Back in September 2022, I wrote a blog post with the same title as this post. In it I described how, during my early days in teaching, an experienced colleague introduced me to what they termed 'sorting the button box'.
This was a task or exercise that would be set for a pupil who was upset or in need of calming down or to occupy their mind when they were feeling stressed. It gave the pupil something to concentrate on whilst they had a chance to regain some sort of equilibrium ... and over the years I have found that it also works for me when I am feeling a bit depressed or tired and unable to concentrate on reading, writing, painting, or modelling.
Looking around my toy/wargame room I realised that I had two large REALLY USEFUL BOXES full of World War II Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War models and figures that I renovated, varnished, and rebased during the COVID pandemic. I had put them in the boxes and taken them to our storage unit early last year but had retrieved them in order to stage a short Barbarossa 'campaign in an evening' at my local game club, Dice on the Hill. The boxes need sorting out and the stuff in them properly catalogued ... an ideal 'sorting the button box' exercise.
I hope that by doing this, I will regain my wargaming (and possibly my model railway) mojo ... and if it doesn't work, I will at least have sorted the contents of the boxes!
FWIW I used some of the contents of my wife’s button box in an effort to try make a 2mm scale Da Vinci tank. Note my use of the word “try”. Small buttons, superglue, chunky fingers … it didn’t end well 😣☹️
ReplyDeleteAt least you’re making some progress and hopefully it will kickstart your mojo.
Cheers,
Geoff
Elliesdad,
DeleteI think we’ve all had that sort of experience with superglue!
Many years ago, an article in the long-gone Airfix Magazine described using dressmaking press studs as wheels on scratch built German half-tracks. I remember buying a card of them in the local Woolworths and trying to use them … without success!
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
ReplyDeleteThat I've never thought of, but I rather think I have 'sorted the button box' on occasion. Among my vast inventory of stuff, I have counters of six different colours (red, yellow, light and dark green and light and dark blue). They were all kept jumbled in a photography paper box. Earlier this year, feeling a bit dismal, I sorted them into plastic 'bins' - the clear plastic part of the display box for die cast WW2 armour. Since the vehicles were for war games, I toyed with tossing the display boxes, until using them as counters 'bins' occurred to me.
I have a further small collection of counters - different style - red, blue, green and white, with a few clear plastic. They are few enough to have a collective container of their own. As do the red and blue large counters I keep in a Sobranie cigarette box (a weed that a zillion years ago I was rather fond of - much preferred tobacco over Mary Johanna).
I have another 'button collection' to sort. A whole lot of rather orphaned plastic soldiery that haven't got any useful place to go. Some of these managed to insert themselves in some army or other as freikorps, HQ elements and the like, but there are plenty that may fetch up in a 'surplus' box...
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteSorting your coloured counters into boxes is very much a ‘sorting the button box’ exercise! I also have quite a few different counters from games that I keep in those divided boxes that are sold for storing screws, nails, etc.
My favourite cigarettes when I smoked back in the early 1970s were Gauloise Disque Bleu, although I did occasional buy Balkan Sobranie. I never tried the Sobranie Cocktail cigarettes as they came in different coloured papers and - I was told - was a woman’s cigarette!
I have an ‘odds and sods’ box of figures somewhere (probably in storage) that contains an eclectic mix of metal figures from all sorts of historical periods. I’m sure that if I found it, I could find uses for some of them.
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
DeleteSobranie Black Russians - which were probably similar to the cocktail variety, I don't know. But the 'Balkan' variety (Yenidje?) were more readily available.
When tailor-mades got too expensive, I switched to Port Royal tobacco. As I couldn't roll a cigarette for nuts, I bought a rolling machine: very effective. But by the time I quit altogether (1 April 2003) even that was too expensive.
Quit cold turkey: within 2 days I knew I had it beat.
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteIt wasn’t until we started this discussion that I remembered the range of cigarettes made by Sobranie.
I did try rolling my own and also had a rolling machine. (Incidentally, did you know that the manufacturer of cigarette rolling machines - Mollins - manufactured the fuze-setting machinery for Bofors guns?)
I also quit without any problems. I decided one day to stop, put my packet of cigarettes in my desk draw … and they are probably still there!
All the best,
Bob
An exorcise like that would get me thinking about games I would like to play with them. Perhaps you could post some photos?
ReplyDeleteMark Cordone,
DeleteI will certainly chart my progress on my blog and I will make sure I include suitable images.
All the best,
Bob
Great idea, I use the 'I shall shift to building figures rather than painting them' to achieve a similar goal :)
ReplyDeleteMike Strefford,
DeleteI am glad that you like the idea … and wish that I could feel motivated to do some serious figure painting.
All the best,
Bob
That wonderful and kind man, Isaak Walton, would say, 'idle time, not idly spent'. A good reminder for us all.
ReplyDeleteA line to remember. Thanks!
DeleteFunny Little Wars,
DeleteThat’s a lovely thought!
Thanks for sharing it.
All the best,
Bob
Jennifer,
DeleteIt is, isn’t it?
All the best,
Bob
I never knew of or thought of that button sorting exercise, but I realize I sometimes do it. Sometimes sorting various Lego bricks and pieces (for me, even building a Lego set according to the instructions can serve this puprose). Similar to Mike Strefford, sometimes when I am not painting minis I am prepping some. I guess part of the idea is these are activities that don't require a lot of mental processing, digital finesse, puzzle solving, etc., and can be done while sitting in one spot, maybe with some background music, podcast, tv/videos, etc. Kind of meditative, occupying one's hands, and leaving space for being contemplative?
ReplyDeleteFits-Badger,
DeleteMy wife sometimes comments that I never seem to switch off … and I think that doing something reasonably mindless is good for my mental health.
All the best,
Bob
I remember the kid's show, The Land of the Lost. It was a weird sci-fi fantasy 'lost world' that existed in a pocket dimension. There were pylons, much like Dr Who's TARDIS. Inside were tables with a grid of gems on them. By arranging the gems it was possible to cause bizarre changes in the world. It was often used as a plot hook. Someone would change something maliciously, out of innocent experiment or with the intent to fix something.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like this button box game could be used in an RPG similarly. A GM could work out some rules and allow the players to make changes if they wanted.
As far as sorting goes for me these days my family has moved to a new house and we are sorting the entire thing, including the stacks of empty boxes in the recycling bin.
Mr. Pavone,
DeleteI’d never considered that sorting the button box could be the basis of a game system … but now it’s something for me to think about!
We were in the process of preparing to move home when I broke my leg … which is why so much of my wargame stuff is now in storage. If we ever do move, sorting out what remains in my toy/wargame room is going to take me weeks!
All the best,
Bob
Very therapeutic - I think young people call it mindfulness
ReplyDeleteMaudlin Jack Tar,
DeleteIt is very therapeutic and I’ve already begun to feel more positive. It only goes to prove that sometimes setting oneself goals and striving to achieve them isn’t such a good idea!
All the best,
Bob
Good luck with mojo retrieval, Bob… it comes when it comes…🙂. ‘Lack of’ is not unusual with productive guys like yourself. The Muse will yet return!! 🙂😁👍.
DeleteBOB,
ReplyDeleteReminds me of Primary School when we played Marbles - if you hit your opponents Marble three times you get to keep the Marble. I was always on the hunt for a 'Tom Boler'. Cheers. KEV.