Doh! Facepalm Moment!

[TangoJuliet]

About 18 years ago I purchased an ASP WAC Corporal w/ Tiny Tim Booster. At the time that I purchased it I was just getting back on my feet from an ugly divorce and needed some kind of a hobby to occupy my attention and keep me from destructive behavior, problem was I didn't really even have the money to replace all of my building supplies and tools that I had accumulated for many years prior to that, so it sat. Opened, but untouched. Eventually things got much better, and I was making money again, but I also gravitated toward my other love... R/C airplanes. So again the rocket sat. In the years that passed I changed jobs a few times, and moved a few more times, but last year I found my way back to model rockets... and my long neglected WAC Corporal kit.

Over the last 8-9 months I've been building Estes kits like crazy (mostly at my desk at work, on the weekends when I have to be at work) and getting pretty comfortable again with the processes, so I thought I would finally tackle this one. Somewhere in all those moves I had lost the original instructions. An email to Andy at ASP had a PDF copy back in my hands... then I misplaced it. So again, I emailed Andy, and again, he graciously sent me yet another copy, which I printed out and stuck in a manila folder :wink:. On Wednesday I packed everything I needed to bring with me to work this week and grabbed the plastic bag that had this kit in it so I could work on it. This afternoon, at my desk, I emptied the contents of the bag to take inventory and realized I did not have the instructions with me! And the more I look at it, the more I'm starting to think I actually have the 24mm to 18mm version anyhow instead of the 18mm to 18mm version I thought I had! :surprised:

I guess we all have moments like this from time to time. I'm far too embarrassed to ask Andy for yet another set of instructions, so I'll just wait until I get home again next week to see if I can get by with the set of instructions that I have. In the mean time, I'm going to Hobby Lobby after work this afternoon and I'm going to buy some simple kit to build this weekend.

 

[Gary Byrum]

Yeah....marriage / divorce....been there done that. Messed me up for years. I mean, I really couldn't get past the damage that bit.....wh*r....uh..fu**ing piece of sh......garbage caused. That was 24+ years ago and I think I finally got a grip on things around 2005 or 6. Battling to get my rocketry chops back was a tough job. Couldn't get focused well. I still have issues with some things but that's prolly cause I'm almost 62 now. The last 10 years have been a breeze now that I work from home and don't have to deal with incompetent people as much. Remembering where I put things works best when my bench is a disaster. Women have to tuck things away and out of sight. That never worked well for me. You go in with all kinds of joy, dreams and hopeful scenarios, and come out of the perforated plate on the meat grinder.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Sorry to hear about your difficult divorce Gary. I didn't really mean for this to be about the divorce, but getting back on my feet again took quite a while. I'm not yet 46 and don't have the luxury of working from home, but I do have a private corner office with restricted access and an almost nonexistent workload, and the best money I've ever made. I can't complain too much any more. I'm a bit of a neat-freak and prefer to be organized with a place for everything and everything in its place... The one place where that doesn't necessarily ring true is in my home workshop! It is bar far the messiest room of my entire house! IIRC, I currently have three model rockets in various states of completion, one R/C airplane build, one plastic airplane build, and two model railroad plastic structures requiring paint all scattered around the room! It's almost got me ashamed of myself .

The last time I saw my own children though, my daughter wasn't yet 6 years old and my son was only 3.5. On February 13th, my daughter gave birth to her first child. A son. Tomorrow she turns 25. My son will be 23 in June. They both live in Alaska and call another man Dad. It's tough, but it is what it is. The best I can do now is share rockets with my girlfriends 5 year old grandson.

 

[Gary Byrum]

Getting back to the "DOH" moments, I just had a recent one. That usually happens in the shop and it's easy to have one when you're modeling. I have a thread called PROTOVAMP a Galaxy Class Predator, and I no sooner get started when my "doh" moment surfaces. Life's just full of those. It's the kind of thing that would piss you off, but because you love what you do, you laugh it off and smile that you have something better to do that watch TV or commit crimes or whatever. Being able to laugh at yourself is a virtue.

 

[TangoJuliet]

I have no problem laughing at myself. And I often times use self-deprecating humor at work just to get others to laugh too. Some think I'm immature, but I think it keeps me young at heart. :wink:

 

[Gary Byrum]

often times use self-deprecating humor at work just to get others to laugh too. Some think I'm immature,

And those people are probably a little jealous of you. Or a lot jealous. More often than not, folks will sneer or look down their nose at you because they would love to be more like you are, but can't or wont. Saving face seems to mean a lot, to those that wear them.

OK, you can shut me up now....hahaha