Well it has been quite a while since I have sat down and
wrote anything on this blog. The main
reason is that I am no longer mad and needing to vent. Not to mention the purpose of this blog was
to be resource for others that are unemployed.
I have since learned that there is not that much out there to help
people. I am currently in my 21st
week of unemployment and rapidly approaching beginning what is left of the
federal unemployment. And well I thought
I would give an update of the situation.
One of the most important lessons I have learned over that
last few months is how important it is to have a hobby to occupy your
mind. I had been irritable and short
with everyone. I was always in a hurry
and for no reason. After all where was I
going since I didn’t have a job to go to?
So I picked up a new hobby.
I decided that I wanted to go look at the local hobby
store. I left with a model of an old
sailing galleon. No I didn’t get the
expensive one for obvious reasons. I can’t
afford much and let’s face it; it has been 20+ years since the last time I
built a model so I needed a simple one.
I discovered something the first day I sat down to work on it. It made me be still, calm down and focus my
mind. I never realized just how much I
needed that.
Even the simple models can occupy you for a while. I practiced with different texturing and
painting. I learned from my mistakes,
that frankly you can’t see anyway but I know they are there and they bother
me. And after I finished the ship I was
actually proud of it. I haven’t been
proud of anything since I lost my job and now here I was proud of this. Now I am almost finished with a second one
that looks even better than the first.
There have been some interesting side effects as a result of
picking up this hobby. As I mentioned
previously, my mind has calmed down and focused. Also my attitude has improved
drastically. The most surprising aspect
is that my guitar playing has improved greatly too.
Now it goes without saying I have been playing more
now. But since I have been building the
models I have been learning so much more musically. I have been able to learn a Bach piece that I
have always wanted to. I have been
writing SO much more than I ever thought possible. As a result I have begun to record my music
again too. I opened a page on ReverbNation.com mostly
as an online backup, and people actually like my stuff! So now I have a Facebook
site just for my music too. I never
thought this would happen out of building a model ship
