Coming to grips with your limitations is tough on a
hobbyist. I would like to think that I
could enter any hobby and pretty quickly pick up the skills needed to be at
least competent. Of course, I would love to be fabulous right out of the gate,
but I know that everything has a learning curve. Some curves are gentle and others are
wickedly steep.
When it comes to building models, the easy curves are the
assembling, gap filling and learning how to use glue sparingly. The hard curves are painting and decal
application.
When it comes to train layouts, wiring and maintenance are
the hard curves, while collecting trains is so easy that everyone usually
overdoes it--okay, not everyone, just me.
When it comes to remote control cars, building the cars is
relatively easy. The instructions are
usually clear, and the body paints up quite easily--though some people need to
give their heads a shake when they think of colour combinations. Driving the car well enough to avoid
collisions and maybe win a heat or two is the difficult part.
All hobbies have learning curves. Everything requires a lot of practice. As I type this I can hear the voices of all
my teachers and mentors echoing the same words.
The worse part is, as I am sure you will agree, that it is easy to
ignore them, hope for the best, and hopefully not destroy something you've been
working on out of frustration. No matter
what someone says, the most important lessons are the hardest to learn.
 |
| Pong |
This blog came about because I was playing a first person
shooter video game on Friday. In a
nutshell, I sucked. I sucked bad. I come from an era of top down, two dimensional
video games with minimal stories, minimal controls. Today's controllers have as many buttons as
my keyboard and require a lot of precise control. There is way more to keep track of and so much
happens in the blink of an eye. We've
come a long way from pong.
I could beat myself up about this, but I won't. I know that everything takes time. I am sure that with more practice I could
become better at this. I won't be great,
but I won't embarrass myself....again
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