I painted my first miniatures as a young teenager. Some years later but still in my teens I had experimented with a wider range of armies including Chaos Demons, and even a Warhammer 40,000 Eldar army. I wasn’t very good, and eventually moved on to other interests and sold my collection to classmates.

When I started painting again I stuck with what I knew.

I’m very much an Apple guy, but for the last few years I’ve also kept a Windows machine around for gaming. Recently I realised that my Mac gaming moment kind of happened with very little fanfare. The games I might have expected to play on PC I’m actually playing on my MacBook Pro. It was time for something smaller, lighter, cooler, much more portable, and that could meet my few remaining, fairly esoteric Windows computing needs.

I am obsessive about my desk.

My desk is a dining table. Specifically a Mörbylånga from Ikea. I’ve always liked to use dining tables rather than purpose built computer desks. Most computer desks are poorly designed, those that are better designed tend to be more narrow than I would like, and they also tend to be of flimsier construction. They often have shelving and drawers built in, or even worse slide-out keyboard trays which are an ergonomics and comfort atrocity.

I have a sense of style but it developed exceeingly late. Where most people start to express themselves by the way they present to the world in their teens, I didn’t really experience this until my thirties.

Going unnoticed is a survival tactic many queer kids become proficient in at an early age.

It’s a tactic that’s hard to let go of even as an adult.

One of the parts of myself I know I need to work on is my need to have input on things. It’s not that my contribution isn’t valid, and this isn’t about the value of opinions (though they are like butts: everyone’s got one and they’re full of… well, you know). Something I’ve observed is that contributing a thought or opinion that might be valuable by most measures and considerations may not actually lead to a prompt and beneficial outcome.

One of the things you need to know about Space Wolves is that compared to other Space Marines, all their stuff has '“Wolf” in the name and they’re covered in wolf-y decorations from skulls to pelts. Obviously this makes them 1000% cooler than non-wolf Space Marines but it also presents a lot of opportunity for customising their models (and some people really run with this idea). It’s definitely a selling point for the army in my opinion and a major factor in choosing to collect them.

One of the reason’s I’m publishing this website is to replace social media; so I can write posts like this with more fully formed and reasoned points instead of hot takes soundbites or simply adding another consenting or dissenting voice to the throng.

Another new experience for 2024 is finally learning to drive. I’ve never had a particular need to drive myself. Either I’ve been able to use public transport or there’s been someone in my life able and willing to do the driving. This changed a little prior to the COVID lockdowns, and there was a period in 2029 and early 2020 where driving was starting to become a priority.

Of course, COVID changed that pretty definitively.

So the start to my 2024 was pretty quiet. My husband and I spent Christmas and New Year at home doing our own thing, which was ideal given the last few months of 2023. We made good food, ate good food, and took the holidays pretty easy.

2024 however is going to be a fairly busy year for me. In the next few weeks I’ll be changing job, starting driving lessons, and finishing the last few crucial steps in changing my name.

When I first started collecting and painting Warhammer 40,000 miniatures again just a little over a year ago I knew I wanted to return to collecting Space Wolves.

However, unbeknowst to myself, another new army had recently been released: The Leagues of Votann - you can think of them as Space Dwarves.

And I love them.

Most video games grab my attention for a couple of weeks to a month and I play them pretty intensively during that time and then I’m done. Once in a while though there’s a game that grabs my attention for months on end.

Starfield is one of those games.

Recently I was made redundant at work. My department restructured and my role was removed.

Some new roles were added, which I applied for, but was ultimately unsuccessful. At the time of publishing this post I’m working through my notice period.

The end of 2023 has become a bit of a big deal for me. As the new year approaches several major life changes are happening.

One of those changes is my name.

Quite a lot is changing for me as 2023 comes to a close. I’ve decided that one of those things should be my online presence.