I took a rare day off yesterday, Thursday. I went to the Discovery Museum with my lovely family where we spent most of the day. It's more of an amusement park type thing for kids, not so much a museum. It's a really great place to go. It was quite crowded, though.
Willow glommed on to this blue toy spoon and tried to take it from other kids. It's all she could think about.
We went to lunch at Thai Phoon, my fave restaurant up there. We had popcorn shrimp, Pad Thai and some two sorts of unusual soups. About this time I got an ice-pick headache which intensified as we went to the bookstore. I picked up Colour of Magic, the first of the Discworld books, still stocked two deep twenty-seven years after being written. That's outstanding longevity.
By the time the sun set and we arrived at Tamie's sister's house I was fit to be laid to rest, and the two women did just that, settling me into a guest bed with some water, bread and painkillers. I fell into a black sleep with the murmur of all the kids playing downstairs.
Late that night we tunneled through the icy darkness towards home, my wife muttering and cursing as she strained over the wheel, staring at the road between a pair of black gloves. What a delight to be back in my warm Rabbit Burrow, watching Colour of Magic on Netflix for the fifth time.
I slept in late, to 9:15am. I've been nagging Shannon and Sarah to get in by 9:30am so it doesn't look good when I'm not there. Nonetheless, I indulged in a breakfast of oatmeal and a pear before heading out. The day flew by. I actually took quite a bit of video, but I'm not ready to put that up, so apologies to the Youtube channel fans. I'm trying to set up a batrep for tomorrow but everyone is otherwise occupied. I find the holidays to be a giant pain getting things done.
I had a dream last night where the name of a person, first middle and last, was clearly spelled out on a piece of paper. Apparently no one with this exact name exists, but it turns out that it is an anagram for something quite meaningful. I was puzzling this over at about 4am this morning. That's all I can say at this time.
Things are mostly caught up at the studio, but still a bit behind on painting. That said, next week we should rocket out of the gate. We spent a goodly part of the day working out the details of the first Valhalla Event on January 27. Final details are coming in the next few days. Notably, we are allowing half down and half in February (yes, even after you have actually come out!). This should give some budgetary wiggle room for those that want to come out but are spent from the Holidays. The first table should be done by this coming week, we have a LOT of work to do. 6000 points of Orks are out of assembly and ready to paint right now. 3000 points of Blood Ravens are being assembled right now, they're about a third done.
For those waiting for some work on the give-away, we went over all the finalists today and decided. We're actually giving out two or three armies!
In other notable news, I picked up a flat screen monitor off Craigslist super cheap and now my operation at home is pretty sweet.
I think that's it. I hope everyone is having a good holiday. I am ever so grateful for all the support and good vibes I get from the blog and youtube channel. It's a source of perpetual pleasant surprise. And so I thank YOU ever so much.
PS- I know it's been pretty light on the gaming stuff, that will change after the new year.
Rincewind Lives!
Coming Spring
I had a dream last night. I was in a forest where spring was going to come soon. New saplings had been wrapped in rolls of grey-blue cloth and I was sent to plant them in anticipation of the event. I heard a voice saying "after 5000 years". I saw an Elven King with a leafy crown riding a white horse making his way through, as if he were surveying the progress of the Great New Spring.
There was music, too! In Dreams.
As a side note, I've found if fall asleep with my headphones in and a movie going it disrupts the dreaming process, like static interference.
The Sword of Justice
The Sword of Justice:
Is very sharp.
Should only be picked up with clean hands.
Cuts both ways.
Often impales someone that perhaps you did not originally intend.
Is not fit for mortals.
Is a scalpel-sharp instrument best left to the able hands and eyes of God Himself.
The law of the universe is that if you deal Retribution on your fellow-man, you yourself are called to account by the same standard. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Sinners like me have to be careful.
__________________
Retraction: I think a few posts ago I said that I eat $4000 of food a month. This is obviously incorrect. I think I meant to say $400 a month. I'm not sure exactly what it is.
Food, Inc.
One of my fave armies we've done: the Imperial Guard Strike Force. It's veterans made from space marine scouts.
While you were sleeping, a lame duck congress, like a disgruntled employee who's been fired but still has access to company computers, passed the so-called Food Safety Bill in a most sneaky way. They slipped it into a military appropriations bill HR 3082. It gives the FDA sweeping powers over your food and clamps down on any farm making over $500K a year. Did I say "make"? I meant "gross" which at the profit margin, if any, of a typical family farm is almost no margin at all.
I hope you like eating genetically modified food. The Feds now control the food supply.
Like a mean little piranha, I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to take a bite out of big agriculture and stop going out to fast food and Snickers bars. I've had it with corn syrup. I'm also going to change my food-buying habits. According to my calculations I eat at least $4000 of food a year. I'm going to redirect that money as local and organic as possible. As usual, Federal intervention will have unintended consequences. My prediction: this will see the rise of micro-farming.
Let's start with Monday morning. I was up bright an early for an hour or two then went back to sleep. Sound lazy? Bright and early means 1:30am. I am now using an agenda book to plan out my days, like on my mission, and Monday was an absolute insanity. Nevertheless, I cleared the list and got it all in order. It's clear now that I need to have a more rigid schedule at the studio with people arriving at certain times, and not play it as loosely as I have in the past.
I read this brilliant article by genius author Terry Pratchett entitled Why Gandalf Never Married. Pratchett missed my teenage reading years I'm sorry to say, I think I would have enjoyed him very much.
Recently, I've been thinking about a core philosophy of mine: to grasp the enjoyment of life while still alive. This comes from two sources. The first is a conversation I had with my Dad in late 2003. We were up in the mountains above my beloved Ashland, on the balcony of a massive log home overlooking the ancient pines. He was dying of cancer just a few months to live, so in a way this was like his death bed (I called it his "death recliner" as that was where he was sitting while I took notes as if by dictation). He pointed to his new truck and said he waited his whole life to buy that truck, and to retire and now that it happened he was going to die. He urged me to not wait around to live life, but to seize it. A sort of carpe diem speech. Well, not really a speech as he was a get-to-the-point kind of guy and said it all in two sentences.
The second source is my study of monetary policy. When the government is inflating the money supply so much that it outpaces the return from investment then it's time to consume. Eat that money before its value slides. Put another way, if inflation is at 10% and your best return for saving/investing your money is 5% then you're better off just eating it up. Grab it and stuff it in your mouth before the Feds steal it from you. Make no mistake: it is theft. By stealth or force. Solution: allow competing hard currencies; commodity money. I would love to pay my workers in cash. Nowadays that is called "under the table". I propose banishing the table itself. If there are no taxes (ie the Central Govt is funded entirely by alternative revenues such as tariffs) then there is no IRS, no record-keeping, no accountants to pay at $75 an hour. All those resources are freed into the real economy. I dream of that day. It's what I want as a citizen-voter.
But I digress. I now have a growing force of Ork boyz, about fifty at this time. They are being painted up for the first event at Valhalla in late January. One of the scenarios we're working on involves a horde of Ork boyz. I've got about three bins chock full of all the stuff that needs to be painted up. I'm trying to get Cameroon and Josephus clear of their regular painting duties and get them on terrain again.
It's time to buy your ticket! The January event is about a third full at this time.
A Batrep with IG vs DE is being planned for tomorrow. I also have plans to get a better camera (still a ways off).
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[Reader comment on this post]
BTW, I just read the new blog post; it was awesome. I find your writing style very enjoyable. Rather than a long drawn out dialogue on a single track subject with the good points sprinkled in here and there, it's a series of quick, dense, and satisfying 'shorts' addressing a wide range of topics throughout the post. Very fitting to my reading style and how my brain processes information.
When I was young they tried to tell me I had ADD.... :\ It's the most fake B.S. "condition" I've ever learned of, of which I'm fairly sure was invented for doctors to use to get that sweet methylphenidate prescription. I digress, however, I think a lot of kids have the capacity to absorb a lot of dense information and not only understand it, but retain it. Just not enough of them for the gov. to consider changing our outdated public school teaching format. Previously being a teacher (of younger children I believe?), i'm curious what your thoughts on that are?
Back to your blog though, as much as I too disapprove of the Federal Dumb A**'s new bill, as a closet optimist I can only hope that it becomes the catalyst that finally gets people doing the things you've talked about:
"stop going out to fast food and Snickers bars. I've had it with corn syrup. I'm also going to change my food-buying habits. According to my calculations I eat at least $4000 of food a year. I'm going to redirect that money as local and organic as possible."
My wife and I for years now have tried to find small, organic, 'homestead' based CSA's for our source of food (the kind that gross < weeks =" $1976/">
I also am hope full that more people will start micro farming as well. As a test this spring i took a 4' x 4' patch of normal lawn and cut out the grass (sort of like what a sod cutter would do). I planted 6 bell pepper plants, a tomato plant, an eggplant, and a crook neck squash. My test was to see how little I could prep the spot and how little attention I could give the plants, but still get a yield (to disprove the common statement "I don't have the time or energy to make a garden"). I mixed in only a little paydirt and set a timer for the water... I've made at least 4-5 gallons of pasta sauce, have had squash or eggplant with dinner more times than I care to remember, and am STILL getting peppers.
I still don't like the bill... but perhaps something good (inadvertently) will come of it. I could go on but you're a busy man. My point is that the blog is great (both the content and the format).
Thank you,
David S.
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More comments
I hope that this is not inappropriate of me to email you here, but I was not able to post on the blogspot..
Yes the Nazis would be proud of the Food Safety Bill, also known as bill S-510 before they trojan horsed it in to HR-3082. I hope everyone starts cultivating their own micro farms. "Permaculture" farms may be the way to go. Also, try to get heirloom seeds..
Shawn I think that's spot-on what you said about getting rid of "the table", so to speak, and paying your employees directly in cash. I support you 100% (although that's easy for me to say because I don't own a business). It's so refreshing to hear a business owner such as yourself speak out on these topics. It's often difficult to bring these subjects up without immediately being labeled as a "conspiracy theorist".
There is nothing theoretical about how criminal the Fed is. Here is s clip of Alan Greenspan admitting that the Federal Reserve is NOT part of the U.S. government and that there is no government agency that can over-rule their actions..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QkmLnNEvdU&feature=related
Cheers,
- J.J.
Back in the Saddle
It's 1:30am and I'm smacking those emails around. I was asleep since 9pm or so. Can't wait to get back to the studio and get going on a new working week.
Normal business hours. Ready whenever you are. Contact me at bluetablepainting@gmail.com for any matter.
At this particular moment I'm watching The Color of Magic.
The Shiv
I picked up this list off www.yesthetruthhurts.com It looks like an absolute ton of fun to play.
Duke. 150 points.
Trueborn, 3 with 2 blasters. 66.
Venom, Splinterx2, 65.
131
Trueborn, 3 with 2 blasters. 66.
Venom, Splinterx2, 65.
131
Trueborn, 3 with 2 blasters. 66.
Venom, Splinterx2, 65.
131
5 Warriors, Blaster, Sybarite with Blast Pistol. 85
Venom, Splinterx2, 65.
150
5 Warriors, Blaster, Sybarite with Blast Pistol. 85
Venom, Splinterx2, 65.
150
5 Warriors, Blaster, Sybarite with Blast Pistol. 85
Venom, Splinterx2, 65.
150
5 Warriors, Blaster, Sybarite with Blast Pistol. 85
Venom, Splinterx2, 65.
150
5 Warriors, Blaster, Sybarite with Blast Pistol. 85
Venom, Splinterx2, 65.
150
5 Warriors, Blaster. 60
Venom, Splinterx2, 65.
125
Scourges, 5 with 2 Heat Lances: 134
Scourges, 5 with 2 Haywire Blasters: 130
Ravager, 3 Lances: 105.
Ravager, 3 Lances: 105.
Ravager, 3 Lances: 105.
Total: 1997
Notes: So 9 Venoms that drop double blast units in your face, backed by Scourges and Ravagers for focused anti-tank into select units. What are the haywire blasters for? Smartasses with immune to melta and/or lance weapons vehicles. lol
Obviously, Duke goes with the Warrior unit without a Sybarite (he comes with a Blast Pistol).
Deep strike it all, demech the enemy, and if he doesn’t have mech…oh boy, 9 Venoms and a large number of warriors and scourges with poisoned weapons everywhere.Aftermath
Christmas day was the usual thing. We kept it relatively simple, mostly useful gifts like clothes with just two things per child that they wanted. Fortunately, our kids are still young enough (2,5,9,11) to still be impressed by simple things. I think I spent at least twelve hours just laying around. I didn't realize how exhausted I am from working so much. My body just soaked up the relaxation. I actually slept probably five hours on and off during the day.
The angel at the top of the tree was lop-sided. I though I heard her say "how do I get out of this chicken-**** outfit?"
My wife made a potato, cheese and sausage casserole in the morning. We picked on that all day long. About a third of it had just the sausage eaten off the top by one of the kids. I ate horribly-- orange sticks, chocolate, pistachios, eggos, cheeseball, toblerone, and egg nog. Blergh.
I watched about twenty episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist. My wife and I also watched two romantic comedies. It was my idea, not my usual thing. About a Boy and Outsourced. I also took in a documentary about genetically modified food. I don't think I'm going to eat anything from Monsanto again. Or McDonalds. No more fast food for me. It's horrid.
Sunday was more of the same except a better diet. And Church which was awesome. The Elder's Quorum lesson was about "What's Important"; balancing God, family, professional and personal life. It made me wonder if I wasn't biting off more than I could chew by starting a second company (to run the Valhalla project). That lasted about one minute. It's television that's going to take the hit.
I talked with Tamie about my goal of getting home at 6pm tops every night. We also need to eat together as a family most nights. We also made a list of healthy foods that I like and will eat to be fresh and accessible.
Easy foods
Soups
Vegetable soup
Yellow peppers
Radishes
Pears
Cucumbers (prepared in something)
Sandwich fixins
Pita
Mediterranean stuff
Potatoes (red), healthy potato salad
Artichoke hearts
Artichokes
Corn on the cob
Edamame yumay
Carrots
Shepherd's Pie
Sprouts for sandwiches
Grapes
Bananas
Apricots
Plums
Fruit Salad?
FISH!
Pasta
Eve
It's Christmas Eve and everything is slow. I stayed at home today, only visiting the studio briefly to get my new monitor and take it home. That monitor was a gift from Skymarshall Anonymo.
I'm watching Full Metal Alchemist all the way through again. I watched it in 2005 or so and so I forgot most of the episodes. Now my kids are old enough to appreciate it, though I have to "parentally guide" them. A good part of the day I was lazing about and
My wife and I went out to run some local errands and had a lovely time. We very much enjoy each other's company. We picked up candy for stockings and a few needed items of clothing. Sounds simple, but it was really wonderful. Just to be with my wife, hold the door open for her, and talk with her while taking the road home.
I had a dream last night that I was reading a book of poems. I remember one line, in reference to autumn leaves:
Here they come, scorched and tumbling
My overwhelming sense right now is one of gratitude. I view my life in Utah as a type of afterlife, a paradise. It's so beautiful and all is going so well. How fortunate I am to have a good marriage, that's really the beating heart of happiness. And four beautiful healthy children.
I would like to thank you, oh reader, for taking time to make our life part of yours. I am ever so grateful and surprised that Blue Table has been so successful. You don't know how far the ripples go. I provide many jobs and many people can hold their heads high up as free men (and women) who provide a durable good. I don't talk about it much, but a lot of the money ends up in charitable work. So thank you so much for patronizing our business. You are the life blood.
I have a Ron Paul 2008 sign in my front yard. Here Ron Paul talks a lick of sense.
Through fractional reserve banking (ie counterfeiting 90% of the money loaned out) the banks have effectively defrauded me out of two years of my working life. Am I angry? No. The Good Lord has taken care of me and reimbursed me manifold and blessed me abundantly. For every dollar I am robbed, I get two as a "child of heaven". Every dollar I give away I think there is a return of five to one. I have great concern for my brothers in the banking system. I want to stop this system so they are not bitten in this life and the next for their fraud.
Today I watched a small documentary on the Congo. An exporter, when confronted with the inhuman conditions of the miners, defended himself by saying that what he was doing was legal. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right.
Maybe there are some things that are illegal that are right.
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Remember, canned goods are the poor man's gold. Or any hard consumable good, even tooth paste or chocolate bars. You can even liquidate their value on your own in hard times. Toilet paper even holds value against inflation. Look for sales every time you go to the store.
I also advise leaving off bad habits like cigarettes or cola.
Cronos
We had a few Talos conversions roll off the line.
Lessee, what's the news. I really haven't kept up on the blog and I apologize for that. Right now at this moment I am at home with family, at the kitchen table, keeping an eye on the kids. Tamie is in the other room wrapping presents. Our kids are still young enough to be impressed by relatively inexpensive presents. After all, that's what Christmas is about. Seriously though, we do a traditional Christmas thing complete with nativity, reading Luke 2 and all that. I just don't like to talk about it. I guess I just did.
We don't really overly stress about Christmas. We keep it simple. We realize that for the kids the presents are a big thing. It's fun. My wife and I try not to overthink it.
There's a thing where people say Happy Holidays and I'm fine with that. I really don't care either way. It's Christmas, though, after all. I'm all for freedom of religion, which I should say also protects people who want to believe in nothing. Just make sure your corpse isn't blocking my driveway.
That was harsh. How did I get from Merry Christmas to that?
We're working on the Mountain Fortress project, absolutely an enormous amount of time and expense going into that. More details are coming up. I'm working up the tournament format. Renn and other experts are going to be involved heavily. I don't think I should really even say tournament. It's more like a "scored wargaming adventure". The rough draft looks like the following:
During the three day event you play four games, each worth 10 points each. You can play the four games at your leisure, though there will be primary times for this. Two games will be against other players and two will be Mission type scenario games against studio armies on themed boards. You can take your army up against the studio force, or you can play a studio force. We are also trying to work in there the possibility where you don't even need to bring an army. Storyline and scenarios play big into this. If you want to play a fifth game and drop your lowest score, you have the option of doing that as well. Players will get a personal score and a team score (you'll be part of a faction for the story eg xenos, invaders, imperials).
One possibility is that you can show up, no army, and play the Orks all around in the various scenarios, for example. Same for Blood Ravens.
Normally at a tournament you have a small percentage of really competitive players who club their way through a herd of baby seals to the top table (yes, I really heard this analogy on a prominent forum). Prizes are given to the elite few. To the rest: obscurity. I don't like that. That's why I don't go to tournaments. I want an event where there are competitive challenges (some of the scenario games will have high scoring potential but be almost impossible to win) but where a low-intensity player will be able to have a great time and be part of a memorable story.
A big part of that is to make world-class tables and terrain. Well, at least really, really cool ones. No sucky terrain!
We are basing the first two events roughly on the Kastorel Novem storyline, a book from Forge World. We are making a huge Ork army for this. One of the scenarios will feature (for example) a horde of 150+ ork infantry. This is underway. Which reminds me, I am still running a really good special for massed infantry. We can currently do: Gaunts, Guardsmen, Orks, Skaven, Tac Marines. In fact, I'm open to almost anything in a run of 50+, though I would prefer 100+.
I am making one storyline change, Blood Ravens are going to be the SM chapter.
In summary: a TON of stuff is going on behind the scenes. I expect the whole story will break in 5-10 days.
Many fans have suggested we improve our picture-taking ability. I agree and we're working on it. I almost invariably hear that the figures are better in person than on the website.
In my personal life all is well. I have a great marriage and four lovely children, all in good health. Well, that's not quite right, we had to cancel some Christmas plans from two kids with infections. K had strep and W had some kind of sub-dermal face infection that sealed one of her eyes shut. It was quite pathetic. She's all better now after a run of antibiotics.
Drumming Fingers
Well, I'm all caught up down at the studio. I'm just waiting around to set up new projects.
A few posts back you may remember there is a post for massed Ork boyz in runs of 100. Now, you can get those in a run of 50+. In fact, the first fifty are ready to go right now (just a mix of slugga and shoota boyz).
Just L3 painting: $4 per model
Completed figure: $9 per model (we provide figure, assembly, and painting)
Lots
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I put up this vid a few days ago. You can buy these lots for a limited time as bulk deals by game type.
War Machine $1750
Warhammer Fantasy $3450 (this includes the Oriental army)
Other Miscellaneous $550 (oddball RPG-type figures including GW figures that don't fit in an army)
There is some overlap, for example there are five high elf swordmasters, old oop metals. Do those go with the Fantasy lot? My rule is, if it's in the Misc bins and not a substantive part of one of the other two lots then it goes with Misc. A lot of those figures were meant for RPG games. The price is good enough that there shouldn't be too much quibbling.
If you are interested, contact me at bluetablepainting@gmail.com
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Blurt it Out
I have so much to write about I don't even know where to start.
I got called as a teacher in Elder's Quorum today. That means I'll be giving a "sunday school" type lesson every month, just once a month. I was enjoined privately to be more "orthodox" in my lessons. That the "majority" of the lesson should come straight from the book. In my mind I'm thinking "OK, majority could mean 51%+" Oh, and that I shouldn't use any curse words, or phrases like "crack whore" or "hell world". But inside I was like "Mwahahahahaaaa!"
Won't they ever learn?
Willow used the potty by herself for the first time by herself. And it was on my watch. She came in and said "poop! poop!" and did the whole process pretty much by herself. Like you wanted to hear that. But too bad, you should know better than to come here then.
My wife cooked up some steak and salmon, a treat I picked up on the way home from work last night. We ate as a family.
It's super-windy out, and overcast, with a bit of drizzle. Grey clouds are slicing through the distance like whales. Just the way I like it. And apparently weak similes.
Church was awesome as always, though I spent a goodly part of it out in the halls with Willow. She likes to say hi to people.
Other than that, it was a typical Sunday; relaxing, enjoying family, eating cookies and watching TV. Can't wait for Monday. Please excuse me if I put you into a coma with the absolute boredom of it all.
Orange vs White
Tron Legacy left me with an almighty hankering for a creamsicle.
I went to see it with my two boys ages five and nine. They are good kids. They loved it. I found nothing objectionable in the movie for those ages. I loved it. My opinion isn't worth much as I am ever so easy to please.
The music was thumping techno mixed with a swelling musical score. The movie really does transport you to another world, so visually different that is a complete stimulation. It made me feel like a little child again, in a land of wonder. I was about eleven when the first Tron came out and I could barely stop thinking about it.
The trick is to not overthink it. The plot is pretty simple, but the enjoyment of the movie comes from the feeling and tone and visuals.
One bad thing about it, for me, is that I have a complete crush on Quorra now.
Massed Orks
As I mentioned before, we are doing a massed Ork army for the two events in early 2011.
So, I'm doing a special on Ork boyz. $4 per model, painted Artistic License. That's for the painting. Minimum run of 100 models. This is for basic ork boyz only (unit upgrades OK). Painting Level is L3. The sample pics here are what they will look like roughly.
We can provide the models at $2 per Ork boy, and $3 for assembly. Or you can send your own. Remember to clean mould lines and texture them (or we can do it at $1 per model).
You can have us do your other models as well, like Lootaz, Nobz and what-not. Specialty models count as 1.5 boyz. Here are pics of the prototype. There are options:
- we can do a different base style (one of our basic bases).
- we can drop the war paint.
- we can do a different color war paint.
Valhalla Update December 17th
Tickets are still available for January and February events. Remember, you can get an "event pass" and find your own accommodations in the valley.
The first of four major terrain boards are underway: an Ork manufacturing yard. The others are going to be Deep Badlands, Chemical Plant, and Poisoned Oasis.
We have also started on the studio Ork army which will be available for use and also scenarios.
Christmas Hours
Other than taking a half-day for Christmas Eve, and the whole day Christmas Day (Saturday), BTP will be open for business and ready to take orders.
Valhalla Update December 15th
We are working on the scenarios for the "tournament". There are multiple layers of thinking here. The whole thing should be worked out a week from now.
We want to create an event for you to be in, a spectacle or an experience. Not only will you be in a different world physically (ie up in the mountains of Utah) but you will also be on a distant planet commanding your army.
We are going to create a world in the form of terrain boards that represent key warzones and environments on Kastorel Novem (inspired by the Forge World book). It's not just a series of three or four games against random opponents and armies, it's part of a story. Each person will get a personal score, but will also be part of a team that works as part of the storyline: Raiders, Barbarians, Imperials, etc... We're thinking four factions at this time.
We're abandoning the idea of the "rental army" at this time. We're going to make a huge Ork army (4500-6000 pts), a huge Ravenguard army (at least one whole company) and an Imperial Guard army (anyone have some Elysian troops?). These are the principal actors in the Kastorel Novem storyline.
You are welcome to bring your own force OR to draw from the studio armies*. So, basically, you don't need your own army to participate. Again, you can bring your own army if you want. You'll pre-send your list, and you can also send your story (ie why your army is on the planet) and your commander's name. We will weave that into the scenarios.
You also might play against staff, other players, or as part of pre-set sub-scenarios. You also might have specialized missions, objectives and scenarios just for your army.
So it will be like a part-custom-part-RPG type of event. The schedule is likely to be two or three games on Friday and a grand finale game on Saturday.
More information to come!
*So, not only the Kastorel Novem armies we're making but also Dark Eldar, Eldar (?), or other forces we have on hand.
Questions for Morning Show
Please send questions you may have to bluetablepainting@gmail.com
Use subject line "Morning Show Question". We will pick some and answer them!
Sovereign Intervention
Now this might be odd after my last post about hurting someone by helping them. Nonetheless I have been thinking a lot recently by what I call the sovereign intervention of God* where He does something good or merciful but with one-sided motive or action. I came across this today from Luke 7
Jesus Raises the Widow's Son at Nain
11 ¶ And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.
12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.
13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
16 And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.
17 And this rumor of him went forth throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region round about.
Now this is different than the usual thing where someone seeks him out, or he says that it is their faith that made them whole.
Apparently none of the above. There are so many open-ended questions here. I think the key is "he had compassion on her". Sometimes God does good things for me even if I haven't even asked.
The connection for me is the what of the miracle. Raising someone from the dead is the pinnacle (or near to it) of divine intercession. What did he give the woman? What did he give the young man? The gift of life. Well, isn't that the gift given to each of us-- free and clear from square one without even being asked. God's own work. "I do my Father's work" that thing.
And later this same chapter (see my own comments in bold):
Jesus at the Home of Simon the Pharisee
36 ¶ And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat.
37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
38 and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Mt. 26.7 · Mk. 14.3 · Joh. 12.3
39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him; for she is a sinner.
40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
41 There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. One is ten times the other.
42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Frankly = no strings attached. "Nothing to pay" is the condition of all humans. It is the condition of being empty-handed. Only some realize it and others do not.
43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. The woman shows ultimate self-abnegation and obeisance. She is completely humble, perhaps realizing her condition. Three parts: washing the feet, a kiss, and anointing. I wonder if that means something.
47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. What is the connection between love and forgiveness. It makes me think of Romans 2:4** It should also be noted that Simon is a Pharisee and his thinking is: Keep the Law = be justified, as long as you are keeping the rules there is no reason to be repentant.
48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
As usual, I must end with my usual disclaimer. I am not a particularly good person. I think I have the same struggles of character that are common to man. BUT there is no law saying that reeking sinners such as myself can't read the scriptures and have ideas and insights!
*See the "empty hands" post for what I mean when I say this.
** Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
2010 Retrospective Part 1
One of my big lessons in 2010 is that helping someone can sometimes hurt them. Sometimes what someone needs is to stand on their own two feet.
A job. That's the best thing you can do for another human. Provide a job.
Let's say you picked a young married couple and anonymously sent them a check for $3000 every month. I daresay you might destroy that young couple. At the very least they would not form the bonds that being young and broke together would forge.
Perhaps this idea is callous. It stems from seeing the unemployment benefits being extended by the Feds. I know at least two perfectly able-bodied young men who were kept from doing anything useful for well over a year. I think it hurt them. It definitely hurt society as their productivity dropped to nothing.
__________________________________
[Comment by a fan]
Dear Shawn,
I hope you will elaborate a little on this in part 2. I'm in a similar situation,
having spent a year doing very little, living mostly on unemployment
because it's not worth working part-time hours (although I have been when I can).
I live in Australia, and under the current system, you actually lose
money by working part-time. These days you're lucky to find someone
to employ you full-time, since it's cheaper for employers to keep pushing
part-time hours. You don't agree, you don't get ANY hours.
I believe unemployment benefits encourage people to be lazy, which will definitely hurt
them in the long run (my spirits have taken the biggest hit ever this year).
Young people fresh out of high school get wads of cash thrown at them, and are then told
to find work. The unemployed should be helped into work if they need it.There should be
mandatory work experience, volunteer work or apprenticeships for those too long on benefits.
I've been a member of two unemployment agencies, and they are honetsly a joke. I don't know
how it is in the US, but these establishments are government funded, and like most bureaucracies,
I believe they exists to give the people working there jobs rather than to find other people work.
Perhaps they are reluctant to do their jobs since if they do them properly, they'd be the ones out of work.
Consequently, I'm about to start training for a job, but if you ever need another painter or assembler
(and would like an Aussie accent in the studio), please drop me an email. I'm at a moment in my life
where I'm prepared to start afresh and dedicate myself to something new, and Utah looks like a wonderful
place to live. I'm sure I can sell my position to you if needed.
Yours sincerely,
A Huge Fan,
Too Much Toast
Part of BTP is that I try and answer every call and email personally. There is a limit to this and to how much I will let the business grow. I think this is something really unusual for any business.
Please be kind and patient with me. If I delay in responding, or if my responses are short, it is nothing personal. Sometimes I have a pretty high volume of email.
If you are a client (ie you are paying for a project) I encourage you to make your needs known. You need to be explicit like "Shawn, I was hoping for more detail on such-and-such item" or put URGENT in the subject line. Or contact me via Gmail chat if you can.
If you are not a client it helps to keep emails short or use bulleted points. If an email is massive blocks of text without paragraphs or good punctuation it's really hard for me to digest.
Don't get me wrong, I really want to keep that personal touch, it's super-important to me and I work very, very hard to keep it current.
Saturday
Today I'm working at the studio. Then off to the staff Christmas party.
I'm available for questions or to set up new projects.
Wingers
We went to lunch at Wingers today. Wish I had brought the Flip. It was pretty raucous. I wish I hadn't told all those dirty jokes so loud.
We got seated right next to the men's room. Always a lovely location. Convenient, but... I went in to wash my hands and fairly well gagged from a thick fog of rotting-eggs straight from the devil's own rectum. It was gag-tastic. I mentioned that I gagged, right.
The bbq wings were so good it made me actually want to go back. Wingers is a hole.
Waitress was nice. She actually checked in like ten times.
I had a Dr. Pepper. Really bad for me, but it tastes so good.
Dreadwall
Saw this army on BOLS. It's a Dread list.
1x Techmarine Father of the Forge
6x Ironclad Dreadnoughts
2x Razorbacks
10x Tactical Marines
We can make this for $1050. Three payments of 350. Sounds like a really fun army.
Save $50 for giving us Artistic License (ie we pick chapter).
Save $100 for going L2 all around
Limited quantity.
Ready
I'm at the studio pretty much caught up, just ready to set up new projects. I've got quite a few armies for sale right now, and even single figures, actually a few hundred entries.
Definitely worth looking at.
Painted Warhammer/40k Minis for Sale
Up in the Mountains
I'm going to be incommunicado from 2pm to 4pm Mountain time today.
Update: now I'm back and ready to answer questions and set up projects!
Georgian
Does anyone out there speak Georgian? If so can you contact me at bluetablepainting@gmail.com?
This is Georgian right?
საცხოვრებლად გადასვლა, გადასახლება
Menoth for sale
This army comes with a custom Battlefoam carrying case.
Buy it by Wednesday and get it for $650.
Chicken Strips
Something unusual happened this morning. I slept in until 10:30am. Like a rock. I was dimly aware of kids coming in and out and odd kitchen noises, kind of like the time-lapse opening of King of the Hill. I think my whole body was exhausted from the week. I was feeling a little under the weather the last few days but I am completely better now.
Some of the kids are sick so I went to church alone which was most gratifying. I felt completely recharged in my brain.
For dinner my wife fired up the mini-fryer and made french fries and chicken strips. Deeeelish! Pretty much the entire afternoon in bed like a lump completely useless watching Netflix. At least one time all four kids were using me like a giant pillow. A moment of familial bliss.
Later I downed two giant frosty glasses of chocolate milk. I'm looking forward to Monday and the new things the working week will bring!
White Umbrella
I had a dream last night.
I was up at the Mountain Fortress and I spoke out loud about the enormous sum I needed to raise in such a short period of time. I saw on the ground in front of me a white umbrella. It was made out of those mini-umbrella-looking seed pods, like from a dandelion spore, except each one was about an inch in diameter.
As I went to pick it up, a body-shocking gust of wind kicked up from behind me and carried the white umbrella violently into the field in front of me. I turned to face the wind. It was so strong I had to squint my eyes. As I opened my arms outstretched the wind carried me bodily into the air like a kite.
_________________________
I'm not making any sort of claims to divine guidance or fate or whatever, mind you. This is more like "look at this funny growth on my brain". I just realized later this afternoon that the interpretation wouldn't just be obvious to the casual reader.
Interpretation:
The field represents un-tapped possibilities. The white umbrella is a pure idea, something that has the power to be borne aloft. It is a mature idea that is ready to go to the next level (like the spore-head is the final stage of the dandelion). The smaller dandelion spores that make up the umbrella represent many individuals, each with limitless potential.
The wind represents a divine or supernatural force coming from an unexpected quarter. But it is unstoppable once unleashed. Opening my arms means to openly accept the goodness and grace of God without reservations. And to be lifted into the air represents doing something that would otherwise be impossible.
