I think I have never said I’m goign to enjoy that or something similiar out loud.

I do have a feeling of excitement when opening new cool boxes or anticipation if I get a shipping date for cool stuff I ordered.
I mean I’m in theh hobby because I enjoy it, if I loose that enjoyment say while painting or building something I normally stop and do something else until the enjoyment comes back. After all it’s a hobby I do for fun and entertainment.

And about you beeing a cynical old fart, well I say yes thaT’s probably part of the problem 😉

I normally say something similar after I’ve done it rather than before. Saying I’m going to enjoy this before feels like it’s forced. That I’m trying to convince myself it’s going to be fun.

Pre-empting enjoyment of anything just feels weird. Sure, you can look forward to doing something, in the anticipation that you’ll enjoy it (so I guess saying “I’m going to enjoy this” out loud isn’t that big a leap).

Actually, forget that. If I’ve put an afternoon aside to assemble a boxful of GW miniatures, and I open the box and none of the minis look particularly challenging, then I’d fully expect to enjoy myself for a couple of hours. I know pretty well straight away if something is going to be an utter ballache (cough, Bolt Action multi-part plastics).

Even if things don’t quite fit – if you’ve put the time aside to do nothing but enjoy your hobby – and spent a little while filing and sanding parts to make a nice connection, that too can be enjoyable (even if it’s not the “enjoyment” you anticipated at the start). So I guess there’s nothing wrong with saying it up front. The only time I’ve found it not to be enjoyable is when I’ve set myself targets and failed to miss them (usually though overlooking stuff like those goddamned fiddly multi-pose arms you get in Bolt Action plastics….). Just spending time messing about with no particular goal at the end of it – I always find this enjoyable.

It just sounds like @sundancer has got stuck in grumpy old man mode and can’t find a way out of his hobby funk right now. Stick with it, old bean, you’ll pull through soon enough 😉

> Do we need to convince ourselves that it’s worth the time, money and effort?

We do if we don’t want to admit to ourselves that we’re wrong.

I see this on KS (and IRL) all the time. In KS, you always see backers who justify a bad or overpriced purchase with all sorts of excuses. They have to keep saying this sort of stuff to justify their behavior. Because who backs a bad KS, right??

It reminds me “throwing good money after bad”. Instead of admitting you’re wrong and cutting your losses, you throw more time, money, and effort into something and waste more resources. Ask your odd American uncle about the Chevy Chase movie, “Family Vacation”.

Of course, you also say it when you’re excited about something, so Squidmar may just be really really happy… 😀