Through unparalleled perseverance (up around 125% effort, which is significantly more than the 110% effort that has become commonplace among professional football players, or so we are told weekly by the mathematics professors calling the games), and by actually paying attention to the instructions, I slayed yesterday’s version of the impenetrable Nemean lion without having to call for help, and without losing a finger, as Hercules had done before subduing the aforementioned monster.

As I move into the phase of constructing parts of the piano that are supposed to move in unison (with the aid of batteries not included, and not yet in my possession, as they are of a size that is not used for any of the 17 other battery-powered items I own), I am overcome by the realization that there’s no faking it. My LEGO Saturn V rocket might or might not hold together if somehow launched (I’d go with the under), but I’ll never know. There’ll be no wondering on the piano.