6.29.2010

In a Basement in Midwestern Suburbia

Sorting. It seems to be a universal excuse for in-activity in this community, something most everyone can relate to. Perhaps it's a way to distance yourself and take a break from our geeky niche-hobby without really letting go, not exactly a dark-age or even a dim-age, but like a flicker because the light bulb isn't screwed in all the way.

Scenario 1:

Jed: "Hey man, how come you haven't posted anything since the last contest?"

Ulysses: "I have been sorting."

Jed: "Cool!"

[ = Mutual Understanding!]
----------
Scenario 2:

Jed: "Hey man, how come you haven't posted anything since the last contest?"

Ulysses: "I got a life."

Jed: "Oh."

[ = Awkward!]
----------
Below is a picture (oh, really?) of my collection, out of use and hidden away in a dark corner of the basement amidst outdated computer hardware and old science projects. I'm going to be sorting it all out for the first time:



By total coincidence, Andrew over at TBB is also going through a sorting phase. He makes mention of a thought that echoes one of my own:

"What I don’t hear a lot of talk about is actually how to go about sorting one’s LEGO — other than sustained frustration about its necessity."
As much as other FOLs talk of sorting on forums and post pictures of the process, there is not so much discussion on how we go about organizing our plastic blocks. And with such a variety of building themes and thinking styles demonstrated within the community, what works for one person might not be nearly as effective for another. There's some good insight on the topic in the comments following Andrew's article, as well as in another TBB post.

As for my situation, I've got about 4 grocery bags worth of unsorted lego, I don't know if that sounds like a lot but it looks like it with the limited floor space that I have. To save space I'm thinking basic blocks will be kept aside in a couple large bins, separated into groups of 1xN and 2xN for later sorting (if any, as I don't use basics so much!). Larger plates will be grouped by dimensions, stacked and put into plastic baggies as I'm not yet sure if I have enough of the small sliding drawers to accommodate everything. Small specialized pieces, SNOT bricks, clips and small technic bits will be sorted first. Another thing I'm taking into consideration is the building style that this collection will service once sorted; elements that I use similarly will be grouped together. Aside from this general idea, I have yet to really make a plan and get started sorting, and that will have to wait until after I get back from a vacation trip, then I'll see how this goes down.

Anyway you're probably as interested in this as a Unicorn would be in cold cereal, so here's a "quick build to get away from sorting" by Spacie 11:



They prefer hot stuff, like oatmeal.

no its becuz they dont exist duhhh

1 comment:

Canon Printer said...

hmm means you are telling about waste material which were in a basement and by this you created vary interesting robot type machine . Am i right if nor try to explain the meaning of post.

 
Jacob
Occasional driving force of the blog, self-proclaimed Lukas fanboy, and aspiring engineer, Jacob spends too much time building LEGO, not enough time practicing piano, and not nearly enough time doing school. He also enjoys long sentences. In the instance of blogging, he believes in quantity over quality, wherever quantity can be maintained.
Mike
One of the cofounders of YSAB, and the founder of YSA, Observing Mike actually being productive is a rare occasion. Mike enjoys making outlandish claims in relation to actually building, pretending he's actually sorting his collection, and making excuses for why he hasn't photographed his MOCs. In his free time he enjoys learning CSS from Spook, photography and poking badgers with spoons.
Dean
Occasional builder, occasional blogger, and full-time procrastinator. That's really the only way to describe Dean. He rarely gets anything done, but is a very active lurker. He's probably seen and liked your MOC, but just forgot he had a blog.
Erik
Erik is still a teenager.
Lukas
Lukas is tall, blond, mildly OCD, and doesn't build nearly enough as he would like to, thanks to school. He has a webpage.
Spook (Tim)
The resident codemonkey and graphics person. If something isn't working correctly, it's probably his fault. Fitting to his name, he doesn't post often, but someone has to do this stuff too, right? Spook does build with laygoes, and has his own blog as well.