It all started out with a simple trip to Walmart with my grandparents. They were visiting us from Florida, and they were taking us into town while our parents had other business in town.
I was only 12, and I had played with Lego bricks at my friend's house, but I didn't have any of my own. I had began to wonder what it would be like to have as many Lego bricks as my friend, and what I would do with them if I did.
As I slowly walked into Walmart, I had Lego bricks on my mind. I had about twenty dollars to spend in my wallet, and I decided to go to the toys. I told my grandparents that I was going to the toy's section, and I slowly walked there.
When I reached the toy's section, I passed an aisle of Lego bricks. I immediately decided to look at what they had.
As I walked through the aisle, a set caught my eye: Set #8014, Clone Walker Battle Pack. It was small, it had a good minifigure count, and it was only $11.99.
My brother, Andrew, walked up to me and said, "Do you want that, Jacob?"
That's when I made a decision that has changed my life ever since. "Yes, Andrew, I do," I said confidently, and grabbed it off the shelf.
I practically ran to the checkout aisle, where my grandmother was reading magazines. "Do, you want that, Jacob?" she asked me curiously.
"Yep."
I whipped out my wallet, gave my grandfather the money, and watched it slowly go down the checkout line.
I wanted to open it so badly on the way home, but I managed to wait until we got there. I then slowly built it, learning about the steps of Lego as I went, and when I finally finished it, I played with it. My brother saw the fun and joined me. He would go on to buy one of his own, also picking up a few sets like Set #7195 Ambush in Cairo, and Set #4738 Hagrid's Hut, later on.
Ever since then, my Lego collection slowly grew as I picked up sets. It wasn't until November 2010, when I was about to turn thirteen, that I got more serious. I built this model, which I consider my first "serious" MOC:
It's not spectacular on any level, but I treasure it, and still own it, because it is what I would call my first "true" MOC.
I slowly became better at building. Here is my second "serious" MOC:
After looking at this one for a few weeks, my admiration turned to disgust and I scrapped it. But this experience taught me an important lesson. Right after you build something, you might think it the best MOC in the world. But looking at a model for weeks can show you the flaws. If it is a truly spectacular MOC, it will last the test of time.
When 2011 started, I went into a Lego buying stage. I spent every dime I had on Lego(come to think of it, I'm still in this stage today), and I made some bad decisions on which sets were good ones. This taught me yet another lesson about Lego. The sets you buy are what you build with, and what you build with is important.
Ever since then, I have flourished into buying, building, and exhibiting. I try to take a good approach at building, but I fail to build well at times. But I try, and recently decided to convert my Lego life to a blog. Hopefully this blog will be read, and people will understand my struggles and joys of being a nerd, and building with Lego.
