I won’t go into the details of how crap the plastic on this kit is. Suffice to say there were fumes / release agents in it that reacted badly with the paint I used, and I had to strip it right back to bare plastic, wash it with acetone and sand everything smooth again.
Anyway, the thing is finished and I can get on with the next kit on my “to build” list…
I likened it the expression about owning a boat: “It’s a hole in the water you throw money into.”
that’s a good one!
I heard someone say “There are two ‘happiest days’ when you’re a boat owner. The day you buy it, and the day you sell the damned thing.”
My kids want a boat, and I do too, but I grew up hearing my dad (who loves his boats) saying this exact thing. The upkeep. The gas. The toys. The time.
I’ll probably still get one eventually. 
Gay griend of mine (who lives in South Africa) inherited his uncle’s boat - in the UK.
He says it is a bottomless pit where money just disappear into.
Told him to hang family, tradition and feelings, and get rid of it. He is probably busy at the moment trying to sell it off.
It makes no sense. If you have a boat, either use it, or don’t have one.
Another instance of boat-owning is expensive. Dad hand-built a small boat. He used to take it out on the ocean and from what I heard from my older siblings, there were a few trips where its small size wasn’t handling the weather well. By the time I was around, it primarily stayed in our yard until a windstorm flipped it off the trailer and damaged it too much to be repaired.
Managed to snag an Xbox Series X. I’ve had a 4K TV since 2015. Now I can finally game in 4K. All ready for Mass Effect: Legendary Edition to drop in three weeks.
I don’t do bags, but those look very nice.
(Just kidding, I do totally do bags, if you count backpacks, laptop bags, tool bags, and similar. I way overthink how to pack for trips sometimes and love my Timbuk2 Sling Bag which is pretty much with me if I’m traveling farther than the grocery store these days.)
I love purses and shoes. So many to choose from, and they are so pretty. I love the pastels for purses bc they look so cheery.
Yeah, I might have a problem. And I’ve added at least one to the collection since that was taken.
The worst part is if you get a functional but not amazing bag from work or a vendor or whatever and then have to start looking fro someone to dump it on because it blocks getting the one you actually want.
In writing my earlier post I noticed my sling pack is no longer available, and one feature of it is it fits my iPad Mini perfectly, so now I’m considering a replacement that can fit a larger iPad, which I do not own.
I literally found a laptop messenger on a shelf over the weekend I had forgotten about. Not like my work backpack gets a lot of use these days.
I bought the perfect over-the-shoulder bag (for me) from Eddie Bauer I can’t even remember how long ago. It was in some anniversary collection, so I’ve probably had it for 25 years. I bought a matching fabric briefcase that has lasted just as long. The bag is starting to show its age a bit, with some of the zipper pulls failing due to metal fatigue, but I’ve found workarounds for that. It is a lovely, dark green fabric with real leather accents and bottom. I’ve used it almost every day since I got it. It holds my large wallet, keys, a couple of large phones, bus pass, a pack of gum, a small container of alcohol sanitizer, a knife, latex gloves, a mask, nail clippers and file, pens, paper, assorted business cards, a whistle, etc.
It’s the perfect cross-shoulder bag for me and I’d have to try to remake it in leather when it finally dies. My quest is over.
Whenever I get a perfect bag, it is annexed by either the wife or the kids.
Meh.
This is my go-to for the dreaded leaving the house incident. Originally more for trips, it’s small enough I can strap it to a larger bag for flights as needed. On flights it’s big enough to hold my iPad Mini, a book, my phone charger/battery pack combo, pen, papers, hand sanitizer etc. Put the larger pack (with the work laptop for work trips and such) in the overhead where it belongs.
Three compartments: A big back ‘thin’ compartment for the iPad and papers, two smaller separate ones for miscellaneous stuff.
Obviously hasn’t been an issue, but for longer trips these days it’s nice to have something similar to keep paperwork straight and whatever.
If we ever get back to traveling I may need to look for a bag that can accommodate some minimal DSLR gear as we’ve been talking about getting a good camera if our UK trip ever gets rescheduled.
One thing I found when trying to get a general purpose bag that accomodated some camera gear is that they don’t really exist. Everywhere I went said to go to a photo shop and check what they had.
So I ended up with a camera bag that can accomodate some other gear.
The bag I ended up with is actually brilliant for my purposes. It has my camera, an extra lens, a flash, and a power bank in the main compartment - and I could probably squeeze in a couple of other things as well if I needed. In the “extra” compartment I can fit my warm gear, my wet weather gear, and my lunch. It’s great for a day pack, but wouldn’t be any use for a long trip.
I feel like for certain ‘long trips’ I need a day pack anyway, so that may be where I look.
My local hobby / toy store had a 15% off all Star Wars gear on May 4th.
I could not resist the power of the Dark Side…
I have a Y-Wing and A-Wing saved up. May build one next week when. I’m taking a vaccine day. I can’t justify the money for the UCS editions (but if it’s your thing, I’m also not telling you not to) so they’re cheapies but still good quality ones: Lego has gotten smart at doing everything from ‘mini’ ships (some of which are intentionally silly with full-sized characters riding them like go-carts) through kid-friendly smaller versions to mid-size versions and then up to the complex and huge UCS scale stuff.
