The Little World

That isn’t fun.

Because then it will not be a hobby – it will be a task – and a burdensome one, at that. Once it becomes work, you become a worker, and then you have to beware of the boss:

a. a shop owner who employs you as a salesperson or repairman. Perhaps as a part-time consultant.

Be clear about why you are employed; it is to gather money for the employer. Some my devolve to you, but it will be accompanied by demand as well. Your time will not be your own.

b. A contest judge.

If you enter a contest to win a prize – money, medals, or a place in a Hall of Fame – you place yourself at the mercy of the judge. You research, think, paint, and build to please them. They are a boss who need not pay you, nor can they be criticised for any criticism they level at you.

And you bring it on yourself.

c. The family boss.

If it ain’t you, it’ll be someone else – who decides how much time, space, and money can be devoted to your hobby, and how much approval it gets thereafter. Some bosses can be tight with all these things, and still claim to be a victim.

d. The model kit makers.

So your new model of a butter knife has 1200 photo-etched parts that need to be assembled in order? And the front of the box said E-Z-Bild? You have been done.

Return to the shop and fling it at the head of the owner, if you wish. It will colour your relationship from then on.

Open it and start to build it – and you will be excused many days in Purgatory later on – you’ll have served your time.

Or put it on the shelf and be wiser in the future. Any kit unexamined by you or others is a potential plastic teller mine.

e. Yourself.

If you bought a kit of something you are not interested in, at a price you regret, that will require extra expenditure even before you get it out of the shop…If it is badly-moulded, and irrelevant to anyone in the town…if it is far beyond you, or far beneath you…

You will be wasting precious hobby time dealing with it. Sell it on, if you plan to wear the hate of the buyer, or bin it.