Lego Tower

It's funny how often different inputs in my life mix and mingle and lead to some new endeavor.

Input #1
As I've written about recently, I have a new obsession with skyscrapers.

Input #2
I'm reading Michael Chabon's Manhood for Amateurs, which is an okay read but nothing that I can't put down, which is why it's taking me forever to finish it.  (I've renewed it four times already from my library.)

There are some interesting ideas in the book, and one of them is how the nature of Legos has changed over the years.  Chabon laments that when we was a child (in the 60's & 70's), Legos were undirected building blocks.  You bought them in generic shapes and built whatever you could imagine in your little creative head.

But by the time Chabon's kids came along, Legos primarily came in kits with pre-determined designs. You followed blueprints and built exactly what was on the box.  No creativity needed!

In the end, however, Chabon realizes that he had underestimated his kids' creativity.  Not only would they take apart and mix and match their different Lego kits, they would combine ALL of their toys together in an unholy marriage of various trademarked products.

I image-googled "mixing toys" and this pic came up. It's not really relevant, but it's too awesome not to share. 

Input #3
So these two inputs incubated in my brain for a while and then I remembered the Legos from my childhood I had stashed away in my closet.  The were stored in a metal Emergency! lunch box I had as a wee youngin'.  (Emergency! was apparently a TV show that I liked, although I don't remember it beyond the lunch box.)   

I was going to build my own Lego Tower!

When I got out my Legos, however, I realized I had the same problem as Chabon's kids.  All of my Legos were parts of kits: spaceships, police cars, ambulances, etc.  There were tons of tires, steering wheels, computer terminals, doors and windows, ladders, antennae, Lego people, and other parts that were clearly made for a specific purpose.

But there were not many actual building blocks. 

I made several attempts at creating a tower, building it and tearing it down, because I realized that to build up and not out, I'd have to make it smaller at the base, and make it even narrower as it went up.

I did the best I could do with the resources I had. Here is the final result:  

The different colors reflect the different vehicles that went into making it.  For example, the red portion near the bottom was from a fire truck.  The observation deck at the top were windshields. 

Lego Tower is now the tallest thing on my mantle "skyline":