Back to work!

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

It's a gloriously sunny day and I've been removing the remains of the fence in the garden. It was a victim of the recent storm and needed to be removed after some of it was blown down... that led to removing a 'seat' made of cement blocks and some slabs; which were obviously built by someone who never played with Lego as a child... I'll leave the sweep-up for another day.

Anyway, I digress.

This week has been one of training and pottering about. It is just like being back in the RAF... sitting through induction training. Mind you, I am getting to learn and use the new equipment that is required for my new job so it is most certainly worth while and is fairly enjoyable.

This coming week, I have more training and some proper work shifts... obviously with maximum supervision but at least I will be able to start working properly, rather than being limited to what I can do.

As a result of some of the more 'interesting' challenges I am expecting to face, I am also required to take a course on conflict deescalation. That will be at the beginning of November and that will mark the end of my induction training. I have already seen the training being used in my care home so it is definitely something that I will need.

In other news, I was informed that I had a parcel on the way from the USA, via email from the US postal service. I didn't recognise the sender and spent a good deal of time tracking them down... luckily, the parcel was cool... one of these, as it happens:

Click the Pic!

It's an Aliens APC with a Ripley figure to go with it. It is pretty big and will find a use somewhere in my collection. On a different note, this highlights how using nicknames instead of real names, gives people a certain amount of anonymity... I ended up spending a lot of time, searching the forums to see who I'd sent things to, in order to find the identity of who had sent the parcel... just so I could thank them. That's why I always put my forum name (Inso) in my signature, when I am dealing with other people in my hobby.

Other hobby news is not going to happen. I haven't received my parcel from Hasslefree Miniatures yet, I haven't ordered anything else from anywhere else... but... hang on... there is that Kickstarter that has just funded... and I pledged on... this one:

Kickstarter Link

As it stands, my pledge will get me 48 troops, a separate champion and a separate champion riding a horse. I think that I will be able to build a good sized platoon of troops with support and command elements but I will be turning them sci-fi... so I have arms, heads and weapons to think about... but not yet because they aren't due to arrive until May next year.

I have also received a box of random kits and miniatures from a friend who will be sending a few more as well. The idea is that I can sort them out, sell them on and give the profits to charity... so I am hoping that I can get some tidy profit from these very generous gifts. More will come to light, once I get my teeth into the contents.

Unfortunately, I have lots of chores this weekend so I can't see myself getting much hobby time (my wife is poorly so I am picking up the reins)... and I reckon that, with everything going on this week, I will be too knackered for much hobby so until I start getting back into the swing of working again, I can't really see very many hobby related items turning up here...

... but in the words of "The Secret of Mana"... "Time, like a river, flows"... so who knows what may happen over the next few months?

That's it for today.

See you from the university of life!

The start of an interesting journey...

Hello.

Welcome.

Let's get the show on the road...

This week has been a week of all sorts of things...

First of all, my son (and his girlfriend) was visiting and I got to see him a bit while he was in town. It is always good to see him when he visits because he's his own man now and we have a good understanding now. He is still enjoying life in the RAF and I am still immensely proud of him. It was particularly nice to have a family dinner with My son, his girlfriend, our daughter and us... I am now looking forward to the next visit.

As I mentioned last week, I started a few shadow shifts, at the care home, this week but I ended up phoning them because I was waiting for the call... but it didn't come. I think that there were crossed wires and we were both expecting to be called. Anyway... I have now shadowed an early shift and a late shift and already know that I have made the right choice in my career direction... the care system needs all the help it can get.

I have shadowed some lovely people and have been able to do certain tasks... but no personal care yet; that will come after I have had my induction training this coming week.

I have already seen a wide spectrum of dementia symptoms and have really had to think about how I should react... but when I have had the opportunity to step in and help, it has been truly rewarding. I can safely say that spending time in the company of some of the residents has been a joy and I am really looking forward to being able to help them through their care needs. There are also challenging aspects of dementia care but I will have a lot of help and guidance at my disposal so I should be able to cope. I could say that I should have done it years ago but I think that these opportunities come along when you most need them and I think that I am old enough to cope now... I think that I am in a better place, now that I have more life experience. Obviously, other people will have different ideas but for me, I think that I would have struggled if I had decided to do this earlier in my life.

So that means that I will get induction training this coming week and will be starting work, proper, the week after. Obviously, I won't be left to it... I will always have someone with me but I will be able to help with everything and get used to how to do things properly.

Am I tired? YOU BET!

After almost two years of being a domestic technician (staying at home... pottering about... doing a few chores and a bit of DIY...), spending 7 hours on my feet was a bit of a culture shock... and it didn't help that I was looking forward to it so I haven't had the best sleep. When I got home at 22:00hrs last night, I was shattered... but in a good way. Luckily, I only have three days on the training and after that, four days off before a string of early shifts. Then it will just be a case of getting back into the swing of things again.

It is also good that the Care Home that I have chosen to join is run by a charitable, not for profit, organisation so it fits into my 'post military' agenda quite nicely.

Speaking of charities, I have also been doing a little bit of charity stuff with Marie Curie and have raised £110.00 through a little raffle that I ran and once the cheque was written, I went and counted a bunch of charity boxes with the committee chairperson; as part of my treasurer's role. It's now paid into the bank as well. Here's a link to Marie Curie, just in case you wish to learn more about the great work they do:

Marie Curie Link

Hobby wise, things have been very slow. When you are waiting for 'real life' things to happen, the motivation to spend time on a hobby wanes a bit... but that said, I have managed to get a little bit more paint on my Demiurg Earth Guild Drones. These are just the unfinished ones from the unit of ten, that I showed last week. As you can see, they are starting to all look similar:

Click the Pic!

I still have knees, eyes, 'back tubes' and 'head tubes' to paint but I am doing little bits at a time so that I don't get bogged down. 

I have ordered some paint from Hasslefree Miniatures and am awaiting its arrival. Without it, I will have no green for my Earth Guild Drones... hopefully, it will turn up soon but I am not in any immediate rush and realise that Hasslefree Miniatures were hit by floods and have had quite a bit of clearing up to do.

I have a strong feeling that I won't get much hobby time this coming week but I guess only time will tell.

Well... that's it for this week.

See you from the letter-box!

The wind has changed direction.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

This week has been fairly interesting so I'll get straight to it...

My wife braved the shave... (the week before last... but I failed to mention it in my last blog post) and has so far raised nearly £400 for MacMillan Cancer Support, which is very cool. Her charity page is still up and now shows a 'before and after' so pop along and please donate if you can:

Brave the Shave LINK

On the job front, I have now passed all the checks and should be starting work this coming week. I will be shadowing a Health Care Assistant for the week before going for my induction training the following week so things are really getting interesting now. I know that the first few months will be tough because it's all new to me, it's a particularly demanding job and I have been away from a job for nearly two years. I have a feeling that Inso is going to be a very tired chap! I am really looking forward to it and can't wait to get started.

I have finally got my medals sorted out. I sent them off this week to get them cleaned, have the clasp fitted and get them court mounted and treated with stay-bright. They are due to return to me on Monday and I am looking forward to seeing what they look like. I plan to attend the remembrance festival again this year so I want them to look as good as they possibly can. Hopefully, I'll be able to show them off next week.

On the hobby front, a fair bit has happened...

First, I got a refund from EBay for a parcel that wasn't sent... so I used the refund to buy the same thing from a more reliable seller and as a result, I have a new box of Kharadron Arkanauts to convert. I plan on using four for Demiurg and the rest will become the start of a kill team.

Next, I finished the Drone Controller for my Demiurg Air Guild so I now have two complete command units for that guild:

Click the Pic!

With that finished I sat and stared at the Air Guild Drones and thought... "nah!" so I decided it was time to sort out the big dilemma... "how exactly, did I paint my Earth Guild Drones?"... well... that was the plan but I failed because of the effect that shades and under-coats have on colours so I decided to bite the bullet and just pick new colours, that looked similar and start from scratch. Luckily, I only have three painted Earth Guild Demiurg and three of their drones so I can ignore the colour differences for now and if it bothers me too much in the future, I can either repaint them or replace them. Now that I have made the paint-scheme decision, I have noted the colours on my army list so I won't forget them and have begun the task of putting together the first full unit of Earth Guild Drones... and here is where it's at:

Click the Pic!

Looking at the image (left to right), top left  are the three finished Drones (assault). The last one on the back row and the next two on the row in front are re-coloured, incorrectly base-coated drones (I had already base-coated them but the colour wasn't right and I didn't know what colour it was so I took the decision to re-coat them with a green that I knew the identity of)... they are a bomber and two gun drones. Next is a 'first coat of green' bomber, then the two in the next row are shield drones and finally, the one at the front is the last assault drone. Since the picture was taken, the grey ones have received their first coat of green. 

From that little ramble, the unit will consist of:

3x Demiurg Command Staff.

4x Assault Drone.

2x Bomber Drone.

2x Gun Drone.

2x Shield Drone.

Luckily, the Demiurg Command Staff are painted differently and I can estimate the colours better so when it comes to painting the next Earth Guilders, I shouldn't have the same colour problems.

Speaking of colour problems... I don't have very much of the green paint I have chosen (Coat d'Arms - 111 Dark Elf Green) so I have put in an order to Hasslefree Miniatures to get another couple of pots. Obviously, I couldn't just order two pots of paint so I have ordered a STEVE and a SCULPTING DOLLY to make a decent little order. I have no fixed plans for them as yet (apart from the dolly becoming a superhero of some sort)... but I never sit still for long.

Finally, I have so far painted three Primaris Space Marines and have a fourth on the handle... so that little project is ticking along nicely as well.

That's it for this week.

See you from the new age!