Space Knights?

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

This week has been a bit of a "hurry up and wait" week. I have been fidgety because I am waiting for my job application to run its course and I haven't really heard much; apart from a couple of my references getting in touch to say that they had been contacted... so things are progressing but at their own pace.

I have pottered around a lot this week but haven't really achieved very much. Yes, I have done my chores and got what needed to be done, done... but really, I have felt a bit in limbo. It has been a bit of a "coulda, woulda, shoulda" week.

Hobby wise, I haven't really got much done either. I bought another couple of Warhammer Conquest (issue 1) copies because they were on 'last day of sale' and have been chopping one one of the Primaris Marines up, to see if I can turn it into a Demiurg Subterranean Guilder... but haven't got very far. I have even started assembling a  couple and painting them as they are... which hasn't got very far either. In fact... the only things I have managed to complete this week are a Demiurg Air Guild Leader:

Click the Pic!

... and an Air Guild Mechanic:

Click the Pic!

I have started to convert the Drone Controller but have got as far as a bump-guard on top of his helmet... so his mask still needs a lot of work.

As you can see, it has been a pretty unproductive week. 

In other news, tomorrow will be the first anniversary of my Dad's death so the next post may have something about that... I will most certainly have a small toast to him tomorrow. 

See you from the Rookery!

Autumnal... it's a word, you know...

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

This week has been relatively quiet.

More form-filling finished, DBS certificates dropped off and more waiting for news about my new job. On the plus side, I have received a formal offer for my job and that means that I am back in the game of life again. It also meant that I needed to buy some shoes, trousers and a polo-shirt so that I could have separate work-clothes... which I have now done. Once I have decided whether or not I can cope with the type of work I will be doing, I will spring for some additional 'sets' of work wear because I will most certainly need them.

On the charity front, I have been counting and banking collections and have started the investigation into how to thin down a few of the more onerous forms... that'll take a while but I reckon that I should be able to get some reduced effort for our collectors.

I have also been running a small auction for Marie Curie on one of my Facebook groups and have carried out the draw this morning... parcels will be sent off to the North of England and Australia tomorrow.

Not to be selfish... I'd like to share a link to my wife's 'Brave the Shave' charity event. I will be getting the clippers busy and giving her a grade 4 hair cut in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support. If you feel like you would like to chip in, please feel free to. Here's her page:

Kathy's Brave the Shave Link

On the hobby front, I have really struggled for enthusiasm this week. 

All I have managed to achieve on the painting front is a bit of priming and a half-arsed attempt at base-coating the rest of the drones. 

On the sculpting front, I have managed to get some very minor work done on a Demiurg Air Guilder's face. All sculpting on the Ogryn has stalled because of the negative mojo I received. Hopefully the Air Guilder will be more successful. 

I have also been gathering bits and bobs for an Air Guilder transport drone. I have enough components for two and have started chopping a few things... but again, I haven't got very far due to a complete lack of enthusiasm.

You wouldn't necessarily know it but I tidied my work space to try and stimulate some activity:

Click the Pic!

I am yet to discover whether or not this little tidy up has worked... only time will tell, I guess.

To top off this week's post... the heating went on for the first time in ages... Autumn must be on the way properly now.

That's it for now.

See you from the hall of mirrors!

Hurry up and wait.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

It has been a varied week and as a result, hobby time has stalled somewhat. In fact, all I have achieved is to assemble a few more Aerial Drones for my Demiurg Air Guild, prime them and slap a very rough base-coat on them.

In other hobby news, I decided to see if I could sculpt something... and haven't got anywhere.

It doesn't help when you come up with a good back story and are enthusiastic about something... and then a few people get all 'button counter' on you and discourage the idea. Bearing in mind that I sculpt stuff for science-FICTION, it beggars belief.

To say that it has had a negative impact on something which I am really struggling to get back into, would be an understatement. As a result... I started sculpting, got completely discouraged, questioned why I bothered and stopped completely. My view is that people are always so keen to rip things apart but rarely put the same effort into encouragement and finding reasons why things should be done.

Anyway... moaning aside... Shoulder pain has been a bit of a thing this week and I needed to take some medication for it. That wiped out Tuesday. Also a bit of Thursday... but not too much.

Sleep has been a treasured commodity and I have struggled to get any motivation this week as a result. That said, on Monday, I popped into my new work-place to hand in documentations and the process for my DBS clearance started. Since then, I have had an email (yesterday) saying that the checks were complete and the certificate is on the way... so I should have the certificate very soon. Once I take it in to the Care Home, they will be looking to get me working; shadowing staff until I can get my courses done and then properly working from then on. As I have mentioned to my friends, it seems that fate is really keen to get me working.

On Monday, I also got some Marie Curie work done. I did some money counting and banking and had a nice chat with the committee chairwoman. There was also a meeting on Thursday so I got to meet a few more of the committee members... and they were all decent people so that was nice. I have a few extra chores to sort out now but I am getting there with the admin side of things now and am properly taking an active role in the charity.

Wednesday was a day with my missus and we pottered about and sorted a few things (as usual).

Then... along came Friday and I decided to go for a nice ride on my motorbike, over to Marazion and seeing as I haven't shown any decent pix of my bike since the screen was fitted, here's some now:

Click the Pix!

That's about it for this week. I know it's been a bit of a moan but lack of sleep, chronic pain and the 'negative waves' from strangers can do that sometimes.

See you from the grindstone!

The times, they are a changin'...

Hello again and welcome to Inso's World on a lovely sunny, if rather blustery, day.

This week has been... interesting.

I'll start off with hobby stuff... and this week has been solely geared towards my Demiurg project. As is usually the case, a chance happening has distracted me away from my Squat project and my attention has been fully turned towards Demiurg... on this occasion it was a mix of insanely cheap miniatures and the new Warhammer, part-work, magazine. With that aside... I have fully painted three Air Guilders for my Demiurg project:

Click the Pic!

As with the Earth Guilders, there is a Controller, Leader and Mechanic (from left to right) but they are a different colour to mark them as a separate guild. To go with these Demiurg, I have been assembling and painting some drones that I got from the Warlord Summer Sale (which I have mentioned over the last couple of weeks). These aren't finished but are most certainly getting there:

Click the Pic!

In the picture there are four large drones and eight smaller ones. There is a mix of large gun drone, small gun drone, small targeter drone and large shield drone. Most of the drones are as they came in the box but the small gun drones were converted by snipping off one of the targeter lenses and adding a spare weapon from the Concord troops on their sprue. Any spare weapon/shield pods from the large drones are being saved to use elsewhere... especially the shield pods because I plan to convert some Earth Guild walker drones to have those on so that they can protect their Demiurg associates.

In addition to the above work on the Demiurg project, I have also ordered some more Kharadron troops to join them. These should arrive sometime this week (although it's EBay and the seller is not being very helpful... so that may change). I have also been thinking about transport and how I will go about creating an Air Guild transport ship... but enough of that for now... let's talk about a little bit of real life...

At the beginning of the week, I was pottering about as usual, doing my chores, a bit of hobby stuff and this and that... on Wednesday, me and my missus had a big chat about life, the universe and everything as well as going out for a coffee and posting a parcel... on Thursday, I was looking at a website and found myself on the job application page... it wasn't a big form... just the real basics... so I filled it in and clicked send.

Then I pottered around... did some chores... a bit of hobby stuff and thought "I'd better sort a CV out". Luckily, I already had a CV written but it needed lots of changes so I started to work on it... then the phone rang... "are you available for an interview, tomorrow at lunch time?". "Yes... thank you."

So... to cut a long story short... I didn't plan on going for a job but I put in an application, got an interview the next day, had to throw together a CV and find my suit (which was too big for me due to my weight loss - THANK YOU strong belt!), attended the interview... and was offered the job. All in the space of a day!

Now that the dust has settled, I need to fill in a full application form (which I am doing today), put together some details (for a security and DBS check) and drop them off tomorrow.

The big thing is that I am not going to be an Aircraft Technician. I am going to be a Health Care Assistant, at a local care home that specialises in dementia care. The home is run by a not for profit, charity organisation and that fits in nicely with one of the reasons I moved away from the RAF. It will be a complete departure from what I am used to but I think that once I get my head around everything, it'll suit me well and hopefully be the start of a long and extremely rewarding career in the care sector.

I have some induction courses to go on but will be able to shadow staff in the meantime so that I can get a feel for what goes on in the home... 

I must admit to being a little bit stunned by the immediacy of it all... and how rapidly everything happened but I guess, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Obviously, I have a lot to take in and deal with, over the coming weeks and months, and a massive learning curve because I have no experience in the role but I am up for the challenge... I am certainly under no misconception about the emotional roller-coaster I am jumping on to.

The times are very much a changin'.

See you from the clouds!

A quiet week.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

This week has been pretty quiet. A few days of family time, a couple of days of "post insomnia wash-out" a little bit of house painting, a small amount of illness and a little bit of hobby time.

This week's hobby time consisted of getting the second squad of infantry base-coated prior to a tidy up:

Click the Pic!

There has been a small amount of other painting but no pix as yet... so today's hobby images will be a bit sparse.

In other hobby news, I managed to get hold of a couple of copies of the new Warhammer Conquest magazine. As a result, I added a further squad of Primaris marines to my collection, some paints and brushes. 

The second order from Warlord Games arrived and now I have a big bunch of Concord troops and drones to play with. The drones will be joining my Demiurg (just like the Ghar walkers) but I am yet to decide on the fate of the troops... they may make good robot troops for something... but I am not worrying about them for now.

As for the Demiurg... there may well be a bit of movement on that front, very soon...

See you from the cupola!