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psipsyIt's obvious to many that most men my age have long since stopped playing with Lego, but I'm smarter than that. I kept going with it. That I've become such a rarity is at its most evident when I go to the Lego store itself, and I have to watch where I step so that I'm not tripping over children that have become mindlessly (and understandably) ecstatic over their current whereabouts. I do not resent their presence, they are there for the same reason I am and I can only imagine what my childhood would have been like if such a thing as a readily-accessible Lego store existed back then. But that's beside the point. One phenomena that I've always noticed is that when I start in on a building frenzy, hours can pass in the blink of an eye. This evening, as I was assembling all kinds of proof-of-concept items and devices that may or may not work or hold themselves together under their own weight, I seem to remember the sun was just setting. Then I go and look at the clock and it's almost 1 am almost 2am somewhere past 3.
The same can happen with model trains, as there's quite a bit of time involved in setting up the track or working on a layout (there's no such thing as a truly finished layout), choosing the consist of the trains, and a wide assortment of other tasks. The level of time and effort put into an actual layout can cross into the thousands of hours. When I go to model train shows, the vast majority of people there are considerably older, yet the boundary between young and old, as vague as it is to begin with, blurs exponentially more. There are few women that show up at those events as attendees, and most seem to be presumably there in a vain attempt to stop their husbands from blowing their entire month's pension in one day. Despite the difference in age, I don't feel a vibe of resentment, like I'm just another youngster getting in the way. I'm there for the same reason they are.
Has some manner of "fountain of youth" been discovered yet overlooked, dismissed as frivolity?
Maybe I'm on to something.
The same can happen with model trains, as there's quite a bit of time involved in setting up the track or working on a layout (there's no such thing as a truly finished layout), choosing the consist of the trains, and a wide assortment of other tasks. The level of time and effort put into an actual layout can cross into the thousands of hours. When I go to model train shows, the vast majority of people there are considerably older, yet the boundary between young and old, as vague as it is to begin with, blurs exponentially more. There are few women that show up at those events as attendees, and most seem to be presumably there in a vain attempt to stop their husbands from blowing their entire month's pension in one day. Despite the difference in age, I don't feel a vibe of resentment, like I'm just another youngster getting in the way. I'm there for the same reason they are.
Has some manner of "fountain of youth" been discovered yet overlooked, dismissed as frivolity?
Maybe I'm on to something.
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Date: 2010-03-29 07:39 am (UTC)Nowadays the stores in my area don't really ship a lot of Lego, not even those Lego catalogues that are so awesome. This is one area where digital entertainment sucks. This generation's kids are leaving three things behind: books, toys and parks.
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Date: 2010-03-30 10:03 am (UTC)Kids are missing out on those three things. I blame parents. They're too busy to get their kids hooked on reading, electronic gadgets are a surprisingly effective babysitter, and they're too nervous about taking their kids to parks to interact with others.
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Date: 2010-03-30 10:03 am (UTC)