Sunday, June 13, 2010

Report From the Home Front and a Hot Mess of Introspection

[WARNING]: This post is kinda long and rambling

One of my many super secret new years resolutions was to increase the amount of posting I did here on Laubersheimer Industries and thusly increase readership. Not doing so good so far on increasing production, in all honesty. Which is kind of a bummer for me (and maybe you) as I genuinely do enjoy blogging.

I like coming into contact with new people and ideas, I like writing (as it turns out) and I like the fact that people are actually interested in what I have to say. Hell, in a sick way I even enjoyed the nearly incomprehensible hate mail I got from John Humphrey when I ripped into him for being a whiny bitch.* Sadly, I write about as fast as I paint - slowly. Which is why I feel like I fall down a bit as a blogger - I need to post more often in order to get to where I want to be.

Which brings me to the most recent two week gap and the problems facing most of us bloggers who are employed - the interference of accursed real life. I do a lot of my thinking about topics for this blog at work during the slow times. Sadly, the summer has not been as as slow as I'd like so far.

1) Due to an extremely aggressive new website launch date and a woefully understaffed web design department - I've been recruited to help the web guy and his part time copywriter to build out the 1200 pages on the new site. So instead of some nice time for quiet reflection and getting caught up with my collection development tasks, I've been up to my ass in Jumpcharts and some god-awful Datatel CMS doing a task that is ... less interesting than I'd like. Mind-numbingly tedious yet requiring complete concentration.

2) Sad times for the Laubersheimer Industries transport division - Special Lady Friend got rear-ended on the highway (she was at a complete stop due to what I will loosely classify as 'construction'#) and then consequently rammed into the car in front of here which was consequently rammed into the car in front of it. This all happened about last Monday. Thankfully the insurance process has been quick, it wasn't her fault and the other guy's insurance has accepted responsibility.

Super luckily, Special Lady Friend is fine and the car was worth more than we owed on it. Financially speaking, it may have been a pretty lucky break since we paid off the car and can now probably get a way better deal on a new car. Bonus points for getting enough money back for a new down payment. The down side is the PT Cruiser rental we're stuck with. Oh, and Special Lady Friend's general condition of achiness and airbag friction burns.

3) Coming up, the Progenitors are coming to visit so I've been busy bringing the cleanliness of my apartment up to code. Next week looks to be a busy one as there are numerous touristy things to do as well as some car shopping. Not much else to mention except that another trip to the Met is scheduled as well as another delicious excursion to Louis' Lunch - birthplace of the hamburger.

Rather than cut this short, I'm gonna press on. One of the best things about blogging is being able to pretty much do what you want in terms of style and content. So lets take care of some loose ends. Eat a dick, continuity!

A) I've added a couple more blogs to the links list. I think both the Back 40k and Strictly Average are exactly the kind of things you'd enjoy if you enjoy this blog. The back 40k is a great collaborative effort that is all over the place in terms of content, but very constant with its quality. Strictly Average is that rare personal hobby blog that is both interesting and an absolute laugh-riot to read. Brent, seriously, you crack my shit up.

B) Since BoLS seems like they are never going to announce the winners of the BA hobby challenge, I'll just go ahead and mention that I clinched 3rd place.

Not as well as I'd hoped - as anyone who enters a contest wants to win it all - but I'm still very pleases with finishing in the money (even though there is no prize for third) AND being best in class (that made up class being 'tanks'). I'm pretty chuffed, truth be told. Maybe I'll get a mention when BoLS finally gets around to posting the results.

C) As I look back on the early days, I notice that the blog has evolved. Not to earth-shattering a revelation, but interesting never the less. When I first started out I had visions of being a simple super cool hobby blog detailing all of my ace painting. Turned out I paint too slow and it was boring to write and even more boring to read. Then I had brief aspirations of becoming a hobby info page that would increase the level of table top quality and SAVE PAINTING FOREVER. Turns out I paint too slow, writing tutorials is hard & unrewarding and that its easier to link to the people who are doing way better work in that area in the first place. At this point, I'm pretty much writing 'just another' hobby blog, but I think I'm much closer to having found my own voice and made the process mine.

I've also noticed that as I've personalized the blog a bit more over time. I tend to put a bit more of my self in the writing and even some of the details of my personal life. I also swear a lot more as well. I think all of that does wonders for connecting with people and engaging them in discussion as a human being. Some of the other hobby blogs are pretty dry and formal when you get right down to it - very impersonal and very... bland. While the impersonal, completely on topic PG rating hobby blog may be fun for some people, I find that it lacks passion. Something I think is very important when writing about a hobby you love.

Looking back at some of my early posts, it was all WIP shots of yet another boring marine army and totally uninspired, flavorless writing. There was no zest and verve. I like to think that I've become a lot more entertaining as an author over the years.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with where things are and as I've evolved, people seem to be responding to things better. So... go me.

With that, I think I'll briefly mention that I'm in that rare place where I actually have more ideas to write about than I have immediate time and that it's new logo time. So be on the lookout for some sweet photoshop 'art' and some articles on a wide range of topics including (in no particular order) things like Footdar, Apocalypse, car shopping, a four year blog anniversary and an actual tutorial.

So as I come to the end of one of my most rambling posts in a long, thanks for sticking it out this far.

------[Foot Notes]-----------------------
*The best part about the whole thing is that half way through writing my response, I received an 'edited for clarity' version of his rant complete with a totally polite intro to the edits - such as they were.

#and by construction, I mean a highway dept, truck had decided to close a lane of traffic for no reason around a blind bend with no warning signs on a two lane highway with no shoulder. Luckily for him, after he caused an accident he had the presence of mind to flee the scene.

4 comments:

  1. That was quite the ramble. Glad to hear things are all good in Lauby land. Keep up the work. I'd say good work, but it's all good and I'd feel I was being redundant. Redundant as in saying the same thing over again, which is repeating myself for no purpose other than to lengthen this comment.

    {^}

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  2. good luck on the car shopping laubs, what type of vehicle are you looking for?

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  3. gonna take a look at a mazda3 or maybe another civic.

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  4. smaller car then huh?(I vaguely remember those days)

    Coupe or sedan? I liked everything about the mazda 3 except the driving position...


    Check out the hyundai Genesis. Available as a coupe and sedan with a 2.0Turbo 4, or a bigger v-6.

    Also Rear-wheel drive. one of the few new cars I would actually think about getting a car payment over.

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