Getting paid to build with Lego bricks

Houston Chronicle:

Jason Poland thought the only job he could get with his recent honors English degree from the University of Houston would be in a bookstore.

Instead, he won a national competition to land one of the rarest jobs in the world: He will be paid $13 an hour to play with Lego bricks.

Poland, 23, will become the newest model builder at Legoland California, a theme park built largely of the tiny plastic bricks that have delighted so many children and that many a mom — including his — have vacuumed out of the carpet.

Only 20 other artists create and maintain the thousands of models in four Legoland theme parks around the world. Poland will be one of six modelers at Legoland California, which features more than 15,000 Lego creations.

"Not every kid takes his Legos to college with him," said his mother, Katherine Albert, an eighth-grade science teacher at Lake Jackson Intermediate School.

"I've just always loved Legos," Poland said. He said he was intrigued by the many ways Lego bricks can be combined to make things.

Poland begged for his first Lego set, a castle, for Christmas when he was only 4 years old. Although the box said the set was for older children, he convinced his mother that he would take care of it.

"I put together the first castle for him," his mother said. "After that, he always did it himself."

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For the final test, each competitor got to pick out up to 10 pounds of Legos and use two hours to build whatever they wanted. The park's model shop had big bins of hundreds of different kinds of Lego bricks, Poland said. He was particularly intrigued by translucent red and orange bricks and thought they would make realistic flames.

"What could be more unexpected than a fire-breathing snowman?" Poland said.

He used every minute. "After I finished, I changed the arms to make them thicker," he said. He added buttons and other last-minute touches.

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Following your passion has its rewards. Legos are from Denmark which has been under assault from Islamic bigots around the world. My grand kids seem to really enjoy building with them.