When the LEGO Ideas Maze was first announced, I was initially ambivalent. The set seemed like a strange choice for a LEGO Ideas set, and I decided not to get it, and I mostly forgot about it. But, when it was released, I kept going back to the LEGO site and contemplating buying it. I appreciate the concept behind LEGO Ideas, and I want to support the theme, but finances are always an issue with LEGO. Still, I kept going back to the set, and even though I know I have mad rationalization skills when it comes to buying LEGO, I felt like it was something else that was drawing me to the set. One day as I looked at the retro box art, I realized the allure of the set was the maze itself because I used to draw mazes as a hobby.
I had completely forgotten that I used to spend so much time drawing mazes. My mazes were intricate and involved, and I only drew them for the joy of drawing them. I’m sure I must have shown the drawings to people, but I never drew them with the intent of having someone else complete them. In fact, they probably would have been almost impossible to complete anyway because the goal was to make them as intricate and tight as possible. I loved clean, curvy lines, and I loved the way the mazes looked when complete. I would finish one and start a new one. I was picky about my pencils. Drawing the mazes was sheer joy, and the memory of them that the LEGO Ideas Maze brought back makes me want to try to do it again.
This is not the first time I’ve remembered a long forgotten creative activity that was so important at one time. Before I got into LEGO, I was looking for something to occupy my time, and I ended up at a craft store looking for puzzles. They didn’t have any puzzles, but they did have model cars. As soon as I saw those model cars, I could smell the paint and the glue, and I remembered that I had once been really into that. What happened to these long lost hobbies and creative activities? How did I forget things that were once so important? I feel like the mazes and the model cars were both part of the same time period: high school. Looking back, I remember going into my early twenties thinking it was time to get serious. This is about the same time I gave up video games. I was moving into programing and computer science engineering at that point, and I had a quick moment when I decided I wanted to develop video games, but the need to get serious overcame that. I largely abandoned creative activities, except writing, during this time. But, even writing felt self-indulgent and not serious.
I’m sad for my younger self’s need to get serious, but I’m glad I got over it. Recently, an acquaintance was dismissive of my LEGO hobby, telling me LEGO is just a toy. I tried to explain the allure through the art and technique of LEGO, but it was a no go. LEGO, for him, is just a toy. In the past, this acquaintance has also expressed the same dismissiveness toward video games as a waste of time. I’m old enough now that I don’t really care if people think my hobbies are frivolous or a waste of time. But, sometimes it’s hard not to let the opinions of others in. Are video games, LEGO, or drawing (or whatever) a waste of time?
Nah. I drew those mazes for the sheer fun of it. The enjoyment I remember from them is similar to the enjoyment I get now from LEGO, which varies from the zen of following instructions and building to the joy of making. I’ve written in the past about how LEGO helps with my work because it requires a different kind of thinking that allows ideas to grow while I’m building. But, also, LEGO is sheer fun for me. Sometimes it’s ok to do things for the sheer fun of it.
