When I started my current project and returned to painting and making plans for doing some gaming (no games yet...) at the beginning of the year, a large part of that decision was as a way to find some peaceful time to deal with a lot of the stress that has been consuming my life. It may seem like a small thing, or an escapist thing, but it's my "meditation," for lack of a better word. It gives me something positive to enjoy and look forward to.
Earlier this week a mystery package arrived at my home from overseas (UK.) When I opened the box, read the enclosed note and saw what carefully packed inside, I was overwhelmed. I had been having a really bad day up until that point. But it was suddenly washed away by the random generosity of someone I know through the online miniatures community, but have never even met in person. Here's what was inside:
A couple weeks ago I wrote about my quest for the old Nightmare Legion, and the frustration of a limited budget. Fellow forum-goer and "Undead enthusiast," Shadespyer, had offered to keep an eye out for a more affordable Legion than I had been seeing on eBay. He ended up sending me his own figures.
So now I once again have one of the classic Regiments of Renown from my youth. The presence of this nostalgic unit in my project means a whole lot to me. It's a reminder of better times and the enjoyment of care-free gaming. More than that, it is a representation of the kindness of strangers, a reminder that there are many good people in the world, and how amazing it is to live in a time/world where modern communication creates a worldwide community from those with unique interests. I really can't thank him enough.
That's a wonderful story. I was just chatting with my girlfriend today about some of the to-ing and fro-ing in the Oldhammer world, and we both agreed that this online community contains some of the nicest people in the world.
ReplyDeletePut it straight onto to Ebay :D
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, I've had similar generous experiences from the Oldhammer community too. Just goes to show that all that negative media hype that gets shoved down our throats on a daily basis only accounts for the tiniest portion of the world's population. We live in an overwhelmingly nice world :)
I agree. I know that social media gets a bad reputation for supposedly isolating people, but I think that over the years I've managed to find a lot of people with similar interests who I otherwise would have had no contact. And although there are some raging idiots -- just as there are in any community, in-person or online -- there are far more decent, good people that I'm glad to have the opportunity to share my hobby with. And although it's been a while, since I don't get out to shows or clubs anymore, I have met a quite a few of them in person, too!
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