Closed shops and talkative teenagers.

Today I walked 23 blocks to the comic shop only to find that it's closed down. :( On the plus side, I had an interesting encounter in the bookstore, where I went in an attempt to salvage my day after my comic shop disappointment.

I sat down in a chair to rest, and sitting across from me was a teenager. He had a half empty 2-litre bottle of some off brand Mountain Dew, and he had 14 books next to him. Mostly manga and a Halo novel. I was flipping through a book and he told me the creepy lady was gone. I said, "What lady?" He told me about an old lady who was sitting in the chair behind him, and he asked me if I thought she was creepy. I said, "I didn't see her." He said she was just sleeping in the chair, and that he wanted to tip her over. He said he calls it 'old tipping'. It's like cow tipping, but you tip over the elderly.

He kept asking me questions, like if I play Dragon Age, and telling me about random things. He kept saying, "Don't mind me," as if it was his catch phrase. At one point he asked if he was annoying me, so I said, "No, not at all." I asked him what he was reading, so he turned the book around and looked at the cover for a second, and I think he said, "Cookie." Then his eyes lit up and he said, "Now I'm hungry!"

A few minutes later when I looked over at his stack of manga books, I asked him, "You're a pretty big fan of manga, huh?" He shrugged his shoulders and said "Eh." Then without provocation or warning, he read a few pages to me, and showed me the illustrations like a wide-eyed elementary school teacher. I had no idea what was happening in the story. It apparently ended with a character-based joke, but being completely unfamiliar with the characters, I didn't understand the joke and didn't really react to it. After looking at me for my reaction and getting no hint of one, he tried explaining the context of the joke by telling me all about the character. I still didn't understand. Then he asked if I ever read Bleach, and I told him I had not.

I started asking him questions about himself, but it seemed like he became disinterested in interacting with me once he realized he really wasn't annoying me.

People watching at the airport.

I was recently at the airport to meet my sister when she arrived on her flight. While I was waiting, I saw a man and woman sit down on a bench together. I assumed one of them had just arrived on a flight and they had just been reunited. He kissed her. She kissed back. Then the man appeared to reach his arm around the front of the woman to hug her. Instead, his hand landed on her left breast, and he began to grope her over her shirt as they sat on a bench in the middle of the airport. I wondered if he grabbed her breast by accident while trying to hug her, and then just decided to commit to his mistake and act like groping her was actually what he meant to do. I wondered if they had previously discussed it and come to an agreement that he could touch her whenever he wanted or if it was more of an unspoken thing where he just felt entitled because they're in a relationship. Then I realized that bench was an odd place for a reunion.

I've been doing some people watching lately.

Today when I was in the bookstore, there was a middle-aged woman sitting on the floor knitting in front of the shelf with all the books about knitting. She seemed kind of hidden, in between a cart of some sort and the column she was leaning against. I wondered if she was learning how to knit by reading the books without ever having purchased one of them. I wondered what was written in pencil on the pages of the notebook that was propped open in front of her as she knitted. I wondered if the store employees knew she was there. If any customers walked into the aisle she was sitting in, she would ask if she was in their way. I eavesdropped from the other side of the bookshelf as she recommended a knitting book to another middle-aged woman and then urged her to flip to the last page to read the very last line. I wondered what that last line was. I watched as the second woman's husband came to rescue her from the middle-aged woman who was knitting on the floor.

Redecorating tip:

A naked doll wrapped in plastic can transform any boring old basement into a quaint murder dungeon.

LEGO Halloween III Minifigures

I made these figures as a tribute to Halloween III: Season Of The Witch. It's not even a very good movie, but there are a bunch of little things I love about it. For example, the three masks.



Happy Happy Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. 
Happy Happy Halloween, Silver Shamrock.

Halloween Mood Table 2014

I've had this set up for a while, but finally got around to photographing it. Since becoming a boring, stupid adult, the Halloween Mood Table has been one of my favorite traditions. Here's this year's, illuminated mostly by the blue glow of my television.



There are still purple string lights and of course speakers underneath for Halloween music. Aside from my anatomically correct werewolf hiding in the shadows beside the ghost, I switched it up this year with the action figure choices. The ghost is actually a candle holder my family has had for decades. My sister and I dug it out of the attic.

LEGO Minecraft Pumpkin Mosaic

My town in Minecraft has two scarecrows that I made out of pumpkins, torches, and fence posts. One of them is named Pumpkin Escobar, and the other is Samuel L. Jack-O-Lantern.

To show my love for Minecraft pumpkins, I got out my LEGO Mosaic set and my orange bricks to make this.

LEGO Daniel has a space helmet.

For anyone wondering just how authentic the cracked helmet is on the 1980's-something space guy in The LEGO Movie, I found this helmet the other day when looking through my collection.

LEGO Daniel gave himself a mohawk.

After seeing the mohawk I recently gave myself, LEGO Daniel decided he wanted one too. He mostly did it himself, but it was kinda difficult to do the back, so LEGO Edward Scissorhands helped out.

I just got back from an evening bike ride.

I'm not sure what the difference is between a tortoise and a turtle, but I saw one of the two. Its identity will forever remain a mystery, because I couldn't decipher any of the information on wikipedia, and I figured the shelled reptile wouldn't reply to me yelling "WHAT ARE YOU!?"

I stopped to hang out with it for a little while. It very slowly turned its head to look at me, and then we just stared at each other for about five minutes, sharing a comfortable silence. Then I said bye to my reptilian friend and rode off into the sunset. Except I guess I was actually riding away from the sunset. Do they ever do that at the end of movies?

This is LEGO Carter.

He knocked on my door to ask if he could have a banana, then left.

LEGO Kiddiefigures: Star Wars Edition

May the Fourth be with you. And no, I have not suddenly developed a lisp... It's Star Wars Day!

Honestly though, for me, every day is Star Wars Day.

In the past 15 years, LEGO has had many licensed themes, including Star Wars. But before the company acquired those licenses, we had to make our own versions of those themes with our own LEGO collections. I think it takes a lot of creativity and imagination not to have special pieces that are made specifically for these characters. I came up with an idea a few months ago for a special approach to building LEGO minifigures where you only use pieces that existed before LEGO released the official theme, which in my case, for the most part is actually how I made these characters into minifigures when I was a kid. I call them Kiddiefigures. I like the idea of capturing the classic LEGO aesthetic by incorporating kind of outdated pieces, such as the classic smiley face.

So here are my Star Wars LEGO Kiddiefigures, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

More amusing LEGO minifigures.

This time I'd like to introduce you to Sparkles, the sleeveless wizard. And his brave companion is Buzz Lightyear of Star Clan. He's like a Frank Frazetta version of the popular Toy Story character.



I just thought it was funny to have the Buzz Lightyear head on that shirtless, muscular torso.

Sometimes I make LEGO minifigures that amuse me.

Although I guess all minifigures amuse me at some level. This one is simple. It's the statue of liberty with a fish for a torch.

I made some LEGO movie minifigures.

But not The LEGO Movie. These are characters from movies.



Gwynplaine from the 1928 silent movie The Man Who Laughs, and Edward from the 1990 Tim Burton movie Edward Scissorhands.

LEGO Hess Truck

I've always associated Hess Trucks with Christmas. My brother and I got all the toy Hess Trucks for Christmas they released from 1985 to 1988, and there were those very Christmasy commercials for them on television. We also used to go gift shopping at a mall where there was a Hess station right nearby.

I've been reminiscing, and I got inspired to build a LEGO Hess Truck!





I'm quite proud of it. A tractor trailer is kind of a departure from the things I normally build. I wish I could get the lights to light up, but it's good enough as it is.

Gingerbear Cookies!

It is a tradition in my family to make gingerbear cookies. My mother and I made some this year.



The cinnamon candy is supposed to be a heart, but we were unable to find heart-shaped ones. Even hearts aren't really heart-shaped though, so I think it's alright.

LEGO Daniel is a little bit cold.

He came in like a wrecking ball!

I saw this at Target and had to get a photo.



All he wanted was to break your walls.

Faces Of Peppermint

I definitely wasn't expecting to find anything that would top the slang word, song, and hilarious sheet music cover, but when I looked up jelly beans on wikipedia, I also looked up candy canes. Not only did I find their history, but I also found this masterpiece.



The child clearly was so excited upon seeing the sign that he dropped his books, and his mittens just fell right off his hands. And whether or not they have that stance and clenched, possibly trembling fists, if you see that look in anyone's eyes, you'd be wise to stay out of their way.