So this blog has been quiet for close to a year now which is a bit disappointing as the last entry was about a revival after attending the Nova Open last year. Now here I am almost a year later, having just attended the Nova Open again this year in their new location, reinvigorated to tackle this hobby again but with a caveat. However, before I can go into what I hope to accomplish in the hobby in the coming days let’s briefly look into what I have been up to since last year because it clearly wasn’t minipainting.

I don’t usually talk about work here but for this instance it is necessary that I do because it is a large part as to why I took a break from the hobby. For quite a while now there has been a lot of turn over at my work location, both in the management and union lab teams. The ensuing growing pains as people had to be brought up to speed meant that I was now forced to train people as they passed through my section while still performing my daily tasks. On top of that there have been new projects of which I have been volun-told to participate, break down in logistical chains forcing me to source our materials from alternate sources, and a general increase in overall work with no increase in support. This resulted in having to put in more hours than I would like at work and even doing remote over time over the weekend. This left me in a state of almost just work, sleep, eat and repeat and the thought of painting just didn’t seem appealing at the time.

So with this increased stressor from work and a lingering hobby burnout that Nova last year didn’t quite cure I just stepped away from painting minis to hang out with friends and my wife more and indulge in my other hobbies. This lead to me going to Gen-con for the first time this year with friends and participating in my first big TCG tournament which was the Regional tournament for the Digimon TCG. I placed 61st out of about 250ish people and I was really proud of myself for doing so well. But more importantly I placed higher than either of my friends who participated and will now lord it over them for forever.

I also took some time to really dive into a very niche genre of japanese media that I love called Tokusatsu, which is basically the original japanese shows that things like Power Rangers and Big Bad Beetleborgs were based on. So I ended watching several seasons of Ultraman as well as their associated movies and spin-offs as well has continuing my foray into the Godzilla franchise. All in all it was quite the deep dive into one my favorite genres.

With all that I also adopted a different mentality when it came to work. Essentially, I will no longer work myself raw for a job that doesn’t appreciate it. I will do what I can within a reasonable degree for the 40 hours I am obligated to work. I would only do overtime or stretch myself a little further if it saves me a bigger headache down the road. And if it meant that i would leave my supervisor or my team hanging every once in a while the so be it. I am fortunate enough to have a union job and I should take advantage of the freedoms and rights it comes with for my own well-being

So all this brings us to Nova 2023 and leading up to the event I was feeling a little trepidatious. I had been out of the hobby for close to a year and wasn’t entirely sure if I would enjoy Nova to the extent I did Gen-con. However, to make a long story short, I absolutely loved my time at Nova. I was able to meet more people than ever before thanks to Ian, an admin from the minipainting discord, who apparently knew a lot of phenomenal minipainters and was kind of enough to bring me into the fold. Also, Nova was in a new location that was easier to get to and had way better food options compared to it’s old location which went a long way to making the trip more comfortable for me and my wife who joined me this year. But I’ll save my Nova stories for another time, so look forward to a short series where I gush about all the things I did and people I met while there.

Till next time.