Hello…

Wow, has been a while since I last posted.  The usual stuff happened, in the struggle with work-life balance, work has taken an upper hand and with less personal time available, I’ve simply re-prioritised where I want to/can spend my time on. So LEGO blogging now takes a back seat to actually trawling for latest news, playing with LEGO, or visiting LEGOLAND for the matter.

Some other changes to my LEGO habits since I realised that simply no longer have time to spare… I only buy those sets that I really like (and I try not to buy too many multiples, tho I still do), which still adds up to a heck of a lot of sets (what, like just all the Super Heroes sets, Lone Rangers, Monster Fighters, Modulars, UCS, etc, plus whichever SW, City, Creators & Friends sets that I fancy). As some of the local AFOLs have mentioned on the local forums (hey, I still read some of the forums now and then, and I can definitely track  links to my websites…), I can probably be termed as “semi-retired”. But I suspect that this semi-retired AFOL probably still spends a heck more on LEGO sets every month than most of the active AFOLs.

Anyway, I’ve started a few Pinterest boards and just thought to share. See, while I think I won’t have time with wordy posts, and blogging really needs a bit of time for prepping, Pinterest really takes the pain away. I just click “pin” and choose which board I want to add the pin to. Half the time (ok, more like 90%) I don’t even bother to edit the original comments. And with the Pinterest app being available on my iPhone (and iPad & Android), I can even add pins while queueing for my takeaway economy rice and kopi (local coffee) to eat at my desk (yes, work has been THAT busy).

So I now have 7 Pinterest boards, some with some LEGO-related pins but you can decide which ones you wanna browse thru. Flickr and the usual AFOL sites still have way more cool creations and latest news regarding LEGO so didn’t see the point of creating a Pinterest board just for LEGO. If you are a long-time Pinterest user, can you tell me why I can hardly find any of the latest jaw dropping creations on Pinterest?

My Pinterest boards are:

1. Dreamy homes I can live in… (think of it as a mood board for my future IDs, and includes some LEGO related ideas for my next home)
2. Random beauty (stuff that touch my soul… errr… really? Just whatever takes my fancy lar)
3. Useless info graphics you never knew you needed (those nuggets of info, all packaged in a nice info graphic…)
4. Random home stuff (anything else that’s home related but can’t fit in the ‘mood board’, and includes some LEGO related products)
5. Stupid funny stuff (can be stupid, or funny, or both)
6. Christmas decor ideas (never too early to start planning, ha)
7. So true quotes (yeah, that sort of quotes. Words of wisdom)

Some of them are quite sparsely pinned, but hey considering that I just started Pinterest and managed to accumulate over 400 pins so far, the overall stats is pretty darn impressive, if I say so myself.

So yeah, if you are interested do head on over to Pinterest to have a look. Click on the links or find me by searching under “People”, and type “amodularlife”. Simple ya? 🙂

Preview of my boards:

On a personal note…

Some local fans ask if I’m still collecting.  The answer is yes, but I’ve slowed down. I suppose that having a room full of LEGO sets does give a different perspective than when the sets were scattered in different rooms.

Do I open the sets I have to play? Yeah I do. But the usual considerations apply – do I have time, do I have space, should I be hunting down my dream sofa instead, or how about just chillaxing and doing nothing (always tempting after a tough week at work)?

I’ve recently had a block of time for some ‘play’ tho, and thought to share the WIP with you regular readers.  Been meaning to modify the Friends sets into modular buildings for my modular street/shelves for a while. These 4 Friends sets (3061 City Park Cafe, 3187 Butterfly Beauty Shop, 3188 Heartlake Vet and 3315 Olivia’s House) were modified in less than a day, all in all.  Not yet done as you can see from the missing tiles. And I really need more white and beige bricks. Otherwise it has been quite fun to play with LEGO and I can confirm that I am still an AFOL at heart. (Plus I think City Park Cafe is such a great set…)

As for blogging, I honestly don’t think I will go back to actively posting about LEGO news, new sets and interesting MOCs daily.  I actually still Google pretty regularly for updates/LEGO-related news, but instead spending the next 30 min to 1 hour blogging about it, I then move on to other activities.  Partly it’s cos with my current job, I have less free time to blog, partly it’s cos I have a new blog about home decor and mostly it’s just pure fatigue from having to keep up with the latest LEGO news. Plus there are tonnes (ok, I exaggerate, a handful, just refer to their RSS on the right bar) of websites that gives the latest news about sets and sales anyway.  I realize that it’s starting to sound like a farewell note… but it’s not. I’ll still post stuff that I find interesting and that I think few other sites would post.

And… Umm… I struggle to come up with a punchy conclusion to my rambling post. But there is nothing really. I just felt like posting my WIP. =P

 

AFOL glossary on Eurobricks

Came across the Eurobricks (EB) glossary here. 

As a newbie AFOL, I remember being constantly confused when I read acronyms like ‘SNOT’ or ‘BURP’.   Here are some of the more common ones which I think would be helpful.  🙂

Bley: Bluish Grey
Colour terminology refering to the new grey introduced by Lego. Like “old” grey it exists in light and dark

BURP: Big Ugly Rock Piece
Those large strange shapped pieces including piece 6082 and piece 6083

GREEBLE (GREEBLIE, GREEB)
groupings of mechanical-looking detail elements on MOCs
EX: http://news.lugnet.com/space/design

MOC: My Own Creation

MSRP: Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price

PAB: Pick A Brick
A pick a bick consists of a wall of boxes full of various bricks in which you can choose whatever piece you want.

S@H (or SAH): Shop At Home
Lego’s online store.

SNOT: Studs Not On Top
A building technique where studs are, surprisingly, not always on top. This can be achieved with pieces designed for the purpose and have studs and/or anti-studs) on two or more faces, or by using pieces in a creative way. For example, most of the hinge pieces are good for SNOTting.

TLC: The Lego Company

TLG: The Lego Group

UCS: Ultimate Collector’s Series

Vig: Vignette
A small scene recreated on a small plate (usually 8X8)