Sunday, March 11, 2018

TRYING TO PUT 20 POUNDS OF STUFF IN A 10 POUND BAG


 It Looks More Orderly Than It Is: There is More Stuff Than Shelf Space (and You Can't See What's Left, Right, and Behind the Camera): Sorting and Culling Is In Order.

Ever since sometime in late August, things have been something of a blur--a combination of high tempo at work, a series of disruptive unplanned trips half way across the country to deal with family issues, and gaming projects that I didn't "recover" from before moving on, have all taken their toll on my "man cave." The spiral into entropy began with putting together the Ramillies 1815 game, for which my room was both the workshop and staging area.  And then, once it was over, I brought the stuff home and just dumped it in the room, an explosion of 28mm Napoleonics,  terrain, reference sheets, game bits, etc.  I walked away and left it "for later" to sort and stow. The time and energy for that, though, didn't come. Meanwhile, I tinkered with one or two more games (abortive), which left more stuff sitting out.  Of course I acquired new toys, a few more books, and did a few more painting projects, all things that would need new homes to be found, but which instead just got put in the room--sitting out mixed in with the exploded old stuff.  And that has been the state of things for the last few months.  I was operating right at the capacity of the room before.  I'm past that now:  the long-anticipated clear out is a matter of necessity. 
 Napoleonics In The Attic

I've taken the first big step, which was to take my 15mm Napoleonics out of the room and up into the attic--from there, I suspect that they may continue on their way out of my collection, but that's for later. For now, this step has opened up shelf space that will allow me to get some traction on the project (these used to occupy the open shelf space in the right hand corner of the opening picture).

 Perhaps when all is done, I'll be able to do better than lean my swords up in the corners.

I've been whacking away at this a bit at a time over the last few weeks. I intend to dedicate more and longer stretches of time to this project now (dare I call it "spring cleaning"?). I guess somewhere in the back of my head has also been the growing sense that I have reached that point where, as a gamer of a certain vintage, there is stuff that just needs to go. That is a long term thing that I'll no doubt start to engage with in this process (the 15mm Napoleonics being a start). In the short term, the urgency is upon me to to turn the room around so that I can start hosting games again (I'm overdue) and also so that I can start playtesting my Huzzah! game, coming up in May--now there's some more positive motivation!

Excelsior!

12 comments:

  1. I have been going through the same dilemma / solution myself .... at least you have a chair you can still sit in :-)

    All my 15's have gone. I have 28's (lumped in with 1/72 WWII) and 10's left .... only enough room for one to win out, I was doing so well, but I have stalled in my resolve!

    I have seen a number of blogs over recent months talking about selling off parts of collections and giving better focus to fewer projects.

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    1. Seems to be going around the blogosphere, now that you mention it.

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  2. In my wild dreams I have a room as neat and spacious as this! But its all relative.

    I'm slowly coming to the point of view that while physical space and order are important, mental space and focus are even more important and its hard to move forward and stay where you were.

    In short, I wish you success in this.

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    1. I am very fortunate to have the space, I realize. True enough, though, that It’s all relative (what amounts to distracting clutter for one person vs another).

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  3. Your gaming space looks quite tidy! My gaming table at present is a $#%$# mess.

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    1. Well, the photo was taken after I hauled a trash bag’s worth of stuff out of the room that had been living mostly on the table :)

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  4. Swords in the corners??!!

    Yes, there come times when we must organize and store our wargaming madness before it consumes the whole house.
    I have to keep all my wargamer stuff in the garage.

    I had to do some downsizing when I moved a few years ago. I will say that it turned out to be a liberating experience. 😀

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    1. I’ll definitely be keeping the swords! I’ve had a few possession purges in my life, one of them hobby related, and I know of the liberation of which you speak.

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  5. It must be the time of year Ed...
    We have all come out of some sort of hibernation and taken a look around the room.
    I too am ‘sorting ‘ things out.
    I am rather surprised at how many unbuilt/unpainted buildings I have...some urban redevelopment and construction may be necessary.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Funny, one of the things that struck me in inventorying my stuff was the number of buildings I had & the space they took up (there’ll be an assessment of need in the housing department, that’s for sure).

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  6. I have to echo Jonathan, what a neat spacious and tidy room, my shed is actually a mess, I certainly couldn't post photos of it ! It must be something going around, I'm getting rid of 15mm stuff and trying to purge my sci fi stuff, best of luck with your sorting out !
    Best Iain

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    1. Funny you should mention not feeling you could post a picture of your space in it's current state: same here--actually, the photo is after about a half day of straightening and sorting (so not really a "before" picture, but certainly not an "after" shot, either). We'll see where it winds up!

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