A changing of wants

While I was a student, I could not get enough music. I enjoyed Indie, Punk and Rock music that helped express my sort-of angst and the sadness and confusion that filled my life due to having a chronicle depressed boyfriend who lived miles and miles away and never really feeling like I fitted in with the people around me.

Fortunately, as time has moved on and I have grown up and away from these feelings (and people), my desire to listen to this style of music has come to an end. However, this has left a hole in my musical tastes that has now been filled with bouncy, happy and/or slightly soppy pop and dance music, much to the disappointment of my boyfriend (who is a hardcore 'real dance music' fan who used to DJ and has fond memories of Ibiza).

Now that I have a job, I have recently taken to browsing and organising my Amazon Wishlists so that I can pretend to myself that I have spare pennies to spend on whatever I would like. Today I decided to do a full over-haul of these and discovered something. My desire has turned away from wanting to collect CDs and more towards purchasing books and DVDs. I wasn't even fully aware of this change until I realised how much "Kill Hannah" and "Nightwish" I had been storing away in these catalogues of want. This has confused me, though. I still enjoy listening to "Extreme Behaviour" by Hinder and Elliot Minor's self-titled first album… but for some reason I'm not as interested as I used to be in the idea of owning any new CDs, which used to be my sole excitement when it came to opening any kind of present.

I am assuming that this is because of some or all of these things; my boyfriend is big on reading, he isn't into my type of music and so I don't subject him to my playlists very often, we both enjoy watching films together. So why do I still want Chick Flicks or Rom/Coms that I know he won't watch with me? Life's full of mysteries, isn't it?

The other reason I can offer is that since I no longer have something else to focus on (such as doing assignments or avoiding doing assignments), listening to music has less of a function and therefore watching a DVD or reading a book keeps two senses focused at once as I'm used to from a time now gone.

I might rediscover my enjoyment of music as I continue my journey into the world of Warhammer, however, as one needs some sort of accompaniment to the constant painting and waiting for paint to dry. If this happens, I'm sure that this blog will become dotted with links to music videos and the likes as I come across new and more interesting things.

Likewise, if and when I am able to browse the internet without worrying about data usage, this blog would probably also become full of videos of kittens and puppies… I can hear you praying that that day shall never come. My heart goes to you people…

Warhammer from a Girlfriend's Perspective

Today I decided to step further into the world of war gaming. Recently, I have been formally introduced to the hobby through my boyfriend, who not only takes part in the collecting itself but was also a manager at my local branch. Fortunately this hasn’t turned him into a complete geek, meaning that we can have conversations that aren’t about “Tyranids” or “Lizardmen”.

Many people said that I would fall into one of several types of girlfriend that a Warhammer ‘geek’ can come across;

Firstly, there is the type of girlfriend who doesn’t get it, doesn’t want to get it and will not care, no matter how hard he tries to entice me with its shininess. This, of course, is often a deal-breaker and would test his integrity in front of his peers.

The second type thinks that it’s endearing. This means that I would just let him get on with it while I get on with my own thing. After all, we’d have other things in common so it’s no big deal.

The third type is a girlfriend who takes an interest in the hobby. Possibly because of the detailed storylines that have been set up for each army. Or, perhaps, due to an interest in the thrill of beating some guy who thinks that, just because he’s got the biggest beasty in the book, he’s going to kick your army into next week, But, more often than not, it’s because there are some really good-looking models that you can assemble and paint together.

And finally, there is the rather rare type of girlfriend. The type who knows as much as, if not more, than you do about war gaming. I say this is a rare type with absolute certainty, based on some of the looks and whispers I have gotten after walking in to buy my boyfriend some more glue or a new pot of paint while he’s at work...

I have fallen firmly into the third-type. Infact, his talent with a paintbrush blew me away almost instantly. Some of his models are stunning! After only a couple of days of visiting his place I declared that I would like him to show me how to paint the models and I’ve been pretty much hooked ever since. Having painted three and a half models so far (I seem to have misplaced part of my Bretonnian Pegasus Knight... the knight part!) I am enjoying being part of my boyfriend’s interest.