Modelling mojo and state of mind

[33C]

11 minutes ago, Coldgunner said:

I know how you feel FLW (I think). Case of the black dog for me. Not interested in railways, going out or anything else. Just sit indoors a lot.

When I get those moods, I pull out a small kit from the stash. Something other than railways, be it a 1/76 tank, 1/72 plane or a 1/600 ship that I can knock up in a couple of hours or days. This invariably leads me to the parts of the bookshelves, that I rarely visit, in a quest for the prototype info. It's like a little bit of fresh air! As most of my stash consist of 2nd hand, part started kits, it's also fun to restore, repair and salvage something that may have ended up in the bin....😁

[Big James]

38 minutes ago, Coldgunner said:

I know how you feel FLW (I think). Case of the black dog for me. Not interested in railways, going out or anything else. Just sit indoors a lot

That’s how I feel right now. I was up in the garage today and literally had not motivation what so ever. I feel like I’ve taken on to big of a project on my own and it’s really demotivating. I’m half tempted to move on some stock and buy a smaller board to build a micro layout on that isn’t so daunting. 
 

Big James

Edited April 3, 2022 by Big James

[Northmoor]

@MrWolfmay be onto something with vitamin deficiency; I was diagnosed as (chronically) B12 deficient, but that is now addressed and managed.  Low mood may, similarly, also result from physical symptoms; I find when I am very tired I am much more self-critical and lose interest in many things.  A few nights of better sleep and more care with my diet usually helps. 

 

The fact that so many on this thread are able to spot the signs of their own behaviour being "out of character", is hugely positive.

[Phil Bullock]

Having taken on a 27x12 ft layout - with help - I always keep smaller projects on the go too. It’s a good tactic….

[Blandford1969]

Definitely agree on the blood test. Whilst I was diagnosed with GAD about 4 years ago and had blood tests it was only a couple of months ago that a B12 deficiency was picked up. As a test I have to take it for 3 months, then stop and have another blood test. However to say the B12 has been amazing on my mood , cognitive and multi tasking abilities as well as not falling asleep regularly in the day and even in the early evening would be an understatement.

 

I'm two months in and rather than struggling to do anything I've been able to move things forwards. Sure there are still the bad days but they are a lot less with the other pills and seem to go quicker with the help of the B12.

 

 

 

[The Johnster]

Blood tests have saved and improved my life very considerably; prostate cancer caught early enough to be radiotherapied out of existence after discovery by PSA blood test and diabetes detected and medicated for.  I had no symptoms of either and thus no clue that they were issues. 

 

When I started Cwmdimbath, nearly 7 years ago now, I promised to discipline myself to finish projects before starting new ones in order to avoid the depression and negative reinforcement resulting from being bogged down with several stalled projects at a time, and have largely kept to this.  But I've run into problems with my Collett 1938 31xx kitbash attempt, and while I am fairly happy that I can reopen hostilities with it at a time of my choosing, I broke my own rule and have learned the lesson that rules to prevent you getting bogged down in too many projects at ones work very well, but that it is fine to break said rules if you feel that this is the path you must now take. 

 

It all started back in December when I spotted a Hornby (Dapol type) J94 in an antique/bric a brak shop in town and bought it to repaint in NCB livery as a colliery shunting engine.  When I showed it off to The Squeeze (supportive to railway modelling, likes to drive occasionally and has a good natural feel for it, driving I mean you bad so and sos, is Polish and whose father is a Silesian miner), she asked where the colliery was.  'Off stage, there's no room for it, only for the engine to appear, take the empties away, and bring up the loaded', I said.  'Well, build a colliery' she says (this one's a keeper!), so I point out that it would have to go where the fiddle yard is and then the fiddle yare would move so that it was in the way of 'her' wardrobe (the layout is our bedroom).  'How fat do you think I am, I can manage', quoth Beloved, so, having just put the 31xx away in it's project box to continue in the new year, I instead built a coliery, which was immensely satisfying and has added very considerably to the operating appeal of the layout, well done Kasia. 

 

Did me the world of good, but it is mostly finished and running now, so I am, after several months of break, thinking again about taking up cudgels against the recalcitrant 31xx, and feeling a good deal more confident and relaxed about it.  Make rules, but break them if you think you should, and don't beat yourself up about it!

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Thank you all for the responses. Yes I do believe it is a case of The Doom, as it is with many people my age. (I’m in Gen Z, the most depressed/mentally unhealthy generation since I think before the war) Said Doom recently came back after several years leave, and I was hoping it wouldn’t creep into the world of modeling as it has school. Such is life I suppose.

 

 

Douglas

Edited April 4, 2022 by Florence Locomotive Works

[MrWolf]

It usually affects your attitude to the things that are most important to you, that's what made me think that it's the doom.

 

At the. risk of sounding a bit dim, what's generation Z?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dava]

I’ve been too busy to do any modelling for most of this year (running a course with 100+:1 student-staff ratio, the 1 being me) & lots of other nonsense. HE is the new FE. Mind numbing.

 

I agreed to take Bunny Mine to the Trent Valley NG event on Saturday, it’s first outing for 2 years. A difficult repair required on a point mechanism and other issues. I’m enjoying doing that more than work ,with the music turned up in the workshop. I don’t know if I’ll carry on with 014 afterwards, I want to work on my US shortline project. The choice is shown below.
 

Dava

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

38 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

At the. risk of sounding a bit dim, what's generation Z?

Those of us born from 2000 onwards, known for being the first generation to have access to the new tech of the world.

[MrWolf]

23 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Those of us born from 2000 onwards, known for being the first generation to have access to the new tech of the world.

 

I see. My generation was the one before. Those who left school mid-late eighties. Those of us who showed any academic / creative ability were pushed into higher education on the grounds that a degree would open countless doors.

We found ourselves over qualified and under experienced, or too old to be trained on monkey wages and were constantly asked by prospective employers: "How much experience do you have with a Mac?"

A what? There were only two computers in our school...

There were no proper apprenticeships or trade schools like our fathers attended, but we could buy a decent home for £30,000 and before the late 90s, a young man could afford to buy a car or bike and go wherever the mood took him. Nights out weren't limited to clubs full of pilled up aggressive morons.

 

I think for my generation, the gloom comes with the realization that most of us were lied to from the day we started school.

 

There never was a meritocratic society.

 

[NHY 581]

On 05/04/2022 at 00:54, MrWolf said:

 

I see. My generation was the one before. Those who left school mid-late eighties. Those of us who showed any academic / creative ability were pushed into higher education on the grounds that a degree would open countless doors.

We found ourselves over qualified and under experienced, or too old to be trained on monkey wages and were constantly asked by prospective employers: "How much experience do you have with a Mac?"

A what? There were only two computers in our school...

There were no proper apprenticeships or trade schools like our fathers attended, but we could buy a decent home for £30,000 and before the late 90s, a young man could afford to buy a car or bike and go wherever the mood took him. Nights out weren't limited to clubs full of pilled up aggressive morons.

 

I think for my generation, the gloom comes with the realization that most of us were lied to from the day we started school.

 

There never was a meritocratic society.

 

 

 

I remember our school having a 'careers teacher'. At 16 we were given appointments and offered careers advice and given 'direction'. 

Now, at 16, I wasn't the most committed. I enjoyed school, wasn't daft but had discovered 'ladies', started tinkering with beer and was fully emersed in rock music of the 60s, 70s and what was emerging in 1980/81 (NWOBHM if you know what I mean). Academically, I think it's fair to say I was pigeon holed as a bit of a wasted opportunity. Far from dull and I had potential but no appetite to realise it. 

 

Any how, I knew what I wanted to do with my life which was seemingly at odds with how I was at the time. 

 

I was told I wasn't cut out for my preferred career, waste of time, not for me and that I  should go for something more manual instead. Factory work, that sort of thing. The pamphlets I went to my appointment with were taken from me and I was sent on my way. And that was that. 

 

It took me another 15 years, bouncing from job to job ( my first was working in a train shop ) but I eventually started the career I wanted when I was 16. 

 

Last year, after 25 yrs,  I retired from that career.  

 

On a positive, I still like beer, love the same music and have a wonderful lady. 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by NHY 581

[MrWolf]

I remember the "careers advisers". They only ever spoke to those who were leaving school at sixteen. I think that it was more to do with the youth training scheme.

Those who were staying on and considered to be university material didn't get to speak to anyone. I'm not sure if the responsibility for career direction was assumed to be the responsibility of those universities or there was the assumption that the high achievers came from high achieving professional families and that they would do the job. 

Many of us didn't, we came from ordinary working class families who could see that the writing was on the wall for British industry and wanted their children to have options.

Quite a few of us looked to joining branches of the military that would not only provide a useful trade and management skills, but also give us experience and a wage.

Of course, given the political allegiance of teachers in the 1980s, that option was far from encouraged.

I too became distracted by girls, music from the 50s, 60's and 70's, beer and the culture that had grown up around British made motorcycles. I had a good idea what I wanted to do, just no real idea of how to get into it and no idi who to ask. Those I did gave me a bit of guff about making contacts as you progressed through the education system. 

I was just a kid, what did I know? 

I ended up doing all sorts of things over the years before ending up doing pretty much what I wanted,, twenty something years later.

 

Finally I feel like I thought I might at 25, like you, I still like the same things as I did at 16 and I'm lucky enough to have the Memsahib who at least understands where I'm coming from.

[08221]

Those "career adviser" jobs must have been the cushiest job around in the early 80's!

 

At our school, we all lined up, went in one at a time. The geezer asked what our hobbies were  - "railways" I replied. Geezer said "you need to become a train driver or get a job at Wolverton Works" (next town up the line!).

 

That was it - all over in 30 seconds - my mates all got similar advice!

 

Ended up as a diamond sorter (bet they didn't have that job on their list!) and then working in ICT management for the remainder of my career.

[woodenhead]

32 minutes ago, 08221 said:

Ended up as a diamond sorter (bet they didn't have that job on their list!) and then working in ICT management for the remainder of my career.

How did that work?

 

diamond, diamond, diamond, diamond, glass, diamond, diamond, diamond, stone, diamond, diamond.

 

Or was it, big diamond, big diamond, massive diamond, little diamond, stone, little diamond, little diamond, medium diamond

[woodenhead]

Careers advice for me was 'Get a job, we can't support you to do your A levels and university so you will have to pay your own way"

 

Interviews with banks and insurance companies followed and I ended up working for a bank for nearly 20 years, dreams of university dashed.  The wife had similar advice from her parents, only she got to go to university after we married and had had our children.  It wasn't something she planned at that point, it was because she was upset with the speech and language assistance number 2 child had received and felt she might find answers by doing the degree herself.  In the end she found out there were no magic bullets and that it's pretty much coping strategies, but she did her degree and is now herself an experienced speech and language therapist of 14 years employment.

[08221]

2 hours ago, woodenhead said:

How did that work?

 

diamond, diamond, diamond, diamond, glass, diamond, diamond, diamond, stone, diamond, diamond.

 

Or was it, big diamond, big diamond, massive diamond, little diamond, stone, little diamond, little diamond, medium diamond

 

I was very lucky as my old man ran the cinema at DeBeers!

 

There are over 2000 categories of rough diamonds and you learn to sort them into the various categories (takes 6 months to learn). Then you were put in a team that specialises in a certain size and types of stone.  I sorted for a couple of years, then moved onto weighing and pricing diamonds for a few years before moving over to the IT department when the first PC's were introduced to replace typewriters in the typing pool. That set me up for the rest of my working life managing IT teams.

 

It all sounds great fun, but its jolly hard work pushing rocks around all day 😄😄

 

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by 08221

[NHY 581]

23 minutes ago, 08221 said:

 

 

It all sounds great fun, but its jolly hard work pushing rocks around all day 😄😄

 

 

 

No doubt a lot easier than breaking rocks in the hot sun.................

[john new]

Surprising what can re-trigger enthusiasm to get some modelling mojo back. My own mojo had gone flat when out of the blue I was asked to do a beta test build of a simple freebie castle kit (military type not GWR locomotive) the local museum were introducing. [See my own modelling thread].

 

Back on 22nd March I finished the build of the freebie Portland Museum Rufus Castle kit as it is intended to be made as supplied. I then decided that it was Ok as was but could be better with some simple extras from cheapo household materials. Those being dyed cotton wool, pan scourer and some tissue/PVA mix filler. Not yet fully finished but more progress:-

 

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by john new
Reinstated the photos (Now right way up!) and deleted an errant quote.

[MrWolf]

3 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

 

No doubt a lot easier than breaking rocks in the hot sun.................

 

Been there... 😀

[john new]

On 05/04/2022 at 00:12, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Those of us born from 2000 onwards, known for being the first generation to have access to the new tech of the world.

Hardly the first, born in 1952 and using IT output from my first day at work in 1970. Even more so after 1981 with our first office desk top PC; even that is still 19 years earlier than your

birth year.

 

Having lived through the IT-revolution the late 80s early 90's was when it truly changed to being more than just early adopters and became pretty much mainstream even in backwoods offices. Slow by today's standards but good working systems available to everyone courtesy of IBM and the follow up clones.

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by john new
Extra para added (Hit save too early)

[Florence Locomotive Works]

11 minutes ago, john new said:

Hardly the first, born in 1952 and using IT output from my first day at work in 1970. Even more so after 1981 with our first office desk top PC; even that is still 19 years earlier than your

birth year.

 

Having lived through the IT-revolution the late 80s early 90's was when it truly changed to being more than just early adopters and became pretty much mainstream even in backwoods offices. Slow by today's standards but good working systems available to everyone courtesy of IBM and the follow up clones.

 

Yes I probably should have said the first generation to grow up with social media.

[Dunsignalling]

2 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Yes I probably should have said the first generation to grow up with social media.

For which you have my unbounded sympathy. Exploitative and vicious.

 

John

[J. S. Bach]

26 minutes ago, john new said:

 ...snip... Slow by today's standards but good working systems available to everyone courtesy of IBM and the follow up clones.

The best computer that I have ever had was a Laser* XT clone. I actually miss it. However the daisy-wheel printer that I bought with it got returned a day or two later; it was LOUD! Like sitting next to a .50 cal. It got replaced with a dot-matrix that was very much quieter.

 

*brand name

[The Johnster]

6 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

 

No doubt a lot easier than breaking rocks in the hot sun.................

... I fought the law and the

law won...

 

The Song Lyrics game is over on Wheeltappers, Rob!