Some of you guys have much more interesting hobbies than me. Well, in general. I think my hobbies are very interesting. I just mean that fewer people will be interested in the history of packaging art, or toy sculpting. I used to say that art was a hobby before it became a career. It’s still something I do obsessively though. I’m not sure how much is a desire to create versus nervous energy, but for most of my life I couldn’t go anywhere unless I had something I could doodle on. People are way more likely to tolerate doodling when in conversation than playing on a phone, or a Gameboy. You’d think I’d be better at art considering how much of it I’ve done, but there seems to be some kind of skill limit hard coded into me. I progress too slowly if at all.

I actually have a few friends who collect things. One of my oldest friends lives far away but he texts me all the time about his various acquisitions and projects for customization. He loves Conan The Barbarian, Lady Death and related comic series, Marvel comics, a little MOTU but not much, a very few Transformers, and video games. There’s other stuff too, but those are big topics. He used to like Star Wars, but the prequels didn’t sit right with him. He dabbles in classic stuff but not much. His game collection is probably the largest. To the point that he doesn’t need to get much for it anymore. Marvel Legends is the main topic of conversation and has been for many years now. His top characters are Spider-Man, and anyone or anything related to him, Ghost Rider, Psylocke, Storm, and Rogue. All the other characters sit on a scale only he knows the true scope of. He’s getting the big Mephisto on his throne set when that comes out. All the current Ghost Rider stuff that goes with it he already has. He’s pretty well got any Spider-Man character they’ve made. Even the weird ones like Hypno Hustler. At the moment he doesn’t have a display place set up for any of it so that’s a WIP. If he ever gets it done the way he wants it will be impressive. He has a wife and kid though, so he can’t just use his whole house.

Another friend likes die cast cars best. He keeps an eye out for store exclusives for me since I live far from the stores who actually carry them. Since he wanders far afield in search of his tiny cars he often goes to places where exclusives are left on the peg. Since we don’t like a lot of the same things I’m not competing with him for resources usually. It’s very handy to have a field agent who you don’t have to divvy up spoils with.

One of my other friends loves Dragon Ball Z and has to suffer in his search for the rarest of Gokus. If you know anything about rare Gokus you’ll know that it is one of the worst things to collect because it is a worldwide favorite. The competition is awful for the figures in short supply. Usually you can get the easy to find older figures at a reasonable price, but the premium ones can get quite pricey. There was a 300$ set not too long ago that I would have liked, but that was just too much for something I don’t have space for. I only get unrare Gokus sometimes. Maybe in a few years that set will be unrare. He also likes Street Fighter, Mega Man, and Marvel VS Capcom, so it’s been a real good time. They have made several nicely prices figures in the last couple of years. Really nice quality, but also affordable. I’ve gotten some on clearance and I’ve been impressed. I only ever really played Steet Fighter II, but it was huge in my youth so it crossed over with GI Joe, which I also collect. Since they are all in the same scale I’ve tried to get the ones they made GI Joes of to go with mine. There was only ever, like, 12 Street Fighter characters so I don’t need to get many. If you wait till the end of a run, or the holidays, you can usually pick up stragglers at really low prices. They haven’t made Zangief yet and he’s on the top of my list ATM. He’s got a lot of memes about him I find funny, which is how a lot of my favorite figures get that designation. They’ve made the figures in scale, so he’s going to be really big. Anyway, he makes reviews of bootleg figures on youtube under the name Manyninjas. If you like that kind of thing you should search him up.

Okay, I guess I shouldn’t bore you any longer tonight. I hope you ease into the weekend and have a good one. I’ll see you on Monday, I hope. Until then, don’t lose your accessories.

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Here’s to boring but fulfilling hobbies and an unexciting, long life.

I know exactly what you mean regarding art skills. It’s one of those things where even having the talent and the work ethic to slave away at it, doesn’t always guarantee results or visible, measurable improvements. If anything, it shows more of a refinement of your particular style and tastes. Me, I have a very difficult time with hands and feet. I don’t have the patience or the want to create sequential pieces; just prefer standalone pieces.

Anyways, you are good at this, and a reason I keep updating to read about the lives of those people Between Failures

Give yourself some credit, John. Most supporting characters don’t really end up in love triangles (even though I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen here).

I’m still holding out for a “Poly-cool”

Ditto honestly. Idk if Jackie would go that route, doesn’t seem like the sort of thing he’d go for it, but it would honestly be really cool to see the three of them as a throuple.

The interesting thing is that the majority of folks I know in a throuple/polycule/etc situation are all in the furry community. So I could very easily see it.

So…,

They’ve given this cinnamon roll the aroma test.

Do you think they’re going to eat soon?

I do like how Vicky’s lips turn into a little heart, here.
:)

I didn’t realize that at first! Good catch and sweet detail, Jackie!

Did you notice that her ears blushed as well? Brigittte’s didn’t.

Finally, our boy John(athan?) gets any form of positive traction in his romantic life xD now to bet on which lady he ends up with, neither, or both depending on the stories direction hmm mm xD pulling for both Bridgette and Victoria here because they both seem like lovely people, but the Victoria route further enmeshes John in Reggies life and I LOVE that choice xD what a complex web to weave.

This has been my favorite arc since the Ghost Adventurers one at the hotel. It’s been a lot of fun to read, Jackie. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I’ve never understood figure collecting. I ‘get’ it, but I don’t understand it. The idea of buying a thing exclusively to place it on a shelf and look at it baffles me, but you all do you. It’s what keeps the related media paid for.

Talking about art makes me want to get back into writing. I was a prolific editor for a fanfiction website in my youth, and one work I helped with had enough fans to pony up publication costs for a few thousand units. They gave me a hardcover copy of what amounted to three years of my life, editing, proofing, and pre-reading some four-to-five hundred pages as they came in week by week, chapter by chapter. I’ve since had a falling out with the author, sadly, but I can’t bring myself to be rid of the book, even though it’s just collecting dust under a chair. Probably because it’s one of the few concrete examples of something I’ve DONE, even if it was purely supportive. At this point, I wouldn’t know what to do with something original I wrote myself, even though I have a couple of storylines knocking around in my head. I get stuck on “steps”, milestones, and my current brain-block seems to think I need to buy blank notebooks to jot down those storylines and concepts. It’s stupid. I know it’s stupid, but it’s still there. I need to find motivation somewhere, and I’m not sure where to look.

I *kinda* get it . . . . Putting something on display on a shelf comes from the same place, IMHO, as hanging art on the walls or other kinds of decorating.

That said, I personally like to collect things that are functional, even if they are on display more than they are used. A perfect example is that I have a 1950 vintage shortwave radio receivers (Hallicrafters S-53A for those who know radios or want to google it to see what it looks like) that is 100% in working order. It’s older than me by a few decades, but it fits into my other hobbies (in particular, I am a radio nerd), and I love its pragmatic semi-industrial aesthetic.

Most of the time, it sits on a shelf in my office contributing to the aesthetic of the room, but a couple of times a year, I will take it down off the shelf, find some suitable material to use for an antenna, plug it in, and see what signals I can pull in from ludicrous distances.

It was a gift from my wife, who clearly understands me.

Speaking of my family . . . I married a goth, and our kids are goths, so I’m pulling for Victoria if John has to have just one. I hope the results of Victoria’s testing come out in John’s favor.

I love it when people infodump about what makes them happy, especially in person. Seeing that passionate enthusiasm is pure joy. I had the unbelievable luck to find new friends in my late thirties, through the choir, and now in my early forties I’m privileged to have several someones who appreciate MY infodumps about the things I love and will either join in because they love those things too, or reciprocate with one of their own, and joy is all around. I just hope I’ll keep being worthy of this wonderfulness. May all of us nerds find our people at whatever age.

Protagonists smell like smoke? I don’t want to smell like a protagonist.

Maybe it’s his cologne, or deodorant, or shampoo scent(s) that Vicky likes….? Not just cigarette smoke

All we need now in Ninjo to suddenly appear and squee the squees of a billion fangirls (she was watching the whole time)

Anyone notice how Bridgette’s ears weren’t going red, and Victoria’s are?
Kinda makes me think that with Bridgette it’s a genuine friendly kiss and Victoria won’t have to fight her for John’s affection?

Yes, the way Victoria blushed is hot, but we’ll have to tune in Monday for more exciting action.

While we’re at it, Victoria put a hand on John’s chest. I don’t think her end goal is a Christian side hug.

I mean, Bridgette said ‘a bite’ with emphasis, so I feel like she’s definitely aiming for more than a friend, but possibly less than romance. We’ll have to tune in next week.

Hypno Hustler sounds skeevy as hell.

Is it just me, or Bridgette looks like Mini-Nina here?

Not just you

Lovely story arc, if it ends here or wraps up next week, have enjoyed this.

And just remember, the difference between finding a hobby interesting or not is if it interests you; I used to fiddle around and design flags for alternate history scenarios for myself and others, but don’t think too many would find it interesting enough to do themselves, perhaps enough to see what others do as a curiosity. So long as it brings more joy than grief it’s doing its job haha.

As soon as they started getting close to him I assumed this was gonna happen.

Three way, three way.

Mercy!

I had supposed that polyamory might rear its ugly head… I know that many people have an idea that polyamory is a boon. I believe it is a bust. I have known polyamorous groups and have even participated in some since the 60s. What I have never seen even once is a poly group where everyone in the group was happy. There was always at least one person off in a corner crying.

I dont think this will end up in a throuple thing . A threesome, maybe , maybe an orgy if another person joins in. But a romantic relationship with the two women here? I have doubts. As mentioned earlier by other readers, Victoria blushed; both on her cheeks and her ears. Bridgette only a very mild cheek blush but nothing that could signify romantic feelings, at least from my observation. I agree with the other reader that Bridgette maybe only actually platonic kiss on cheek. Sure they aren’t being subtle about potential dating, but nothing seem to indicate a poly/throuple thing… I don’t know if Victoria or Bridgette are the sort to be exclusive when dating, but it’s possible.

I kind of find people over reading the blush thing bizarre. Could simply be that Bridgette is a bit more confident than Victoria and laws prone to blushing–she certainly made a more aggressive first move after all. Not every girl breaks out into a blush just because they’re interested.

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