Flirting with disaster

I have been putting off building for at least a week because I've been uncertain about what exactly I want to construct. Also, I'm a bit worried that everything I make will have my wife asking, "That's nice, dear. What is it?" The LEGO equivalent of a proud grade schooler returning home with a page full of primary-colored scribbles.

Diving into my brother-in-law's old tub of LEGO bricks, I saw a lot of wheels and settled on attempting a delivery truck. I figured the boxy right angles would be easy as right now I don't have the largest variety of parts available to me. [Above you see a side view of the truck, below is a frontal view].

Putting the wheels together was a snap; but after that I have to confess to being a bit lost. My dog Charlie slept fitfully on the couch next to me as I muttered almost continuously under my breath. I wasn't even aware that I was talking until she gave a brief howl and sneeze before turning over to show me her backside.

My brother-in-law's bricks are close to two decades old and they stick together. My finger nails aren't long enough to split apart pieces when I change my mind and it's embarrassing to think that I don't possess the necessary finger strength to separate two plates (the flat LEGO pieces). I've resorted to using my teeth- a method that appears to have been tried by one of my brother-in-laws based on the teeth marks at the corner of several bricks. I officially possess as much ingenuity as an eight-year-old.

Even though the truck is only 4 inches long, I found myself continually tearing it apart to try and make it stronger and simpler; hence the muttering. I went for the open air door, reminiscent of a UPS truck, and apparently my LEGO driver will have to settle for some sort of telepathic method of steering and braking. In just under three hours, it was finished. I placed it on my desk in order to take the slightly blurry photos you see above and disaster struck. My left hand reached for the digital camera and my right hand inadvertently shot out, knocking my LEGO creation (or my own creation) onto the floor. Incredibly, the truck broke into three even pieces, just as I had constructed it. But I learned an important lesson when documenting what you've built. Always photograph something before you move it.