Shadowswords

I assembled a couple of Shadowswords for my Legions Imperialis army!

I plan to get another for a Titan Hunter company! The one with a dude in the cupola will be the tank commander. A third Shadowsword to round out the Titan Hunter, and I'll build the fourth one as a Stormblade Tank Commander, surrounded by Leman Russ Executioner tanks, for my plasma armored company!

Perhaps down the road, I might eventually get a third box for a second Stormblade and fourth Shadowsword (or just get a separate Stormblade on his own), but I dunno. That's something for the future. But I do love the idea of fielding a pair of Stormblades surrounded by eight Leman Russ Executioner tanks. That will be so cool!

I'll have to swap out the Leman Russ Vanquishers eventually, I suppose. I don't know. I definitely want to keep the Baneblades for sure, though. Decisions, decisions...well, we'll see, I guess.

Speaking of the future...well, I'm kind of apprehensive, but I'll be returning to Singapore at the end of August. I've passed the defense of my dissertation, and I'll officially graduate at the end of August (God-Emperor willing - apparently. it's contingent on the minor revisions to my dissertation, which I've done and I'm waiting for approval). Unfortunately, I failed to find a job in the US, mostly because of my own incompetence, ha ha, and also because I was only looking for jobs in Minneapolis/St. Paul - if I've to move out of state, I might as well return to Singapore.

So yeah...this is my last year in Minneapolis. It sucks, but on the bright side, I'll be returning to family. I'll definitely miss it here, and I intend to return in the future - definitely for future Renegade events every year if my job and income allow it. Well...assuming I get a job, because I've sent quite a lot of applications and I haven't received any job offer so far. Only a handful of rejections (that's...a good sign, right? That means the others haven't rejected me...yet).

I'll have to say, one of the reasons why I made it this far is because of Warhammer 40,000. Covid was just terrible - and not solely because of the disease. The isolation and complete lack of social interaction during those couple of years was just mentally draining and depressing. One of the reasons why I held out as long as I did in this program was because Warhammer 40,000 was a welcome distraction every Saturday - it gave me a reason to get out of the house, meet people, hang out, and take my mind off things.

Don't underestimate how much taking your mind off things and indulging in a hobby can help you mentally. It really makes a lot of difference. I was on the verge of giving up several times, but whenever I felt down, Warhammer 40,000 was a safe space I could retreat to, get my spirit and motivation back up, and then return to work after that.

Covid...yeah, it did a huge number on me, and there were a couple of times I was contemplating suicide (compounded with cyber bullying and people on Webnovel sending me death threats because I was - and still am - a horrible writer). Perhaps if I was allowed to leave the house and hang out, it would have been better - it certainly was a lot better once the isolation was lifted and we could return to going out, after the vaccines and stuff, and I remember I pretty much spent most of my time catching up as best as I could, participating in seasonal Renegade events and Best Coast Pairings, ha ha.

But Matched Play isn't really my thing - I'm more of a narrative person, as you can tell from my blog, and I just went all in into Crusade. I don't know how I'm going to continue in Singapore, but I know for sure there's Battle Bunker in Bugis and Gamers@Pi in Somerset, so...yeah. I'll definitely miss all my friends here in Minneapolis, though. Gotta return for Renegade in future, make it a yearly event or something. Heh. I dunno. We'll see.

For now, though, I've to apply for more jobs until I get one. While I do so, Warhammer 40,000 is a welcome distraction, and a great boon to my mental health. Yeah, people complain a lot, and many do 3D printing, but there's just something about assembling plastic models from the sprues, y'know? While listening to Arbitor Ian, Luetin09, Occulus Imperia or Valrak in the background. Just lifts my spirit and boosts my morale, especially after a hard day at work (and there are times where I just screw up totally and feel so depressed at my incompetence). Oh, well.

Hopefully, now that I've graduated, I'll become a better writer. Still not giving up on the dream to be a Black Library author one day, heh (though...I'll admit that it's a stretch, given my complete lack of writing skills).