelvis done last week to see if a cancer I had eight years ago is in remission. I get the results later this week. To be honest I would not care if it was a bad result.
Banners
I don’t know if this a “Cheat” or not, but this is the way I make my banners. Using my Gnome Army as an example, I go to Google images. As I wanted a sort of Celtic look I typed in “Celtic Knotwork Animals” and got a result like this.
Then I download the images I like and resize them in Illustrator and print them out. I have a small sheet of plywood which I then tape them to.
Then I carefully paint between the lines. Once dry I cut them out and fold them around the banner pole. Et voila!
I have something to “Top off” my life
My Wife and partner of twenty two years, who I love dearly, announced two weeks ago that she no longer loves me and wants to separate.
She does not want to talk about it as it it is all over as far as she is concerned.
I am devastated.
I gave up EVERYTHING to move here to Austria with her and the Boys. I am feeling pretty lost.
I have started writing down how I feel. But I am not sure if this blog is the right place to put my feelings out there.
Life with eleven cats and other madness
As promised, third day in a row!
I’ll start with the “down” part then we can progress towards more positive things.
As part of getting old I had a health check up at the local doctors, blood samples galore. One little thing he picked up on was a slight under production from my thyroid gland. Euthyrox was prescribed and the doctor would review the results after a couple of months after a blood sample was taken at the hospital. I try not to read side effect notes until after a couple of months because I don’t want to project them onto myself, just observe and reflect. I waited until after the check up before I looked and oh boy, tick, tick, tick etc. I then stopped the medication and will look at alternative thyroid medication with the doctor. Life is much better without, crushing fatigue, depression, an inability to really concentrate, shortness of breath, insomnia and eating a small amount of cheese resulted in stomach cramps accompanied by by a trip to the throne room. I’m still fatigued, which might be a complication of covid, but it is not like a huge weight of tiredness. I feel a lot better for stopping that particular medication. Yeah getting old sucks.
And just to top things off it’s pollen season. I have two or three weeks in June where my nose is just pouring. Not even antihistamines help.
Anyway, onwards and upwards!
I have managed to paint and I have been finishing parts for my big projects. Bar some little props Heroquest is ready to paint. Bloodbowl parts are printed and ready for paint and assembly. Spacehulk corridors are ready for priming, this is going to be an outside summer job. Escorts and cruisers have been printed for Battlefleet Gothic. I spot a retro theme going on here.
And finally the high note! Eleven, yes eleven, cats. My cat Queenie snuck out before we could get her neutered. This has resulted in the birth of some more kittens. They are going to a nice family in a couple of weeks. The family has been visiting to see the kitten’s progress and we have been observing the family. They are kind and gentle with the kittens so we have no worries. It always is a difficult parting when cats leave us.
My boy Jasper has been a bit freaked out by the kittens so he hasn’t been such a constant companion of late. We do seem to have bred racing kittens there is always a blur of fur. And last thing at night we have to check there is nothing loose on the floor otherwise we have a sleepless night.
A return to Weasel Town
Work on Weasel Town has been plodding along slowly and now that the nice weather has started I can work outside. Originally the floor ducking (correct word?) was laser cut card but since I no longer have access to a good laser machine I have started 3D printing them. Work had stalled because of a lack of them. The home laser I have lack power because it is a cheap Chinese tube and it’s life has expired. My Blender skills and confidence have improved a tiny bit so I used it to created the ducking which I then printed out on my Ender 3.
One regret is that I didn’t look at my original card tiles as they are slightly more elegant. Mind you once they are coated in mud and grime and observed from three feet away I don’t thing anyone will be criticising the design aesthetic.
I had started designing modular tiles as way to to have a flexible tabletop. One lesson I have learnt, is to to be consistent. That way I could have integrated my ruined desert city tiles with the trench system. Possibly the way to go is to make a series of risers so the tile heights match up.
The reason I had started going modular was because of this Kickstarter.
However by the time I actually get the book I probably will have moved on to something else, rendering it redundant.
Anyway, grumbling aside, The author Michael Martin has a Youtube channel. TWS Tabletop Workshop. One of the videos was about making a diy crackle paste.
The ingredients were diatomaceous earth. This looked interesting as I want parched earth for my terrain tiles. Amazon had some but it was a touch out of my budget. Which let’s politely say is near zero.
Owning pets sometimes has an upside. We needed cat litter for our seventeen year old cat. She spends her days curled up on our bed and doesn’t venture out much. We had got a new brand which looked soil like. After she had used it, she is a prolific pisser, the litter started to crackle when dried. Interesting. Are you pondering what I’m pondering? I took some clean litter mixed a bit with PVA and stuck it on a piece of MDF. The result was really good. I then mixed up some more and applied it to one of my terrain tiles.
I have to experiment now and work out proportions so that consistency is maintained.
https://www.mueller.de/p/pet-bistro-klumpstreu-2572035/
This is a link to the product and for eight litres I think that is a pretty good price. The only ingredient is Bentonite which is an absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite (a type of smectite).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentonite
I will report back with further information.
And tomorrow, if you are lucky, I will post some painting and reflect on life with eleven cats.
Putting off writing
It has been a bit like writing a thank you letter as a child. I have been putting it off for ages, then I looked and my last post was in February.
There is loads to post and I will start tomorrow (honest).
BUT I do have to make a quick post about a Kickstarter.
Full disclosure, I am not paid by Keta Minies however we are Facebook friends and we do chat a lot about random topics and occasionally he sends me the odd file to play with.
This project is tempting me, I have never felt the need for a Daemonette army. Until now. Have a look at at the project, as always Keta has produced some superb sculpts.
genuine grumpy old tin 