The brick and I…

Among all the things I do to attempt to keep my mind occupied (like I don’t have enough on my mind to keep it occupied these days), one of them is to dig out some LEGO and build something.

You read that right. I still have all my LEGO from when I was a kid…every flippin’ brick.

And, as of this writing, about 45,000 of their little brick relatives. (That’s not a typo. Forty five thousand individual LEGO elements.) It’s a small collection at that; I know people who have more in the vicinity of ten to twelve times that amount…and one guy that has at least a million bricks (and you should see what he’s built with some of them).

So, what kinds of stuff do I build? Depends on what strikes my fancy. Mostly space stuff; though the occasional odd house does get done as I see fit. I’m also working on a vignette from my misspent youth. (You’ll have to wait to see that one though. It’s still in the planning stages.)

I've been to Legoland California--twice--and to LEGO shops in California, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, and the really big one at the Mall of America in Minnesota. I've been a member of the LEGO club since 1993, and have been building stuff since 1970.

If you want to see what I’ve built lately, you can check it out here:

(http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?msearch=matthewcrandall9). You’ll also see the LEGO minifigs on tour, Legoland pictures, and some convention pictures. Yes, there are LEGO conventions for adults. Two of them are BrickFest (http://www.brickfest.com/) and BrickCon (http://www.brickcon.org/). I’ve been to both, and will be going again to BrickFest March 26-29, 2009, in Portland, OR. If you are one of the 60 or so people who read my blog and are going, come let me know you read my blog. (You won’t get anything, but come and meet me anyway.)

So…why LEGO? Why not? It’s not just for kids anymore, though some of the things they have would have rocked when I was their age (LEGO computers and clubs that competed would have been awesome!) The First LEGO League stuff is way cool; so is their business concept Serious Play. (FLL is here: http://firstlegoleague.org/community/default.aspx ; Serious Play is here: http://www.seriousplay.com/.)

Got a set you’re curious about? Find info on that on LUGnet: http://www.lugnet.com/.

So you can tell…it’s not just a kid thing anymore. Adults are allowed to play too.

Enough for now.

(posted 10/20/08)