So, you know how LEGO normally has those contests where you enter to win a chance to go to Legoland? If not, then check them out. XP

It all started back when I was a wee chibi around the age of, oh, eight or nine. My father had to go on a business trip to Colorado and we decided to turn it into a short family trip (if my memory is serving me correctly. It's been over a decade since this happened, so I may be a little fuzzy on a few details). Now, my brothers and I grew up outside of the city, so being a kid in a place with buildings that went up to 30 or so stories was a little... intimidating, wonderful and fascinating. Standing right next to a building and looking straight into the sky was chilling to the bone at the time.

As we were walking down the sidewalk, we happened upon a Lego store that had a sign in front for a building contest. My brothers and I were interested in LEGO (ah, this was back in the summer of 2001. So, that means I was nine when this occurred), mainly Bionicle. For the kids who entered, they built a structure out of Lego bricks, got a Turaga set and had their name and other information placed into a raffle to win the grand prize: A Trip for four people to Legoland California. I remember entering the store and gaping in awe at the plastic brick structures. The main ones I remember were life-size human beings. A red airplane was zooming over our heads and a giant serpent slithered through the room. Though everything was still and lifeless, the figures still looked alive in their own sort of way. That wasn't even half of it; there were model buildings upstairs resembling the city itself. We saw intricate details of the buildings we recognized; even the hotel we were staying in stood there in all of its chibified glory.

After waiting in line, Akano, KK and I finally arrived at the building station; colorful tables the perfect size for kids with enough bricks and base plates to build an entire house. We were told by the staff there that we were to build how we thought we would see Chicago ten years in the future (or maybe it was 100... At any rate, a futuristic theme was all the kids needed to get to serious business). At first I wasn't sure what I would do. I sat there fiddling with a few bricks for a short while, when I remembered my family complaining about the city's traffic. Those weren't complaints I was too used to hearing back home, mind you, so perhaps it made a bit of an imprint? At any rate, I had my idea, and I set off to work.

My mind was racing with thoughts scattered here and there; Okay, I need a base for this... now some yellow... How much of the other colors do I have to work with? I want some red (red was my favorite color at the time), Now a minifigure... After some time, I looked at what I had before me; two hover cars. One was yellow and whole. The other was red and split down the middle longways on the imaginary road before it. It was passing the yellow car by splitting up and moving around it. The car would then fuse back together once it had passed in front of its yellow victim. Looking around, I noticed that we still had time left to build, and I looked to see that other kids had more to their works than I did. I began to ponder how I could build onto my creation.

Black 2x4 bricks... Clear; I need a lot of clear bricks for this. I won't be able to fit everything side-by-side, so... why don't I space them out a bit? Being inspired by the models that were presented to us, I decided to try my hand at building a model of our hotel. Of course, I didn't have the bricks, time nor talent to get the details perfect or even that accurate for that matter. Still, I was happy with what I had. We explained what we had built to the staff once the time was up, and they took pictures. I'm not too sure what became of them, quite honestly.

At the end, we had a choice of a Turaga set to take home with us. Akano got Onewa, KK got... Well, either Nokama or Nuju. I already had Matau, and I was hoping to get the ever elusive Vakama who always appeared to use his Huna whenever we went to a store. No luck; they had run out at the Lego Store as well. Bummed out, I meekly said "No thanks" to the staff member there, but after a few strict words from my mom who encouraged me not to be rude, I ended up getting Whenua to trade to Akano after he'd find Vakama. (Chibi Tekulo, Y U SUCH A BRAT?!).

And that was the end of my memories from Chicago... well, almost.

Yeesh, I didn't think this would be such a long story. Sorry for gabbing your ears off, and I'm sure many of you don't like that I'm not getting quite to the point... but I'm also typing this out for my own memories, so I'm trying to recall as much as possible before I go senile and forget... Wait, why are you guys still here?

...

GET OFF MY LAWN!

Tekulo <3