Make Believe is Harder Than I Thought

 

 

 

    When the pandemic came along I figured it was a great opportunity to get some writing done, do a couple of paintings and learn some new skills.

Well, the writing slogged to a halt and I ran out of room for paintings. In an effort to accomplish something I decided to build a control board. I discovered that one of my quirks is playing with switches and buttons- I'm especially fond of those that light up when pushed- ohhh, be still my heart.  

    Unfortuantely, I know nothing about electronics. I didn't want to go through the process of learning a new skill that will take who knows how long, require exhausted trial and error only to end up frustrated with a design that didn't meet my expectation. I asked a few who know how for their help but got nowhere.  

    So I decided to make other things instead with the skills I do have. I know how to glue, paint, and all that arsty stuff. I watched tutorials on making gadgets and loved watching Adam Savage at his one day builds. I dutifully took notes, made sketches, got supplies and discovered my skills set did not translate at all. Nothing went right, the EVA foam helmets never stayed stuck together and involved an endless number of steps that tried my patience and could go wrong, forget about making armor. The sci-fi blasters from toy squirt guns were amateurish. I gave up, which was kinda sad because I always enjoyed learning new things but age has slowed down my enthusiasm and eenergy.

    Since those maker skills have a long learning curve, let's focus on the control board surrounding the computer. It only took me two years, many mistakes and multiple revisions and it's still not what I envisioned, just an approximation. I'm not geeky enough to devote every waking hour to an obsessive hobby I guess. The buttons don't light up either.