The Little World

This was my choice when I was entering dental practice – I’d completed undergraduate training and was certified enough to be let out into the community to exercise the results of my training for profit. Or I could re-enter the university circus tent, sweep up after a different set of elephants for another three years, and then be let out to do more specialised things at a higher price.

I didn’t realise that there was yet a third alternative – I could have gone out, done what I damned well pleased for whatever I wanted to charge, and then pissed off out of the state or country when something went wrong. I know people who did, and did it repeatedly, and have arrived at their time of retirement richer and more honoured than I. And I suspect that as they didn’t give a damn what they did when it was being done, they don’t give a damn in retrospect.

This is sort of awful to think about, but it does at least have an echo in my retirement hobby of scale model building…

a. I could proceed to do what I do with the experience and training that I already have – making each model as best I can with what I already know. If something works I could use it and if it doesn’t then not. The weekly, monthly, and yearly production of models would continue hindered only by the costs of the kits and paints.

b. I could attend seminars, group builds, club meetings, and workshops and continuously seek re-education in ever-finer aspects of modelling. This would have the effect of drawing or driving me further down the road of detailing and small-scale additions. The time taken, outlay for instruction, and cost of extra parts would reduce the number of models I could undertake. Each might be better by some amount, but the overall modelling would fall.

c. I could try everything that comes along – whether I understood it or not – and freely reject things I did not fancy for whatever reason. The models resulting would be a hybrid of simple and complex, but would not be likely to satisfy a serious judge* of the craft. No contest winners, but then again no months spent super-detailing unseen parts.

Guess which approach appeals most to me? Factor in the previous hobbies I participated in that took enormous amounts of time and money and sometimes repaid the investment and sometimes squandered it. DId I learn anything from this?

Several prominent scale modellers have said much the same thing on their internet forums; if you are pursuing a hobby you are doing something for enjoyment. You should structure what you do and how much you spend with that in mind. Sometimes you may lose sight of it and spend too much, or become too anxious about what you are doing. You may lose track of time and social connection to your detriment. You may – if this is a real thing to say – hobby through happiness to sadness beyond. And once beyond the happiness it is very rarely that you can return to it – you just have to go on to other things.

*  I have not met them yet, but I imagine there will be some very serious judges in the scale model world. The nature of the hobby admits of it. I shall have to exercise extreme restraint lest I mock them unrestrainedly. Or maybe I’ll just enjoy myself…