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Home › Forums › Introductions › AFOL new to the group from the south!
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Rich Millich.
LindsayHello everyone! I hope I don’t ramble too much here! Thanks for reading, I hope I don’t bore everyone, and I hope to speak with more of you and get to know all of you better! I had heard that these types of groups existed, but I had never done much research to locate any. When my 12 year old son and I took a rare one-on-one outing to attend BrickFest Live this year, I learned of this group specifically! I am immensely excited to have others around that have the same type of passion for LEGO as I do! I tend to bore my dear husband to death! My name is Lindsay and I am 36 years old. My husband, Kevin, and I, with our sons, Izayah, 16, Michael, 12, and the baby, John David who is 22 months old and will be 2 in November, live in the little “blink and you’ll miss it” village of Amity. It is about 10 minutes south of Washington on 79, and we are basically right between Washington and Waynesburg. I have lived in this area, Washington county specifically, for about 15 years now, but I will readily admit that I do not know a lot about the Pittsburgh area. I did not grow up here; I am originally from Ohio. Despite the years that I have lived here, I’ve never spent time much further north than Canonsburg! We also have another son that doesn’t live with us, but comes to visit every other weekend. He is 11, and his name is Holden. Kevin is a mechanic and store manager for Monro Muffler and Brake in Washington. As such, I have been blessed to have the ability to stay home with all of our kiddos. My LEGO addiction started a few years ago at Christmas. Michael and Izayah always built their LEGO sets on their own. The building was their fun in the sets. Holden on the other hand, loved to play with his sets, but got frustrated way too quickly when trying to build. About 4 years ago, Santa had brought him a City helicopter and he just wasn’t getting it. So, he asked me if I would help. I of course obliged, having never touched LEGO bricks longer than the amount of time it took to grab them from the way of the vacuum or peel them off the bottom of my feet in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom! It didn’t take much for me to catch on to the way the instructions read and the bricks clicked together. Little did we all know at that point that from the one little set we were creating the monster that we have today!! I had a BLAST building that set, partially because of the time spent with Holden, but also because I truly enjoyed myself and found myself relaxing in a way that I hadn’t in a long time! From then on I started buying and building my own sets. I had also just recently started really getting interested in all of the Marvel MCU movies. So, I made it my mission to acquire every set that was made based from an MCU movie! I did… I never got a lot of the Spiderman sets or XMen. Like I said, I focused solely on the sets that were inspired by the movies. I’ll never forget the day I got my Helicarrier!! I don’t think I have ever been so excited for a “toy”… at least not since I was a kid! From there I started collecting sets from Star Wars, which, just like Marvel, the hubby got me into as well! My next most exciting piece was when I got set 9949, the long since retired Gungan “Una-bung-o” from Episode 1. It was bestowed to Obi Wan, Qui-Gonn, and my ABSOLUTE, BEYOND QUESTION, FAVORITE character, Jar Jar from Boss Nass! I didn’t then, nor do I still, quite understand why Queen Amidala was the other figure included in that set… Just seems a little out of place; as though she may have been better to be with the Flash Speeder or something like that. From there my collection has continued to grow exponentially including Ideas, Creator, Creator Expert, some DC, space and science themed sets with a planned set up to honor Wernher Von Braun for his work in getting us into space using the ISS, Saturn V, Women of NASA, and Lunar Lander sets with other sets and accessories. I had planned to focus on some MOC Halloween ideas next, but that plan has recently changed. I had never owned any Christmas sets. I’ve always liked them, but with the kiddos, it was never an expense I wanted to take out when it was the time of year they always emerged in the stores. This year I started really getting into Waffles on FB. I’ve gotten very lucky with a few of them. I won a group with the Elf Clubhouse, the Gingerbread House, and the Charles Dickens set. I also bought an Ice skating GWP. Shortly after these, I also won a Santa’s Workshop set! I have been so very excited about these!! My focus has now shifted to creating a North Pole Village for a Christmas display. Who knew individual holiday elves and gingerbread men mini figures could get so expensive?? lol… Anyhow… I have quite and eclectic array of interests regarding the sets I collect. I have considered applying for a position with the local LEGO store as a way to help financially support my building habits, but more importantly to be able to meet others with the same interests. I’ve never been one of those really outgoing people that makes friends or fits in easily. I’ve always been a bit introverted, and it would be great to have a position like that simply to have introductions to others. As an alternative means to that idea, I have been very active in the waffling groups on Facebook. I have had a lot of fun and been introduced to some really great people as well as being able to win some and make some money on sets that are just collecting dust here that another could be loving! Now though, I am ecstatic that I have found this group! I’ve been trying to read through the handbook and blogs on events and build challenges, meetings, things like that. If anyone has any information you feel would be good for me to have or helped you out early on, please by all means share that with me! I am sometimes limited in my ability to participate in some things as my youngest one is ALWAYS with me! Anything I can do and bring him along, I will gladly, readily participate in! Other things I will try my best to be able to participate in as well. Generally, when I have decent notice given, I am able to find appropriate care for the kiddos, so that I can be free for whatever the group would need. Thank you so much for taking the time to get to know me a little! I am looking forward to getting to know all of you as well!!
David H DonleyHello Lindsay and welcome! I live in Washington, so it’s great that there is finally someone who lives close to me. I am sure we probably know many of the same people in Amity. Your Lego interests are pretty close to mine as well. Never heard of a “waffle” before, but I am curious as to what they are. Thanks for joining!
Rich MillichWelcome to the LUG. Don’t worry about maximum verbosity of any post you make; I’ve already gotten a club award for that. It’s true! We have fun here, so share your passion for building without restraint. Excitement is infectious!
Off the top of my head, here are the builders whose unique work inspires me.
As for the North Pole Village, talk to @greg, as he specializes in Currier and Ives type snowy landscapes, and that might help develop your plans far beyond the sets. His work is very much a soothing and idyllic vibe.
We do have a couple of Star Wars fans in the club, and some Space builders who have built entire sci-fi worlds of their own, like myself, @randomdan, @whitesidewjw and @tfdesigns, among others.
@rcgrier3406 is building a galloping, winged pegasus right now, and he’s one of our multiple Harry Potter builders. He builds fine custom castles too with techniques that he’s developed over time.
@timf builds large skyscrapers, and @joshhall has done a couple of those too, including the Cathedral of Learning from the University of Pittsburgh.
@hacim specializes in a style called microscale: building very large scenes in small enough scale to both maintain detail and be manageable in size.
@bengood921 likes building exotic landscapes, space plants, and big machines that shuffle marble sized parts around. These are called Great Ball Contraptions.
@willmcdine builds police, fire, and EMT vehicles. I’m hoping to build a custom race car or street legal sports car for him in trade for one of his custom ambulances.
We have trainheads who build train lines. We have a dedicated builder who specializes in the Jimmy Stewart films (whose name escapes me, and I’m very sorry). Me, right now, I’m building a race car fleet.
We also have people who are dedicated to building just the sets and displaying them among our custom work, and some people who are dedicated to organizing and sorting parts. It’s impossible to keep up with everybody and what they can do!
That said, the MCU isn’t represented by a dedicated builder in this club yet, and while the MCU is nearing its natural saturation point, there are many iconic comic book scenes that the MCU never got to do that would make incredible MOCs. This is true of DC too.
Feel free to look up and chat with any builder you see. Jump in on any thread and ask questions or just lend support and ideas. You never know what your spark might set afire in creativity and motivation.
Whether it’s sets, custom creations, parts, sorting, storing, cheaper and more effective part acquisition, useful connection techniques, colors… start your own thread. Jump into others’ threads. What a wild hobby to be in.
Enjoy, and don’t be afraid of MAXIMUM VERBOSITY in your posts. It’s become an in-joke in the LUG.
Welcome, and have at it!
– Rich M
FYI, we will have displays at the Trolley museum for Halloween and Christmas.
Welcome Lindsay! I too am a MCU collector (as well as anything holiday, speed champions, Super Mario, classic castle, classic pirates, classic space, or well anything in a LEGO catalog! 😂). Most of my MOCs are video-game inspired, but I’m currently working on a pretty sizable mosaic. Looking forward to meeting you!
displays at the Trolley museum for Halloween
… which is in Washington PA.
Never heard of a “waffle” before, but I am curious as to what they are.
According to an online source, facebook does not permit raffles, so there are facebook pages with waffles instead.
Rich MillichNever heard of a “waffle” before, but I am curious as to what they are.
According to an online source, facebook does not permit raffles, so there are facebook pages with waffles instead.
Somewhere, Elmer Fudd laughs.
Somewhere, Elmer Fudd
laughswaffs.
FTFY
LindsayHello everyone! Thank you all so much for the responses! Honestly, I didn’t think that there were any, but then realized that I have so many emails coming in daily, I missed the important ones! I’m a bit short on time at the moment, but since it had been so long since I originally posted, I wanted to make sure that I got you some type of response asap.
I am very grateful for all the information and your welcoming!! I think it’s wonderful that there is someone else close to me. I was actually concerned that I wasn’t going to be able to participate as a group member since I am outside of the immediate area.
You are all exactly right about waffles on FB. Never ever, ever, say the “R” word!! lol I LOVED the last ‘waffs’ comment! hilarious!! I would love to add you guys on whatever social media you prefer, as like I said, I do miss emails…. obviously rather frequently! On FB I am the only Lindsay Romanetti-Cowden, so any of you are welcome to find me there. On the others, I would have to look to see what my name is on them. Some of them are my name and others are CowInADenBuilds depending on when I set it up.
I will have to check out the display at the Trolley Museum! It sounds neat… Is there anything I can do to help?
Thanks everyone and I will get back to your responses this evening!
And, oh, btw… I need to be let in on the in joke about verbosity! lol… I can guarantee that I will pretty consistently have LONG posts! I type how I would speak, plus I can be a bit of a grammar Nazi, according to my children! So… if I would pause when I am speaking, then there HAS to be the “…” to show that!! lol
Anyhow… everyone have a great day and I’m looking forward to talking with and getting to know all of you more!!
Here is the link to the discussion thread regarding the October Trolley Museum event: http://www.steelcitylug.com/forum/topic/2021-fall-display-pa-trolley/
Rich MillichHey, we’re talking Moonbase and Space now, so, what kind of Star Wars or Space stuff do you have? NASA and Star Wars, huh?
By the way, *thumbs my lapels* I am the winner of the Maximum Verbosity Trophy. We sometimes build in joke / accomplishment trophies to hand out during our quarterly meetings. We build them just for fun too. Anybody can notice something special that someone did, and build a trophy of that thing. I got a different trophy for calling LEGO derby races like a madman at the Children’s festival one year. I think @randomdan received a brick built dollar sign for buying a great amount of monorail one year. It’s silly and it’s meant in good fun, as well as acknowledging the awesome.
