don't make me get out the kragle

it's not only here on the blog that i've got lego on the brain. of course, much of my brain is taken up by learning about my new job. but it's also entered my sleeping hours in the form of dreams. or rather nightmares. nightmares of failed meeting room bookings and running around in panic, trying to find a space to meet. nightmares of running into old frenemies in the personnel shop (a place i haven't even been yet and where they wouldn't be allowed to be since they don't work there). why is it that you can't delete people from your unconscious mind the way you can from your facebook or linked-in?

i mentioned the other day that i had a tale to tell about minifigures. there is a bowl of minifigure parts near my desk and in looking through it, i realized that it really, really bothers me when they are put together differently than they are meant to be. there is, in that bowl, a head that isn't chicken man's real head with the chicken man costume head on it paired with a baseball torso and legs that don't belong. and in all honesty, it makes my hands sweat just thinking about it. i have a few minifigs from the lego movie on my desk as well and to demonstrate to my colleagues how it makes me hyperventilate, i switched the hair on wildstyle and president business. but i had to quickly put it back (tho' strangely president business' squarey hair made western wildstyle look a bit like queen elizabeth I) because it was making me a little bit ill.

but then i stumbled across this article via twitter and i realized that i'm not alone in my ocd (if you've seen the lego movie, you know it's a theme there too). the whole movie centers on the kragle, which is a tube of crazy glue. and while i don't really want to go that far, i have realized that i am a lego builder who wants to build and display, not build and play. i think you should build it and leave it as it is, not making any adjustments or messing with it and definitely not taking it apart again.

but today, i had a homework assignment for a morning meeting tomorrow. we were all given a small set and asked to build it. we will have breakfast together and go around the table and tell about our building experience. my set is a creator 3-in-1. which means that it comes with the parts to build three different things. but in order to do that, you have to take apart the thing you built and rebuild it into another of the things - in my case, a helicopter, plane or boat. i like the plane best and built it first. but then i realized that i was supposed to take it apart and try one of the others. so i made sabin do it while i left the room. and then i came back and built the boat.

i was going to leave it intact for a proper photo tomorrow morning (you can see i took this one after the light went), but i just had to take it apart and rebuild the plane, it's my favorite of the three in this set. and it was a big step that i was able to disassemble the boat myself. these are small builds and good practice for me, who didn't grow up with lego (i had a pony). i also realized that i never really helped sabin build that much of it either, so i've not had much practice. i don't think i'll ever really become a person who makes amazing things up out of my head, but i will overcome my inability to take it apart and mix and match (and if i can't, there must be meds for that). and i am in awe of those who can build their own creations.

it was a big step that i took the girl scientist's head (series 11) and used it for my mini me for my photo series. and i haven't even put her back yet. i put the girl scientist back on my minifigure shelf with the wrong head on. and my hands are hardly sweating at all when i think about it. (note to self: repeat 100x in hopes that it will become true.)