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please don't tell me you can get credit for that nowadays... I painted mine all the way through college when I WASN'T in classes learning real stuff...

ugh... no child left behind has turned into one nation undereducated.

Guitardian wrote:

Relapse wrote:

eoinmorgan wrote:

Relapse wrote:
I even used miniatures in a job interview that landed me a higher paying training position at work. I trained my interviewers on how to trim, clean, and prep miniatures for painting.

this story intrigues me. care to share more about the event?

Be glad to. There were 5 job openings for trainers at the place where I work and 100+ applicants. I made it through the first interview and was told to bring something non work related to demonstrate my training skills that I could teach in about 15 minutes time at the second interview .
After going through the options for about a week or so, I decided to take some Warhammer Orcs in on their sprues to demonstrate how to get them ready for painting. Using the EDGE (explain, guide, demonstrate, enable) method, I had the interviewers prepping Orcs for painting. I let them keep the miniatures they prepped and they ended up on the shelves in their office as conversation pieces and I ended up with a job that paid me $2.00 an hour more and the ability to effect how the company ran it's product.

That is truly a beautiful story. Very inspirational. I should try that for my next interview.

Inspirational it may be, but I think you might have a better chance if you brought in your guitar and taught them some chords.

good point, cuz my painting is kind of mediocre

Geek and proud, discussing napolionic history in my interview got me my £40k a year job!

Druidic wrote:Geek and proud, discussing napolionic history in my interview got me my £40k a year job!

That salary is pretty GRIMDARK

I've always used my hobby as a way filter out h o lees ... just sayin! I used to play DnD which was more difficult to talk about but it also was funner to play back in the old days of 2nd ed.
Now I just do table top war gaming and most of my friends don't, but at the very least think it's a neat past time. I also am a huge football and basketball guy so I've got a lot of friends who'd probably never do this sort of thing, but I don't suffer folks who would turn their nose up at it.
I remember when video games were far less mainstream than they are now, that's changed though. I don't play MORPG's so I don't have to explain that. I"m just a console gamer too so that helps.

I think I'm pretty well rounded when it comes to my interests and pass times. Although, gaming is a considerable chunk of my "pass times pie." In the first week of dating my girl friend I pulled out my dark angels and I taught her how to play 40K. She thought it was a joke I was trying to play on her in the beginning and then when she saw that I was serious she was like, wow that's actually pretty cool. I showed her all of the mechanics of the game. I gave her a 10 man tac squad with a heavy weapon and a special weapon and I gave myself a 5 man combat squad with a special weapon. I had a piece of terrain or two and we had a fun little gaming teaching session. Mind you, this was in the first week of dating her. I did this to test the waters of her geekiness. Because, in reality, I didn't really want to go much further if I had to hide my gaming passion in shame. 2 years later everything has turned out just fine, we're still together, and she buys me models and warhammer stuff for my birthdays, Christmas, etc. And she totally supports me and encourages me to play. She thinks I'm cute because I'm a geek.

I also talk about it pretty freely with co-workers and my boss. I gave one of my airmen a White Dwarf because he was interested in starting 40K. He now wants to play Orks or Space Marines lol.

And I've talked a lot about it with my boss, especially since she knows I carry a book with me every where I go. Which is usually a Black Library book. So, I've showed her some pictures of models.

My grandpa, a Navy WWII vet, encourages me to play war games as well. He says it's a good hobby for a military officer. hehe

I think the thing that keeps people from thinking I'm some crazy, which I wouldn't care anyway, is that I have a lot of other hobbies and interests.

DarkAngelHopeful

I used to be ashamed of the hobby in middle school. Now, I'm at the point where I don't care. Most people see an in-shape, 200 pound man and not some fanboy who never wanted to grow up. I've taken my girlfriend to several shops and even let her paint some models. She thinks its adorable.


What gets most people isn't the hobby itself, but rather the cost. When I tell someone that this little Space Marine cost 15 bucks, then I get funny looks.

I love being a total geek. We shall inherit the earth!

chromedog wrote:Out and proud.

I don't associate with many 'norms' anyway.

They can have their meaningless hum-drum existence and thug-ball games. I'll stick with my mandollies, thanks.

I like thug-ball, I even play the American variety (my God, a brit who both likes and plays American Football!?!). But im also completely open about my hobby. My friends jeered me a bit at first, but now I think they dont mind. Its something I enjoy, and they accept that. It even happened to come up one night when out with the team, and I discovered another member of the team plays, but just hadn't mentioned it out of embarrassment.
So yeah, im not ashamed of it at all, ill talk about it if im aksed, but I understand some people dont want this hobby or a conversation about it forced on them, and I respect that.

I'm in year 9 in secondary school and I'm a mixture. Since it is a very space demanding hobby when friends come over they want to know what's in those two ominous cases!
I believe everything you do in life there will always be one idiot, some one who rains on your parade. However no matter what gets said I just smile back beacuse you cant let some one get you down. I have received abuse, comments such as have fun at your dolly party (Gamesday), and I just smiled and said I will. I don't try and convert people to Warhammer but if they ask about I'm not afraid to tell.

Lols once again at work, molding green stuff for a conversion of a WLC bazooka toting Rat ogre...

My co-workers are actually watching in interest!

i am now out and out proud of my hobbie and tell anyone who says otherwise to shove it



i have already tried bieng bashfull and it didnt work so now ive converted to miniature geek and it seems to have worked :]

I'm almost too proud to be a nerd! people don't think i'd be quite so nerdy when they meet me but when they see my T-shirt then they know...oh yes, they know. i'll try and work out how to put a pic up

I definatly get the impression that sometimes I'm viewed as a 'mature young man' (24) but that the geekage (dnd warhammer) is an 'anomoly'. That said I keep coming back to science and 'geekage' as they are the only things that hold my interest.

Warhammer stuff - mathematical skills, artistic skills (that I lack and have helped me develop), manual skills, creative, tactical and social skills.

DnD - Leadership skills, (DMing/organising groups), writing, maths, balancing..

Seriously these games should be marketed this way a LOT more..

In this day and age there is no such thing as an average person anymore due to the huge amont of diversity when it comes to hobbies and interests.

As a relative old fart (40) I find a bit of both sides, some people are keen to offer some kind of retort about being sad etc but other people just say OK.

I am trying to set up a club where I live and work and in a few days, when the posters go out, a captive population of about 2000 people will know my name and the fact that I play wargames!!

What Phototoxin said... I used to work construction, and due to playing 40k so much, I got pretty good at eyeballin distances. Kinda irked my boss when I started spotting the centers while building a stud wall, but hey, I was only off by 1/4" at the most! So thank you nerdy game played with little plastic men, thank you.

Person: "Hi, my name is ____"
Me: "Good to meet you. You wouldn't happen to play 40k would you?"

I am in no way subtle about wargamming. If I don't know you, I ask if you play. If I do know you, I make references to the game while you sit there wondering what I'm talking about (until you get to the point where I've referenced so much that you now know what I'm talking about. My dad is close to this).

Not living a lie, but I find that my geek world tends to stay separate from my non geek pursuits. This separation began back in middle school (6 grade) where I had a foot in a couple of cliques, the jock crowd (big into sports, especially football) and the geek crowd (comics, games, sci-fi, etc.) My interests and involvement in each "side" would wax and wane based on the time of year and such (and interest in the fair sex). This has carried over into my adult life, but with new variables that influence this seemingly enduring separation between my geek persona and my other interests and obligations (being a husband and a father for one, work being another, church and volunteering yet another). Again, things seem to wax and wane with the seasons. Right now my geek interests are waning significantly, but if the pattern holds will wax again once December comes along and carry over through April when I put up my football coaches whistle for the season.

The people I most closely associate with in my varied activities are generally ignorant of my varied pursuits, not because of any deception on my part, but more due to their legitimate disinterest. I am not going to engage my football coaching friends in a debate about True LOS and pre-measuring when by mutual consent we would be much more interested discussing the pros and cons of teaching kids zone blocking.

Im not really up for announcing that I paint tiny bell-bottomed spacemen as a hobby to everyone I meet. When people ask about hobbies Il usually say "Yeah, I do a bit of painting now and then" and try and leave it at that. If they probe further Il admit to painting miniatures and go no further. In my social circles, the name "warhammer" encourages mild derision and light embarrassment on my part. I dont play anyway so Im not technically lying...

not got anyone on my facebook to talk to really but i would say im sorta proud

akira5665 wrote:Wise words from the Mighty Reecius!

Havn't seen you for a while dude- been on break?

Hey dude.

Yeah, I have been busy as hell with work and what not. I haven't even been gaming, which bugs me.

How you been, man?

PRIDE! Whenever I know I'll have a period or two off at school beforehand, I'm bringing my paints and minis. So far it has gained a lot of positive attention.

I usually bring paper, pen and my codex (now just paper and pen. Codex is unneeded). But maybe I'll do what you do now that I'll be in college...

College bring a laptop with army builder on it!!!!

I'll bring a lap top with microsoft word/excel.

yeah im a geek im hoping that i will be one day respected for my gift but for now ill keep it from the more radical and popular people in my year and my scocial circles but the people i like and know wont mind or possibly like them

i am out and pround, i think that a person shouldnt be judged by their hobbies or interest.

Let's not dredge up threads more than a month old, please?