Losing good things

From RMC's Facebook page, Friday August  22, 2014

It's amazing how fast things go from terrible rumor to the truth. Earlier in the week, someone on Facebook had said that they had heard that Carstens was going to be selling RMC and Railfan and Railroad and just a few short days later, this pops up on my news feed. It's always a shame when good things come to an end, and some people take it harder than others. I subscribed to RMC a few years ago, for about 3 or 4 years. I enjoyed the articles, particularly anything to do with scratchbuilding and kitbashing, even if the models were not of interest to me. It was nice to read about how modeler's coped with not having something readily available, and the skills and techniques used to produce magazine quality models.

The news of Carstens shuttering operations came yesterday.  This morning, I woke to gloomy skies, and scattered showers.  Normally, I don't mind dreary days, because it gives me an excuse to sit at the workbench.  Today however, we move my Stepson into his dorm, for his freshmen year of college. I'm not particularly happy about the weather, although I don't mind getting wet (years of the Army will numb you to being miserable) the dreary skies won't help my mood.  . He's become one of my own, and after having someone around for a decade, you get used to them being there. I'll admit that I'm sad to see him go, and I'll also admit that we have plans for his room...but that doesn't make sending off a kid any less difficult. I'll be grumpy, and look to find ways to keep my mind off of it, which probably means workbench, and a stiff drink tonight.  Luckily, my wife's best friend is coming down for a visit to cheer her up, which will help me out quite a bit.

 I guess I'll have my models, some music, and some whisky, I won't have RMC, but I did finally subscribe to the Gazette...yesterday.

Wish him the best of luck, and pray that he paid attention to all the crap I used to say to him, so that he doesn't learn the hard way.

 Building awesome things always cheers me up, so I'm going to go do that. You should too.

Weighty decisions

Sometimes in life we have to make some really hard decisions, decisions that carry a lot of weight, and can make or break us. It wasn't an easy decision to leave a comfortable career with a great retirement, not with a family, bills, and a mortgage. The weight of the world was on my shoulders, and a misstep could crush me. 

16 years ago, I trusted my life to an 18 year old parachute rigger, who probably failed a couple classes in high school, and probably wasn't trusted much by his teachers, or parents. By all rights, I shouldn't have trusted him either. Sometimes though, you have to make a leap of faith, and ignore that kid, and put your fate at the hands of The Lord. He can help you carry that weight, and if it suits him, he'll make sure your parachute opens. 

I asked for guidance, and he told me to "put my knees in the breeze". I shuffled out that door, into the dark night,and it looks like my 'chute is opening. 

Have faith in your abilities, and put faith in The Lord. Enjoy life, and build stuff. 

The picture above is relevant...I swear. I added weight to my kit in a space I could find, by using small incremental weights... BBs! Together with your faith, you can find places to carry the weight of the world, through creative thought.

Go build something.

Rich