Hello everyone!
As we get further and further post-BreyerFest, I am finding myself really struggling with bits of my mental health. I made the (probably poor) decision to isolate myself from social media until all my BreyerFest models arrive, so that if there are any cool variations, I won't have that spoiled for me and if I do get something unexpected I can feel genuine surprise. Plus with an Ambassador/Volunteer model coming to me, I can definitely say that I want that to not be spoiled ahead of time. Since I did not get any actual Surprise models, I have been following those reveals through messages from friends, and non-Facebook or Instagram sites (such as YouTube). It's not a mold I anticipated, because I kept forgetting, but other people did predict correctly. I am kind of "meh" about the run honestly. I don't currently own anything on the mold, and only have one other on my wish list. I kind of like 2 of the 5 colors I've seen, but not sure if I like them enough to track down trades or not.
So, what has arrived so far? On Saturday, the first of my 3 Danis arrived (I got no notification but I have to assume it's the one from my Ambassador account, since the main account would have 2. Oh yeah, since I used the wrong email when applying for the Ambassador role, I now have two emails associated with Breyer's site. Ooops!) That was nice and definitely helped me get through the weekend. Yesterday (Tuesday), a second, very small box arrived. It was the General Admission stablemate I bought for my friend! She's really happy about him so I'm pleased with that. :)
They are pretty cute!
I'm still definitely in a bit of a mood, though. Mostly being frustrated, I guess. While I haven't had an issue with taking breaks from social media in the past, when it has irritated me, I find that taking a break when I actually want to be there and be a part of everything is really, really difficult. I've had a couple of other poor mental health days during this break, unrelated to model horses, and in those moments I often use the horses and the hobby as a distraction from whatever anxiety or other negative emotion I'm feeling so that I can get myself to a place where I can deal with the root of those problems with a calmer mind. In my experience, there's nothing that cheers me up faster than going to my Groups feed on Facebook and seeing some positive horse posts. In addition to just seeing the models (which I can do with my own), I'm also reading other people's words which does help to distract from whatever situation I was experiencing before I read those posts. Like watching videos, movies, listening to music, or reading a book, it brings your mind to a different state. I think I've probably substituted the "horse therapy" with watching more content on platforms like YouTube. I thought I'd end up playing more of the two computer video games I'm interested in, The Sims 4 and Minecraft, but I have only done each of those a few times, not really more than normal.
One of my poor mental health days was Sunday. I found out a setting in another game I play that caused a significant quality of life improvement had been returned to an earlier setting, and it basically threw me into a funk for the whole day. I felt like I'd experienced a breakup, honestly. I felt frustrated, betrayed, and just sad. The game is Pokemon Go and what the developers did is reduce the distance from which players can reach a PokeStop. During the pandemic, a new stop was added that I could reach from inside my apartment. This was a situation I'd not experienced before in the history of the game, and it definitely impacted my experience for the better. I was able to get items and send gifts to friends even on bad weather days, or on dangerously cold days during the winter when I would not have been able to play in the past. However, because the stop was added during the time of increased interaction distance, I had no baseline to compare to- I didn't know if I'd still be able to reach it when the distance reset. So, that made it more of a shock to wake up Sunday morning and find it to be just barely outside of my reach. In my opinion, that just made it sting more. So, I haven't logged into the game since. I still don't know if I want to keep playing. I think it will depend on how the developer responds to the huge amount of backlash they are receiving over this decision. And of course, my own restriction of social media use made it a lot harder to escape the emotions than I normally would.
I will say that one of the things that has kept me going since Saturday is definitely Dani #1! I keep just looking over at her and marveling at how detailed she is for such a large run! 5-10 years ago, or maybe even a few years ago, a paint job that complicated would have been reserved for a raffle model, or a live show prize! But here she is, a run of many thousands, and so many people get to own her! I think if she had remained as a guest horse, she would certainly have sold out faster than the other options! In the end, I do believe she ended up being a wonderful ambassador for the Breyer brand, and her story a better match for the event's theme. The model isn't perfect, she's got a few flaws here and there, but even if this is the nicest one I get out of 3, I'm happy to have her on my shelf!
In the end, I'm still too stubborn to give up on what I already started, even though it's hurting me. So I'll keep my social media blinders on. I am able to respond to comments on my Facebook and Instagram posts through my notifications on my phone, since that will bring up only that one post and I can close the app after reading the comments. I can also go to my profiles, blocking the rest of the screen with my hand ;) If the top post when I go to make a new post on Intsagram is something "safe" i.e. something I'm already aware of, I can like those posts. But I don't scroll any further down. I think even if I don't end up with anything unexpected, I'll probably be proud of myself for finishing what I started, and allowing myself to have that extra anticipation when opening the boxes. Maybe I'll decide it wasn't worth it. I'll have to revisit this later on with a verdict!
So besides the Surprise, there is apparently:
- A matte/gloss split
- A mane/tail split
- A color split
Which falls in line with what I was expecting! Time will tell if I've guessed the models correctly though! No one tell me if I'm right! 😂😂
- Matte/gloss: either Pech Merle or Gran Cavallo, but I'm leaning towards Gran Cavallo. That dark bay color would look stunning in gloss
- Mane/tail: There really aren't too many options for this, so my top choice is Tassili (dear universe, please don't give me 3 Puffy Manes!) with the long shot choice being Uffington after we saw a roached mane version in the Auction...though I'm also feeling a hunch that Ansel could be an underdog, since he's so new...can you imagine a braided version of him? That could be cool
- Color: I hadn't given this too much thought before, but I believe Pech Merle may make the most sense for this. He's the oldest mold in the group, and while I had considered him as a candidate for the matte/gloss split, I think they'd generate even more interest in him with a color swap. Of course, knowing Breyer, it could be any of them, but personally I think he'd benefit the most from it
I hope you are all having a better time with the BreyerFest arrivals than I am! I'm still looking forward to them, but it's become a bit draining to drag out the anticipation. Fingers crossed for more good luck with UPS Package Roulette tonight!
OH! And I treated myself to some small retail therapy Sunday- a friend sent me a link to a variation of something cool I don't have, and I went for it. She's meant to arrive tomorrow- so I will have another fun blog post coming on the variations on her run, if all goes well and she arrives safely.
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