31 and still ticking...
Well, it’s official. I’m no longer a well-seasoned 30 year old. As of Saturday the 14th, I’m now a very young 31 year old. Woo-Hoo! Thanks to everyone who took the time to send me some birthday wishes. I definitely am feeling the love.
Normally turning 31 would seem to be a fairly uneventful time in people’s lives. Most have already had their pre-midlife crisis at 30 and are now just resigned to the fact that they need to accept nothing better than the prospect of an increasing waistline and receding hairline.
I like to take a more positive approach to aging. I mean, it’s going to happen whether you like it or not, so you might as well smile and enjoy all the perks you can get with it. For example, I managed to get lots of phone calls, cards and cake, a very cool care package from my mom with cookies, cereal and LEGO, and I got a free cup of oolong ginseng tea at the amusement park Tivoli in Copenhagen. Not a bad start to the year!
Tivoli is such a great place to visit. I think I remember reading somewhere that Walt Disney came up with the idea of Disneyland after a trip to Tivoli. Of course, he decided to take out some of the more unsavory aspects of the place like the sale of cigars and beer as well as the abundance of topless women images throughout the park. There is just something weird about kids getting their photo taken with their head sticking through a cutout of a painted topless woman in a bathtub.
My friend Dennis works at Tivoli and was kind enough to give me the VIP treatment during my visit. He introduced me to one of my new favorite roller coasters. Named "Roller Coaster," this firecracker of a ride is one of the oldest Woodies left in the world.
To give you an idea of how old that is, the train cars only have wheels above the track which leaves nothing to prevent riders from jumping right off the rails. Quite simply put, your fate lies in the hands of one very important brakeman who skillfully throttles back your momentum as you careen full force around intense curves and dramatic dips. As soon as you feel those wheels jumping free from the track you pray to god that your teenage brakeman didn’t just have a break-up with his oh-too-beautiful girlfriend.
I was completely up for it when Dennis recommended we try out the new tower swing ride that just opened this year. Of course that all changed as soon as our spinning seats began climbing higher and higher into the air. With feet dangling and no more than a chain-hung small basket to sit in, I very quickly experience paralyzing fear. Every small breeze of air would twist the chains and toss my seat like an insignificant leaf to and fro. It was one of the scariest rides I’ve ever been on. You should check it out ;)
That weekend in Copenhagen afforded me yet another unique opportunity to see just how different cultures across oceans can be. When I bought a beverage in Tivoli, they charged me 5 extra kroner than the list price on the sign. I just assumed it was a sugar tax of some sort, but the kind lady behind the counter informed me that I could deposit the cup in any one of a dozen or so machines around the park for a rebate. Finished with the drink, I placed the inverted cup in the machine. Suddenly a frenzy of high-pressure activity within climaxed with intense whooshing and splashing sounds. As a finale to the show, my 5 kroner coin dropped down the shoot and gave me good reason to buy another drink just to see the show all over again!
I think Europeans in general have a much healthier view of the world we live in and what it takes to ensure its environmental health and prosperity. Recycling is taken very seriously here. When you buy a bottle of coke, the bottle is likely to have several scratches and nicks in the glass. Unlike the States where we grind up and re-form a new hermetically sealed package, the idea over here is to clean the container and reuse it.
On a side note, have you ever seen about a dozen or so blind people getting hair cuts outside at a public plaza? Yeah, I can't say that's something I come upon regularly, but sure enough, that's exactly what I saw on my way to Tivoli. It was some sort of blind awareness day and it drew quite a crowd. I couldn't help but wonder what it must be like getting a haircut if I was blind. Do blind people get hair coloring?
I started writing this a couple of weeks ago and now have a whole new host of things to talk about. Two weeks ago I went to LEGO World in Holland and had a blast. My plane seemed to go over really well with the kids at the event. It was so cool seeing their faces light up once they discovered the mechanism that makes the wings swing open. I tried my best to answer their questions, but it was much trickier than I imagined on account of the language barrier. Having just started learning Danish, there was no chance I was going to translate much of the Dutch most people were speaking. All I have to say is that my roommate Nathanael was a rock-star for the week. As the sole native dutchman in our group of 9 designers, he was very much the man to talk to at the event.
From LEGO World back to work, I've spent the past two weeks building models for some major deadlines coming up next week. We're working like crazy on preparing concept models for the 2008 product line. We also had a test last week in the UK where several of our models were shown to kids to get their impressions. The ones that tested best are now being further developed for an internal review from upper management. I'm really excited about some of the stuff the kids chose. I think we've got some awesome sets in the pipeline. I just have to keep my excitement in check because it's still a very long way until 2008.
Oh, and how could I forget the most amazing Halloween party ever? Some of the designers here had been preparing for it for the past two months. Wow, it was amazing. They had all the essentials, black-lights, spider-webs, a creepy old organ, corpses, a blood splattered shower, a skull and bone chandelier, a cadaver on a table split in half by a giant blade that swung from the high ceiling, and so much more. The costumes were over-the top. My friend Dave went as a fortune teller complete with portable booth and crystal ball. We had Bender from Futurama, a pregnant nun, a tribal chief, a squid man, Tetris pieces, and tons of spooky ghouls and funky monsters. I went as luggage. :)
Throughout the night everyone was talking about this one creepy guy who always seemed to be watching us silently through his nasty old man mask. No one knew who he was or how he got in. He spoke to no one. He just was there. Wouldn't you know it, he even won a prize at the party for having the most terrifying costume. Of course he went up and took his prize without offering so much as a hint of his true identity.
The next morning there was a note in the mailbox from the mystery guest. With a drawn profile of is face creeping across the left hand side of the paper, he offered a hand-written thank you for an evening of amazing memories. He said it was the best party he had ever been to and wanted to congratulate them on their success. And true to his form, he finished the letter without even his initials. We'll just have to wait til next year to try to pull a Scooby-Doo to unmask that mystery man!
Well, as of last Friday, the local convenient store served their last ice cream cone for the season. As of last Sunday, LEGOland closed its gates and won't open them again until the spring thaw. And just today, a freaky snow storm ripped through Billund blanketing the town with foam-like winter pellets. Yup, it looks like I'm in for 6 more months of wet gray darkness. Let's just hope that the freaky guy from the party hibernates for the winter. I'd hate to bump into him while searching for the last tub of Boston Ice Cream in the Brugsen Frozen Food Section :)
Normally turning 31 would seem to be a fairly uneventful time in people’s lives. Most have already had their pre-midlife crisis at 30 and are now just resigned to the fact that they need to accept nothing better than the prospect of an increasing waistline and receding hairline.
I like to take a more positive approach to aging. I mean, it’s going to happen whether you like it or not, so you might as well smile and enjoy all the perks you can get with it. For example, I managed to get lots of phone calls, cards and cake, a very cool care package from my mom with cookies, cereal and LEGO, and I got a free cup of oolong ginseng tea at the amusement park Tivoli in Copenhagen. Not a bad start to the year!
Tivoli is such a great place to visit. I think I remember reading somewhere that Walt Disney came up with the idea of Disneyland after a trip to Tivoli. Of course, he decided to take out some of the more unsavory aspects of the place like the sale of cigars and beer as well as the abundance of topless women images throughout the park. There is just something weird about kids getting their photo taken with their head sticking through a cutout of a painted topless woman in a bathtub.
My friend Dennis works at Tivoli and was kind enough to give me the VIP treatment during my visit. He introduced me to one of my new favorite roller coasters. Named "Roller Coaster," this firecracker of a ride is one of the oldest Woodies left in the world.
To give you an idea of how old that is, the train cars only have wheels above the track which leaves nothing to prevent riders from jumping right off the rails. Quite simply put, your fate lies in the hands of one very important brakeman who skillfully throttles back your momentum as you careen full force around intense curves and dramatic dips. As soon as you feel those wheels jumping free from the track you pray to god that your teenage brakeman didn’t just have a break-up with his oh-too-beautiful girlfriend.
I was completely up for it when Dennis recommended we try out the new tower swing ride that just opened this year. Of course that all changed as soon as our spinning seats began climbing higher and higher into the air. With feet dangling and no more than a chain-hung small basket to sit in, I very quickly experience paralyzing fear. Every small breeze of air would twist the chains and toss my seat like an insignificant leaf to and fro. It was one of the scariest rides I’ve ever been on. You should check it out ;)
That weekend in Copenhagen afforded me yet another unique opportunity to see just how different cultures across oceans can be. When I bought a beverage in Tivoli, they charged me 5 extra kroner than the list price on the sign. I just assumed it was a sugar tax of some sort, but the kind lady behind the counter informed me that I could deposit the cup in any one of a dozen or so machines around the park for a rebate. Finished with the drink, I placed the inverted cup in the machine. Suddenly a frenzy of high-pressure activity within climaxed with intense whooshing and splashing sounds. As a finale to the show, my 5 kroner coin dropped down the shoot and gave me good reason to buy another drink just to see the show all over again!
I think Europeans in general have a much healthier view of the world we live in and what it takes to ensure its environmental health and prosperity. Recycling is taken very seriously here. When you buy a bottle of coke, the bottle is likely to have several scratches and nicks in the glass. Unlike the States where we grind up and re-form a new hermetically sealed package, the idea over here is to clean the container and reuse it.
On a side note, have you ever seen about a dozen or so blind people getting hair cuts outside at a public plaza? Yeah, I can't say that's something I come upon regularly, but sure enough, that's exactly what I saw on my way to Tivoli. It was some sort of blind awareness day and it drew quite a crowd. I couldn't help but wonder what it must be like getting a haircut if I was blind. Do blind people get hair coloring?
I started writing this a couple of weeks ago and now have a whole new host of things to talk about. Two weeks ago I went to LEGO World in Holland and had a blast. My plane seemed to go over really well with the kids at the event. It was so cool seeing their faces light up once they discovered the mechanism that makes the wings swing open. I tried my best to answer their questions, but it was much trickier than I imagined on account of the language barrier. Having just started learning Danish, there was no chance I was going to translate much of the Dutch most people were speaking. All I have to say is that my roommate Nathanael was a rock-star for the week. As the sole native dutchman in our group of 9 designers, he was very much the man to talk to at the event.
From LEGO World back to work, I've spent the past two weeks building models for some major deadlines coming up next week. We're working like crazy on preparing concept models for the 2008 product line. We also had a test last week in the UK where several of our models were shown to kids to get their impressions. The ones that tested best are now being further developed for an internal review from upper management. I'm really excited about some of the stuff the kids chose. I think we've got some awesome sets in the pipeline. I just have to keep my excitement in check because it's still a very long way until 2008.
Oh, and how could I forget the most amazing Halloween party ever? Some of the designers here had been preparing for it for the past two months. Wow, it was amazing. They had all the essentials, black-lights, spider-webs, a creepy old organ, corpses, a blood splattered shower, a skull and bone chandelier, a cadaver on a table split in half by a giant blade that swung from the high ceiling, and so much more. The costumes were over-the top. My friend Dave went as a fortune teller complete with portable booth and crystal ball. We had Bender from Futurama, a pregnant nun, a tribal chief, a squid man, Tetris pieces, and tons of spooky ghouls and funky monsters. I went as luggage. :)
Throughout the night everyone was talking about this one creepy guy who always seemed to be watching us silently through his nasty old man mask. No one knew who he was or how he got in. He spoke to no one. He just was there. Wouldn't you know it, he even won a prize at the party for having the most terrifying costume. Of course he went up and took his prize without offering so much as a hint of his true identity.
The next morning there was a note in the mailbox from the mystery guest. With a drawn profile of is face creeping across the left hand side of the paper, he offered a hand-written thank you for an evening of amazing memories. He said it was the best party he had ever been to and wanted to congratulate them on their success. And true to his form, he finished the letter without even his initials. We'll just have to wait til next year to try to pull a Scooby-Doo to unmask that mystery man!
Well, as of last Friday, the local convenient store served their last ice cream cone for the season. As of last Sunday, LEGOland closed its gates and won't open them again until the spring thaw. And just today, a freaky snow storm ripped through Billund blanketing the town with foam-like winter pellets. Yup, it looks like I'm in for 6 more months of wet gray darkness. Let's just hope that the freaky guy from the party hibernates for the winter. I'd hate to bump into him while searching for the last tub of Boston Ice Cream in the Brugsen Frozen Food Section :)