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So, I feel like ever since I came back from my very first trip to London, I have become obsessed with all things British. I might be turning into an Anglophile; I’m not sure. Well, I can say that I was an admirer of British things, people, & culture ever since I was a little kid, & that admiration has carried on into my adulthood. Also as an adult, I still carry that inner child within me, & that has also continued in my fandom for LEGOs.
I believe I may have already mentioned in a previous post (way back when) about my collection of LEGO Creator sets.
This list is dated as of September 2017
I’ve already got the Tower Bridge & Big Ben sets as gifts from older brother on Christmas & my birthday. So, it was only fitting that I get the London Bus set when it went on pre-sale to all LEGO rewards card members.
I know it sounds ridiculous to call it a pre-sale-for-rewards-members-only when it was basically sitting on the store shelves for anyone to grab two cussing weeks ahead of it’s scheduled mass release date, but you know those marketing guys…They really know how to bait-&-hook gullible suckers customers like me. So, I basically ran into this set by sheer coincidence while I was window-shopping at the mall.
I guess Jian was doing some “bro-tastic” weekend event with his male co-workers, & I was left alone to my devices & decided to peruse the shopping mall unsupervised. I always have to make my rounds at the LEGO store even if they don’t have any new sets, & I caught this sparkling gem displayed in the store window. I walked into the store (about as calmly as a bull in a china shop), & grabbed the last box sitting on the shelf. The cashier promptly told me that this set was on pre-sale for rewards members only, but I figured anyone could grab it since it was sitting on a regular store shelf with no special sign or label.
What did I do next? Well, after I brought this set home, I proceeded to build it. It took me an entire weekend to build, as I would take breaks in between each numbered set of instructions.
The bricks come in individually numbered bags according to the instruction book, which over the years have gone from thin, individual booklets, to one thick book about the same thickness as an old fashioned telephone directory. I usually separate all of the brick bags by number, & only work on one set of numbered bags per day.
I know for a more skilled LEGO set builder, this London Bus could’ve probably been completed in a few short hours, but I work very slowly, examining each piece to make sure I’m following the directions to the letter. That’s pretty much my lame excuse to cover up the fact that I’m not good at counting the dots on the bricks, & I’m crap at measuring short & long pieces. So, that pretty much slows me down immensely. Jian on the other hand, is so quick at building LEGO sets, & he has a good eye at measuring & counting the pieces. He could’ve probably built this set in one afternoon. I like to take my time to make sure I’m not making any mistakes. There have been quite a few times in other sets where I’ve made mistakes in measuring pieces & had to break off sections & re-do them.
It might take me a long time, but I don’t care. I get enjoyment & fulfillment in taking my sweet ass time. I will put on some relaxing jazz or chill-hop music, or whatever strikes my mood on Spotify, & then I will proceed to open up the little plastic baggies & empty out the contents on to paper plates or bowls. This helps me find pieces faster, so I don’t have to go digging around in each individual baggie. The results give me a feeling of fullness, satisfaction, & accomplishment that can only be described by admiring the finshed result.
There you have it! My completed London Bus! I can’t wait to see what new sets LEGO will think of next. Until then, I’m on my way to build my next set, which is the Creator Carousel, given to us by our extremely generous friends from Southern California!! Cheerio & cheers, mates!
P.S. The Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats -slash- Kings of Leon concert I went to two weeks ago was incredible!!! I took a few videos & posted them on my Instagram page. I barely knew three songs by Kings of Leon, but I had a blast anyway. Then, I let Jian & another friend of ours talk me into going to watch A$AP MOB in concert (sometime between now & October, I think). On top of that, I’m waiting, like a giddy child on Christmas Day waiting to open presents, to go watch The Killers (my all-time favorite rock band) in concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles early next year. My cuss! It’s going to be a glorious time for music & live events…
Today’s song of the day:
I recently read a book where one of the main characters was British. It made me swoon every time I heard this gent use this word “dahh-ling” as a term of endearment toward the person he loves. During my brief time spent in London, I was hoping I’d hear this word being used by a local Londoner, somebody, anybody…but alas, I was unsuccessful on that front. I’d still like to hear this absolutely adorable word being spoken by a Brit in person, rather than on TV or in a movie.
So, this word is my chosen favorite word at the moment. Whenever I hear/read this word, I can’t help but think of actress Zsa-Zsa Gabor. I just loved it every time I heard her say this word on the popular classic TV show Green Acres. When I was a kid, I used to watch repeats of Green Acres (as well as many other “oldies”) on the Nick-At-Nite channel, where they’d always show re-runs of classic TV shows from the 50s, 60s, & 70s.
I don’t know why I was so drawn to watching these older TV shows, but I just loved Zsa-Zsa Gabor & her sister Eva Gabor. Those two actresses somehow reminded me of my maternal grandmother…all of them done up in their finest clothes, with their hair perfectly coiffed, all while wearing their best jewels. Also, the theme song to the Green Acres show pretty much summed up my parents’ relationship in one catchy theme song. My mom loved to live the big city life wearing fashionable clothes & her best jewelry, while my dad liked to get down & dirty in the garden. My dad, having spent many years living in Texas, admired farm/ranch living. He could never really live on a farm or ranch himself, but he always dreamed of it. You know, my dad always loved the cowboy way of life. My mom on the other hand, was a city girl that didn’t really love the outdoors, but she tolerated it for the sake of my dad. So this show kind of reminded me of my parents a little bit, but the main actress reminded me a lot of my grandmother.
I just adored the way Zsa-Zsa Gabor would say the word “darling“…as in DAAHHH-LIIING, with a dreamy European accent. As a little kid, I would practice saying this word while looking in the mirror, hoping no one would catch me doing something so silly. To this very day, this word makes my heart flutter. It’s so incredibly romantic & sweet. I feel like I want to incorporate more British slang terms & vocabulary words into my own English vocabulary. I don’t want to come off as a cheesy Anglophile, but I think it would be kind of fun to mix things up a little. I think I might start by using the word “darling” more in my vocabulary. Well, until then, cheers mates!
P.S. I’m going to Los Angeles to see The Killers in concert at the Staples Center! But before that, I’m going to another concert in one week to see Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats along with Kings of Leon… Woah.
Today’s song of the day:
Today’s song of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 
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