A journey of a thousand miles

 Sometimes I remember when I was finishing college and volunteering in a hospital dept. How overwhelming it felt knowing the amount of schooling I knew I would need.  At the end of the tunnel from the garage to the hospital there was another tunnel that led to the dept. Where i volunteered.  There was a sign going the other way that said the well known phrase "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." And there was a person walking on the beach.  That picture inspired me and made me chuckle because it took 20 mins from the car to walk where I needed to get.

When I go to build a giant set of legos, I'm always amazed at how the most complicated models begin with a single step, then another and another etc...the beginning looks nothing like the end product.  Sometimes I have trouble seeing the finished product because the chaos of a  pile of lego next to a developing creation.  Sometimes I get too focused on the pile of chaos and feel overwhelmed.  Yet at the end there is such a feeling of accomplishment and you look back wishing you could do it all over because it was enjoyable.  All because you took a single step towards creating something.   I need to remember that when I look at my lego room ..although I like having so many containers and things it feels overwhelming...but after an hour of organizing it starts to look so much better.  

Screenshot from pinterest.de "lego gram"

More observations on lego stereotypes

 I have noticed just this year since November that target is getting more diverse and more expensive lego sets.  The boxes are black to indicate the toys are for grown ups

So in my opinion these sets are so specific for adults, the box tells you that 18+ implying that kids can't play with these and the adults welcome sign kind of indicates these are adult sets.

A recent article I read stated that adults like relaxing and following some one else's instructions, there's no mention of just creating what you want with legos.

So I came home and saw a neat link for clearance legos that let me to Walmart website and it said

Legos are listed here as "shop for boys", after all the attempts by lego to destroy the myth that legos are for boys.  I think lego did good coming up with different ideas for sets, but people unfamiliar with lego sell them or think that they are boys sets or girls sets or adult sets.

I guess I just wonder where this is going...are we going to have an adult, a kid, an age range on the box that people need to follow.  I just miss the sets with limitless potential and alternate builds.

And the prices are so high because of licensing fees...  in my area, these black box adult sets aren't moving since early December 

So keep being creative and play well with your own passions and ideas even if you're young or older!

France on the horizon!

 The horizon express is a special set for me.  

When I was in the lego store I just caught out of my ear a person saying "so thats a real train."

I got to live in France for a month in 1988 in a town called LA ciotat which is next to the tgv station...trans of great speed..or trains de grande vitesse (tgv)

Here is the station

So when I was at a lego store, someone asked if it was a real train and it was! I saw it!!!

Awesome set!!!!!  Lego was on track with this model!

La ciotat 1988 july

Those free red bins are going to be the end of me

 I love these free bins menards gives via rebates.  For a while they did it almost every weekend.  I built a great collection of them and tried to make my home version of the lego workshop

So I thought I'd build a bin rack as I cannot afford the nice $1200 metal ones

So here it is in all its glory

But it was wobbly and the bins kept falling off

A nice guy at work cut the metal pieces for me..thanks DB

But the structure just didn't hold up...I probably could have added a cross bar in the back but the bins still fell off:(

Plus it was too heavy on 1 side...

So now here's the bins in their current state

Now this pic on the internet was what I envisioned 

Sigh....like so many mocs i know what I want things to look like in my head, but the building skills just aren't there....:(

Update: I bought loctite glue and well see if it can hold them together!!!

Cleaning my legos

I had a washer delivered and they turned the washer on but didn't stay to ensure the tubing was connected. The entire load of water drained on my lego room

You can see the water 💧 on the floor.  

Not the first flood as the tube came off the washer 2 years ago dousing everything...here was my favorite box ruined

But the worst water damage was a slow leak from a spicket overhead. The last lego set my mom got me for Christmas got wet and ruined..

Similar to these

So make sure your lego room is protected 

Replaced with a better solution by they plumber as seen below

So make sure pipes and above your lego room is dry!!

My new theme song

 B Spears has written "oops I did it again" and thats how I feel and what I think of when I go into my lego room and at the entrance outside.  I start to get a handle on the mess, especially when I was off due to Covid and now I'm right back to chaos.  How do I keep doing this??!!

Now this was June 2020

I had things so organized...I hope I can make time to get back to where I was!

Thinking and sorting outside the box

So many times I've wanted to keep the boxes of lego sets I have convinced they'll make me a millionaire eventually

You just get to a point where there's no room for boxes!!  It killed me but I unboxed and sorted the legos, so much for keeping sets together:(

Open concept buildings

I remember early in life playing with a friends police station...it was so primitive and the building really was a backdrop for the vehicles and minifig silhouettes.  Then I learned in 2004 that set 493 existed.  I thought it was neat as I didn't know this existed as a kid.  On a Wikipedia site I learned an important fact about set 493/926...it was the first time you could see inside and play inside the building.

Compare the closed building without interior access

The building in space had an open room...same for cars

So much better having open options for play inside as well as outside of the building...look where this has gone

So lego  has sure come a long way...here's to future great sets!!!  What a difference 43 years makes!