pixelated bricks - my first real building experience

this is the lego minecraft forest. it was my first lego swag and sabin built it, without me. i was in the room, don't get me wrong, but she did the building. i had a pony when i grew up, you see, so i didn't really ever play with lego, tho' i'd heard of it and knew what it was. i just wasn't really into it. if i'm honest, i was more of a barbie girl. all those clothes and shoes...and that hair. but i digress. i haven't played minecraft myself, but sabin has played it for hours and tho' it makes me carsick to watch her, she has frequently shown me her creations - roller coasters, flocks of cows and sheep and our old house on poppelvej. the pixely world of minecraft lends itself naturally to lego and the fact that it contains the word "craft" appeals to me as well.

i've heard a great deal in recent weeks about the building experience, so this evening, i decided to sit down with the lego minecraft nether micro world and build it. it took me just under two hours. the box doesn't actually say how many parts there are, so i'm not sure, but they were tiny - it is a micro world, after all - and it seemed like a lot. it was a challenge, especially when frieda was trying to help me. i can report that cats are not that much help when you are building lego, especially teeny tiny lego.

i think i got a taste of some of the stories i've heard in the past few weeks. people who described coming home from work and building  lego sets to relax, instead of watching t.v. tho' i'll admit i had fringe going on netflix beside me (i'm saving season 2 of house of cards), tho' i was also pretty concentrated on the build. sorting the pieces into piles of like colors and shapes and then following the wordless instructions was really quite relaxing. these minecraft sets are built in four separate small blocks and stuck together, so you get the satisfaction of finishing a small build four times. that's a good thing for a newbie like me.

i like that these sets have smooth tiles, which create a nice surface on top and on the edges. there are a few open bricks here and there, where you can place steve and the zombie pigman. they are also surprisingly detailed on the inside, where you end up not even really being able to see it. i like that sense of hidden secrets, it feels to me like there are stories there that are not yet revealed and that appeals to me on an intellectual level, as well as a tactile one. maybe the stories are just in my own head, but maybe they're there in the bricks. with this build experience, i think i begin to understand the attraction of lego. it's more than just minifigures.

i have a tale to tell of minifigures, but i'll save that for another day.

* * *

speaking of lego, this jerk (who is inappropriately named brick) 

says adults (especially men) shouldn't play with it in an esquire piece.

and these lego guys take offense.

signs

signs the world has gone mad:

1. iPhones containing flappy bird going for obscene amounts on eBay.

signs you have the best job ever:

1.

 

2.

 

3.

 

signs you are drinking too much coffee (you enlist your minifigures to help serve it to you):

signs of cuteness (and it's a cat!) in the world:

signs that your life may have been taken over by lego and that it might be time to head for bed.

the perfect end to a wonderful week

early in the week, i saw these stacks of awesomeness in my boss' boss's (i did one of each because i couldn't make it look right - any grammar police, please advise which is correct!) office. i nearly fainted dead away. they're all there. every. last. one. of. them.

and today, i had a meeting with that boss, which stretched from an hour to an hour and a half and during the course of it, he said i could select a single minifigure from any box of my choosing every friday. this is the one i chose. i was hoping for the equestrian.

but i got the gymnast, which was my second choice anyway and which is totally awesome! how lucky am i?  it was the perfect ending to a truly wonderful week. i think i actually feel sorry for anyone who doesn't work for lego. it must be the best place in the world to work.

and because you can never have too much, i had to share this fabulous MOC (my own creation - which means a lego object created from someone's imagination, not a set). it's pretty darn amazing.

worth the wait

it wasn't easy, but i got through the waiting at long last. i spent the morning ironing and cleaning and tidying and at last selecting my outfit. i shouldn't have gone with the vintage boots because one heel (which i didn't even know was weak) cracked as i walked from the main building over to where i will work. i was able to glue it and hold it together for the day, and now it's just a funny memory.

had to have a selfie, of course. this is, after all, the age of the selfie.

and this is what was waiting for me on my desk when i arrived. a whole stack of apple awesomeness. it really doesn't get any better than that.

and i got to fish through a box of minifigs for the ones i don't have (alas, they weren't all there, but i will get the final two, i'm certain of it).

in denmark, you nearly always get a welcome bouquet of flowers when you start a new job. i had to bring mine home to enjoy them. most jobs, however, don't come with a whole lot of lego. but then, most jobs aren't this awesome.