With my new tech upgrades I naturally approached my gaming circle and said „Heeeey, wanna do something?“

After much back and forth on email, we decided upon a hang out, paint and chat session over Zoom. I was skeptical at first. I’ve found Zoom meetings for cadets taxing. Fortunately I don’t have to Zoom for my day job. I’m confident many of you do, and would rather smash your heads in then face another Zoom session. There are identified reasons Zoom meetings are so draining.

But last night was different! My friend Dick, who has a Zoom account for his work, hosted and we had about 8 or 9 of us logged on. One person was just drinking Scotch, watching curling and enjoying visiting with us, the rest of us were all painting or building at our hobby desks. 3 and a half hours later we all decided it was getting late and signed off. But I felt great! I had made huge progress on the 2nd batch of Russian infantry (more in a later post) and was really energized by seeing my friends. 

Work space at one end, wargame set up at the other end to start playing though O Group.

16 figures 90% completed in the 3 hour session!

I think the difference was that because we were all hobbying away, we weren’t fixated on the screen, distracted by our own image, worried about catching everything that was said, or how we looked, or any of the other things that exhaust one during a work Zoom meeting. At any given time, about half of the party just quietly worked away and seemed to mostly enjoy listening into the rest of  have a wide ranging conversation.

So we’ve decided to do it again in a few weeks time.

If you’re starting to feel a bit isolated you should arrange a hang out and paint session over Zoom, Discord or even Video chat. It’s good to hang out with friends even if it is only through a camera.