Subject:
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Re: what is ALE?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Fri, 3 Jun 2005 04:26:33 GMT
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Viewed:
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8038 times
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In lugnet.general, Joe Strout wrote:
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:
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Jeez, is it as serious as all that? I couldn’t care less if society accepts
or understand my involvement in the hobby.
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Well, suit yourself then, but I do care. Perfectly normal, grown men can
play with little toy trains all day long and nobody thinks them eccentric,
but tell somebody you collect and build with LEGO, and they look at you like
you’re trying to recapture your youth or some such nonsense. This annoys me.
No, it’s not important in the grand scheme of things, but I’ll do my bit to
change it as I can. We’ll knock those “World’s Greatest Hobby” train guys
off their pedestal yet!
Best,
- Joe
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It certainly is interesting following this thread..... I was a secret “AFOL/ALE”
from 1980-86. No internet, no knowledge of any other adult who even cared about
Lego. I was in the proverbial “Lego Closet” for all those years. Then 4 things
happened all within 6 months in 1986-87. Because I put a couple of my buildings
in a toy store window display, I suddenly got into a metro Detroit newspaper.
Then TLG sent someone over to interview me, and then I was on a Canadian TV news
type show (The Journal), which was doing a special on 25 years of Lego in Canada
(1987). And finally I got a call from Henry Wiencik, the author of The World Of
Lego Toys who interviewed me over the phone (page 30 of the book).
Well I was sorta scared, cuz I didn’t know what most of my friends and family
would think if they knew I was an AFOL!!! I had kept all of my Lego at my
buddy’s house, the friend who played with Lego with me when we were 7 years old.
Would I be a laughing stock at work? Would my friends think I was immature?
Would my family think I was in need of therapy? I felt like I was in my own
Woody Allen movie, but with Lego.
As it turned out, my angst turned to pleasure when they all thought it was way
cool. I even got a call from my 6th grade school teacher saying how proud she
was (I was about 30 years old at this time).
So I can really respect some people being sensitive to what others might think
of them. The word “ADULT” should stay in the acronym. At least for a few more
years....
Gary Istok
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: what is ALE?
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| (...) OK, that was a low blow, I apologize! (...) Heh, true in that case, but that's because trains have become widely accepted as an adult hobby. LEGO has not. (...) Yes, and they'll be thinking: "This guy plays with LEGOs? Does he still live with (...) (19 years ago, 3-Jun-05, to lugnet.general, FTX)
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