Taking stock.... or, "give us me mojo back, mister"

Not even the end of the year, yet..  bet I'm first.... 😏

I cycle to work, and an occupational habit of doing that is an unaccustomed flow of oxygen to the brain that makes it opportune to think about varying things...   the other day it was on cam cleats and fairleads (blame sailing)...  previously it had been whether I needed to modify my War of the Spanish Succession rules to make it obvious that a regiment can only enter a house if you are facing it (and a fruitful ten minutes was spent imagining what a regiment walking backwards into a house would look like)... but today it was about the wargaming hobby and particularly how it applies to yours truly....

The thoughts arose as I had noticed the other day that my Painting Totals page for this year was still empty...

...for shame...

I cannot remember the last time that I finished a year without having painted something, in this case I haven't painted anything at all since December 11th last year when I finished some 15mm WWII skirmish stuff...

My gaming has also suffered this year - just one table top game, and the recent correspondence/email game all year....

I've posted here 47 times this year but this compares with 57 by this time last year....

I know that in my case, the arrival of grandson #1 has certainly eaten in to my time - delightfully, I have to admit...  work is also more onerous this year - longer hours...  and there's also the "demands" of the boat; it's been a glorious summer, and sometimes it was just easier to go out and lounge on the boat than sit in a stuffy loft... 

Similarly, when I come in from a day at work I'm mentally pooped - so the thought of setting up a game, or concentrating on a paint brush (and I've never found painting the little metal men to be a relaxing activity) is swiftly subsumed in the rush to a nice comfy chair, a good book, and a beer/cigar combo...

I think that mentally I missed Colours as well this year...  when my mojo is beginning to splutter to a halt, I've often found that a wargame show will enthuse - with Colours off the scene (and that's 30% of the shows I go to in a year) it's a long wait from Salute to Warfare....  I hope it's back next year.

So....

...I guess in the grand scheme of things these are not big things - it's hardly ebola, or the quest for world peace, or the cure for the common cold, but I still found it slightly surprising that my engagement with the hobby has been so little this year... where's the year gone, where's my mojo, and is anyone else feeling the same??

I open up the question to the wider audience as I note that a number of the "names" in the bloging world that I follow seem to be suffering the same, and I wonder if it is the act of blogging that is suffering (while their gaming/painting goes from strength to strength), of it is a more general malaise?

Having said all that, I have a table top game lined up for Thursday (game 4 in the "Annexation of Chiraz" campaign), and I have an unfamiliar urge to check the paint table out - must be the fact that the weather is getting cooler, the nights darker, and the boat is out on the hard... green shoots of recovery???