I first got an inkling that architecture was probably not my destined career when I was a young child playing with blocks. I would carefully put what I thought was a pretty good semi-vertical structure together, only to have it fall apart when my brother kicked it. I figured if I was going to become an architectural immortal I had better learn to erect structures that wouldn’t fall down.
I tried Legos. This worked much better, because they had tiny little holes and tiny little pegs and they stuck together. They also looked a lot more like real bricks than those little kid blocks did. I was confident that I was finally going to discover the elusive secret of indestructible building. I put something together that had everything: walls; roof and holes for windows.
Along came my brother with his foot and down came my house. I knew I would get in trouble if I killed him, so I satisfied myself with sitting on the floor bawling my eyes out until Dad came into the room and told me to shut up or he’d give me something to cry about. I already had something to cry about and didn’t want anything else, so I shut up.
I really couldn’t blame my brother. He was a Legos genius himself, and he was probably offended at the sight of my unimaginative little pile. He once took his Legos and made a perfect scaled-down model of Notre Dame Cathedral, complete with gargoyles made of Play-Doh. He brought it to school for Show and Tell and got six gold stars from the teacher. He was all set to send it to the French government as a gift from America, but he never did. I, too, have a foot and I know how to use it.
Although my dream was relegated to the back of my mind, I never gave it up. I continued to practice the art of designing buildings, and even put together a sort of portfolio with drawings like this:
Being able to take criticism is of the utmost importance in any career. I have been told often (often being practically every day) that I can’t draw. Architects have to be able to draw, among other things. This kind of criticism is not the kind where people try to encourage you to go on because you really have a lot of talent that just needs some developing so your true genius can come through. The kind of criticism I get on my building designs is more along the lines of, “You suck at this. Find something else to do with your life.”
Well, it was a nice dream while it lasted. Maybe I’ll just be a writer instead.
I never understood that phrase “stop crying before I give you something to cry about.” OBVIOUSLY, I had a reason to cry to begin with or I would be laughing…like those children looking at my stick-men drawings.
I don’t ever remember my Dad saying that, but apparently other parents did, because it became a well-known phrase.
As I say to Bill below, this whole story is a great big old lie … er, work of fiction. Work of fiction sounds better. Let’s stick with that.
I used to play with Mecanno when I was littler. Like you, I was convinced I was erecting mechanical masterpieces that would change the world. In reality, I was putting together a crane that a trained crane maker could make with a Mecanno set! Still, it’s never to late to learn to new stuff.
Hah! That goes to show what a good writer I am. This whole thing is made up. Yes, I did play with blocks and with something resembling Legos (which probably were Legos), but I never had an ambition to design buildings. Also, my brother is seven years younger than I am, so he would have been too little to kick over whatever I was putting together, and that whole thing about the scale model of Notre Dame Cathedral is a bald-faced lie.
That’s the beauty of writing fiction and humor. You get to make up stuff.
I used Lincoln Logs and Erector sets as a child. This was before LEGOs became popular. I also didn’t become an architect, but I DID become a design engineer. After retiring as an engineer, I have thought about being an architect. I have a small library of architecture books and have drawn plans for several buildings. It’s interesting how buildings can make such an impact in our lives!
Mike, you are probably close to being an architect. I work as receptionist for a graduate school of architecture in a large university. That’s where I got the idea for my story. It popped into my mind a couple of days ago, and just kind of developed. I figured I could make it really funny, especially if I included an illustration of something I drew.
In my defense, I’m a musician and, now, a writer. I work with sounds and words, not blueprints and designs. That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it.