The secret to being unhappy about how many or how.much lego you have (or anything really)

How to be unhappy with all you have:

I always remember in the early sets I got when I was little came with the Sears catalog.  And if course the first page in the catalog I would peruse was always the last as usually the most expensive/unobtainable items were in the back.  The all time classic example was the slot car tracks in the christmas wish book catalog (I know not lego, but stay with me!).  This is an example of what I just dreamed of as a kid

from twitter/google images 6/7/20

Of course when Christmas came the reality of what came finally a few years later was

From google images, 6/7/20

So I am embarrassed to say that in my mind that didnt compare to what I selfishly wanted, and I was disappointed (in all fairness it did.break after 2 weeks but I still was being a spoiled brat in my thoughts)...

With lego, the 2 things in the back of the catalog were the expert builder/auto chassis sets...I still wouldnt be able to put them together in their complexity but no matter what set I got, there was that damn last page to make me want more and to be ungrateful for what I had...

pics from Google images/bricklink 6/7/20

Compare these 2 pics above with set below...this was my exciting  smart purchase

From google images and BRICKOWL, 6/7/20 

So, today, one would think with this awareness that I would have outgrown or be smart enough to realize how much selfish energy I spend making myself unhappy for what I want vs. What I have.  Looking at the images of the biggest car or star wars sets on google images or the lego catalog or even looking at other people rooms and collections are like the last pages of the 1970s wish books on steroids..

So, I guess my life wisdom I'm trying to impart is that be happy with the size and types of pieces/lego sets or collections you have.  Most instruction books always say use imagination and substitute pics if you dont have the pieces you need.  I have a lot of lego, but it's ironic that the master builder interviews are done by giving a handful of pieces to people to see what they can do before trusting them to build with unlimited resources...that's the sign and proving of the true lego masters.  It's so easy to just want more and more but be happy with all you have!!!!

Everything I thought about one of my favorite set was WRONG! (AKA will the real space cruiser please step forward).

Lately one of my favorite sets, the Galaxy Explorer (US 497, 928 Europe) was referred to online as the space cruiser set.  I was 100% positive that I (being infallable, always:) ) was correct in referring to 924/487 US as the Space Cruiser.  I noted this discrepancy on several web pages selling the galaxy explorer.  However while perusing pics of old catalogs (thanks to image search on google, I tried to include references), I found this catalog page that makes me unsure which is the real space cruiser?

487/924 referred to as space cruiser

497/928 referred to as Space cruiser

Ok this pic apparently settles it, 924 is the space cruiser and 928 is the galaxy explorer, I wonder if it was a mistranslation in the European catalogs.?...such a significant problem!!!

Memorial day

Tomorrow I get to go back to work.  The last week has been good for working in my lego room, it's really helped decrease my worrying about coronavirus and employment/money worries.

I was able to throw out a lot of items I'd collected that I thought I'd use in a huge lego diorama I was going to make . I had a ton of ho scale train track and slot car track that I was going to use to make roads and bridges for trains...I finally let it go and does it feel good.  i also have a ton of plastic hot wheels track that was perfect for classic space type wheels on a 2x2 platform with axle attached.  I moved a lot of the empty tubs out after combining a lot of separate ones that were partially full and I found so much room...I was actually able to work sorting and combining on the floor.

  I put blankets down but any time I'm down there on the floor..  I have to use my inhaler after to breathe esp if I've been on the floor even when its covered...I'm using a dehumidifier but its filling every day.

I took apart around 40 bags of new legos still in the parts bags and it's amazing how much air and drawer space the packaging and boxes take up....the room doesntblook.nearly as crowded and I think I was trying to get great pics with more legos than what I really had...but I like the lesser amount of legos that I can actually work with.

Now I can actually get to and work with my favorite classic space legos.  I'm a little bummed because I really bought quite a few sets from bricklink and Ebay and while authentic, they have lost clutch power...

Just when I think I'm going to make the ultimate moc

I get so excited to think I'm going to make the ultimate moc with techniques never even thought of before, then I use google images and realize 50 people have already done what I imagined with details and beauty I couldnt even think of in my head, yet alone build.  Neo classic space ships and vehicles, airports and cessna planes.  I'm better material for organizing and sorting!  So heres my few attempts at mocs, some are from the 80s with my Kodak disc camera ha ha

This was my grand layout for my airport 2009ish but I was too afraid of what my kitties would do to the plates on my floor...also that's when the book brick vehicles came out with the best airport

And this was my best creation ever...captured with Kodak disc...the mobile rocket launcher and solar power transporter sets and surface explorer gave my enough gray legos to do a model in 1 color, probably about 1984

This was my ebay baseplate collection from 2002 when again I had a great idea for a space diorama in classic space style that did come to be but I didnt take pics of it but it was great ( :)?)

This was a combo of a fire polybag set and star wars...I have to say I impressed myself on this one

This was a diorama from about 1984..no doubt inspired by Pole Position, the greatest video game in history, it's amazing I didnt have nameco signs made...

And this was trying to figure out how to.make translucent yellow slope  windscreens about 1 year before the lego movie 2 came and I was able to get a bunch from pick a brick.  Now if i could just get translucent yellow plates i would have everything needed to create 928, 924 and 918 sets in neo classical style...again already done by someone for lego ideas site way better than I could do...sigh ..

akro mills vintage steel drawer cabinets...

By far, the best storage solution for my lego room is the akro mills vintage blue pull drawers!...I dont know why but they look so cool and are steel and durable...the new plastic ones are nice in terms of clean and ready the minute you buy them but they are so flimsy when you dont have them full. 

These needed a ton of goo gone and razor blades to get the labels off and dawn detergent to clean and Clorox wipes!

The drawers look so neat though when full!

Thru pure luck I came across these at flea markets and usually they are full of bolts and nuts...everything that I have no useful skills or talent to use for real world tasks and repairs...I'm only a lego mechanic at best and that only entails changing a 1x1 round red light on a headlight brick at best.

So after removing tons of misc nuts and hardware, the rust has to be removed.  Sometimes I've had to throw out the drawers or entire cabinet because of grease, severe rust or oil

This is the car I changed the headlight on.. very difficult for me being non mechanical.:) :(

Favorite classic space sets part 2.

X1 patrol craft...I think this is pretty high on my favorites list.  I remember this set was when I seriously wished as a kid I could get multiples!!!  This set has everything one could want including:

Potentially dischargeable missiles (although the back was actually the engine for the ship too-slight problem)

Translucent pieces that gave both red and green...the red used to create the illusion of an afterburner...I still think 4 more on each large cone would have been more cool!

Detail that I think was one of the first creations with "greebling" created by different diameter round parts.  For as quick to build as the model is, the detail and appearance of complexity is amazing.  I think it's the emerging of round and block and angled pieces all together

Brackets that allowed sideways building...usually models built upward but the rocket parts were made with brackets horizontally

Pieces that could in my opinion the best ever alternate builds on the back of the box...there were so many options with the bricks that allowed detail and sideways building.  And the alternate models could all work together, the x1 patrol as a fighter and another that looks like a tanker/transporter.

The last 2 models arent my favorite...but still show options this set could do

I wish lego sets could go back to the alternate models and pieces that were so versatile with endless possibilities (although the creator sets have done this and I think lego has done great with this).

best places to buy lego (in 80s)

Above from https://danniebspeaks.com/2016/09/02/columbus-history-graceland-shopping-center-named-after-well-known-madame-i-live/

Photo below from google photos 5122020 Mark Davis@Digg.com on pinterest

Photo from wothpoint.com catalog picture 1985-86 found 5122020 on google

Thank you to the people who took these photos as there are few records on internet of these places!

If I could go back in time, I'd go back to when classic space sets were on the shelves 1980-83...in my opinion the best lego sets ever.  I actually never liked classic space until going to a friends house in 7th grade and he had an entire room at his grandma's with every lego set from classic space...the radar dishes were so cool, and essentially unlimited.  Another friend had the Galaxy explorer...I had the mobile transport set from a gift and on one birthday 1982 I went to kiddie corner in columbus and got the surface explorer and space baseplates with the cool yellow stripes lining the road to make a base...then I got the mobile transport set...those were really the main sets I had.  Then I got the people pack of extra minifigs at gold circle...there was even a mistake on the price on the last one on the shelf..1.99 for 6 minifigs.  I did get some other small sets from lawn mowing $ but that was the majority of space legos I had.  I think the thing I loved was actually having  one color...gray to make models with..they looked so real compared to red white blue black hodgepodge bricks put together as a model.  The only thing you could make without 1 color that looked real was the partridge family bus :(. 

The best places to buy legos as a kid were Kmart, harts, gold circle, kiddie korner, service merchandise, kb toys and jc penny.  Until I got the classic castle and knights tournament, going to the mall while parents shopped was me staring at the castle on then 2nd floor of jc penny followed by 15nmins of staring at the same thing at kay bee toys...the dollar price difference made the castle look so much.more affordable at jc penny!

So my early collection ended up with space gray and eventually yellow from the yellow castle....then a bunch of other colored bricks

and mini figs, some with no arms and some with arms after 1978!

Legos were so much cheaper in that era!

But no matter how exciting, I'd get home and play but then catalog would always have the massive chassis models on the last page that kept me wanting more!

forklifts of our lives

Today my nephew graduated which got me thinking about growing older and how complex the world is now.  I was born in 1970 when the first lego set I saw was a simple forklift

Pretty simple, just 1 job play all day lifting a simple brick...not much change thru elementary school except slightly more complexity of the.model

Then as life got more complex in the 90s to 2010s, the forklift got more refined...an actual seat and curved pieces...the rough corners were more refined and the model itself was more complex with forks to handle bigger loads that life throws at it...

But NOW DAYS...

15 pieces from the model in 1970 became much more complex to 2020...the purpose of the forklift and metaphorically my life is the same..to lift the loads live gives...but the inner working and knowledge of putting everything together is so complex...so heres to a graduation day when one looks back at where we start and how complex we've become now...not just at a graduation point...but in life

Anxious and sad about coronavirus...makes lego look so unimportant

I started the year by saying 2020 was the year I Hoped to get organized with lego...well be careful what you wish for.  I'd give anything to be busy and not have time to actually do what always gets pushed to the back burner.  I'm taking time off and fortunately have a good employer working to keep us on payroll so I started going down into my lego room.
I cannot believe how many legos I have now...one minute I'm thrilled then the next minute I'm thinking how or why did I get all these and if I'd saved $ I'd be sitting a lot better for a pandemic...I think I'm at the end of getting more for now.  One because I have no more room and two because if I cant make something good with the bricks I have then i suck and need a new hobby.
I was pretty glad to go through my legos though because I remember where I was when I bought many of them...when times were more peaceful and less stressful...so after today I was able to get good pics

I like looking at people's collections on the net and hope these will be fun to look at....

Well I will keep organizing to try to prepare the most amazing moc ever...I hope everyone coping with coronavirus and those grieving a lost one will hang in there.  Praying for everyone....take care