Shop at College...(aka Shop at Home for students with a credit card)

Stardate 1993.  Age, 22.
I don't remember the set, but I think I was more excited about the catalog inside it than the bricks.  Back in the day I knew if you went up to the $20 price point on a set (as indicated by the computery font on the orange Toys R Us price tag), I got the bigger catalog in the box.    I eagerly flipped passed the blonde Danish kids grinning with their Duplo.  Quickly I jumped the likes of Town and Castle (I'd check them out for potential elements and pieces later).  FIND THE SPACE.  There it was. The yellow triangle in the top left of the picture would say NEW! (or have an asterisk behind the set number leading you to the legend at the bottom of the page *new for 19xx)  My eyes gazed at the wonder of sets coming out, sometime.  And there they were...

Ice Planet 2002.   In 19 years from 1993 we would be mining the caves of a planet named Krysto (thanks internet of 2014 for giving me that info nugget I forgot/missed).  The catalog pictures and the cool scene (pun yes) of the sets had me enthralled.  It was different. It was Space.  THE LOGO WAS ALMOST ORIGINAL SPACE, KINDA!  What color are those canopies?  Is that trans red?

I walked over to my buddy's dorm next door.  "BILL, NEW SETS!"  He wasn't a LEGO guy like me, but he liked LEGO at a younger age.  We'd had that conversation earlier... "Yeah, I still buy LEGO."  "Really!!?"  "Yeah"  "Let me know when you do I'd like to look at them again!"  "Ok."  I usually stayed pretty guarded about my "secret affinity for a child's playtoy" lest someone from high school pop around the corner and HA HA laugh and point.  However, Bill was amazed by the picture of the Deep Freeze Defender, "HOW MUCH IS IT?" he asked.  "I'm guessing about $50 bucks"  "I'll go with you and get one too."  It was my first Lego Club/Fest/LUG/anything.  I had the cash, he had the cash and we set out on an adventure. I drove.

Hey that's a weird color of neon orange.

We built, he enjoyed it, but I much more.  I think I got all the sets except for the base on my trips home on I-20 (right by the Lithonia Toys R Us, more on that magical store another day).  Not sure what Bill did with his set.  He was all girlfriended and studying mathy engineering.  My time and degree were much less taxing so LEGO filled the gaps.

Hey, there's the order form for Lego Service.  I can buy a bunch of one color.  NO MORE multicolor Ships. A unified fleet color.  I could pull this off, and I filled out the form...

...

Bricks... ONE COLOR.

Plates yo.

 Look at ALL THOSE PARTS!!  Yeah that's how it was.  ALL THOSE in a bag PLUS shipping.  The Mail Order Service was our only way.  We had it rough, compared to today's Pick a Brick, Bricklink, and E-bay.  And, thanks Susan for the note... I'll say it right.

I filled out the card, ordered my stuff and nervously checked my Georgia Tech post office box in the student center EVERY day.  I got a nervous sweat when the notice of a package was in there.  The lady handed me the box, with anxious glee I took the brown box with the red LEGO logo stamped on it  I'm sure she looked at me funny.  I didn't want to know so I just looked down at the counter as she slid the box under my face. It made the noise.  I hurried to the Stinger bus before another high school tormentor would point and laugh.

Hefner dorm was 10 -15 minutes away.  What if someone saw the box?  My SHAME WAS WRITTEN IN RED!  SCARLET LEGO LETTERS.  Then she said "Hey I like LEGO."   "Huh what?"  A red haired girl on the bus looked up from her book.  I said, "I still uh... I like to make models with these," in a way that tried to sound artsy, but sounded fartsy because my voice cracked.  She quietly stated, "I like castle, I like the figures."   "I have some castle guys but space is the best!"   WHAT ARE YOU SAYING??  STUPID.  Way to nerd/macho.

Was it her??  Nah.

My second  Lego Club/Fest/LUG/thing was failing.  The bus stopped, she smiled and gathered her things.  "Uh see ya later," I said.  I didn't.

It wasn't easy to be a LEGO fan in college, or any time before the late '90s actually.  Connections were difficult, no one shared the passion, and the high school tormentors were EVERYWHERE. One thing the internet brought us was connection, the idea "you're not alone" in your nerdness, and eventually access to more LEGO parts.   I wish I would have not been ashamed of it.  I proudly wear the red letters of LEGO and so will my son.  Not because LEGO is so great, but being a geek is part of my Creator's knitting.  It's who I am.  I celebrate creativity when I build.  I celebrate His creative acts as I put bricks together.

I geek happily.  I may wear a Lego tie to my next High School reunion.