I thought it might be interesting for those of you reading this blog to find out a little bit more about our family. So we’re starting with the Head of the Family – TOH.
TOH is a puzzler.
He loves Console games that make him think and have a certain amount of challenge to them (yes, even Dark Souls). He can do a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle in 24 hours – and that’s one with lots of different shades of one colour.
He enjoys the more difficult Lego sets and has IKEA flatpack building down to a fine artform.
So I started getting him partworks – you know those magazines that come with something to build or do or collect – to drag him away from the Lego for a while (it gets Very Expensive for the big, difficult sets…) and to distract him from the pain he’s in.
The first one he did was a proper, working 3D Printer.
Took us a year to collect all the pieces. Took him a week to build because his back was rather bad at the time. We haven’t tested it properly yet though…
Now he’s collecting and building a 1:2 scale working model of R2-D2…
… and it’s testing every ounce of ASD patience that he possesses.
Not because it’s a difficult build – he’s technically minded so it isn’t taxing. However, the order that the pieces come in with each issue and the instructions aren’t well thought out or logical. He has pieces from Issue 1 that aren’t used yet (and he’s on Issue 30-odd) and there are delicate electronic pieces that have already been built, but won’t be put into the Droid for a long while yet.
These have to be stored carefully and out of the reach of small fingers – PW is very interested in what her father is doing, so the idea of leaving them set out on his desk is not a good one. Oh and they’ve sent a small box to store screws and his screwdriver a quarter of the way into the partwork when it would have been more sensible to have it with the screwdriver in Issue 1…
I’m used to hearing swearing coming from the other side of the room when he’s working on a puzzle or a model, but this project has taken it to new heights – and he’s getting creative with the wording because we have to be careful about what we say around PW; she’s taken to copying phrases that she likes the sound of!
So currently we have one and a half legs built… and a box full of small bits and pieces for later use and we’re only up to Issue 57.
It’s the clearest case of the old marketing ploy “Milk the consumer for all they’re worth” that I’ve ever seen… and I thought we’d hit that one when he was collecting the Lord of The Rings chess set.
But it keeps him entertained and more importantly, it distracts him from the chronic pain he feels. No matter what, I will always find something to help him with that – the depression that goes with the pain is worse when he has nothing to distract him.
You might think that his art and illustration work would distract him – originally, that was a part of the plan – however, until we can create a studio set up that will allow him to work in any position he needs to take, that’s rather on the back burner. Or until we can afford to get one of those chairless chair exoskeletons that I’ve seen on the internet…
So his hobbies of Gaming and Puzzling are the best thing he can do at the moment.
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