Friday, March 15, 2013

Part 2: First challenge

8th grade was different; all my close friends were in the more intelligent class and I felt disappointed in myself.  To be absolutely honest, I felt worthless. But all was not lost because my new personal trait built a new me.

Schools days were still normal. Parents were still normal. Friends were still normal and I still seemed normal, well maybe to everyone else I did.

I kept my goal, to succeed at every challenge, to myself.

I remember my parents telling me to study frequently and I did do as they say every time. What they didn't know was that I already did study, but I played along and went over my notes one more time.
I have been asked many times if it wasn't boring to study and to be quite honest it varied. There were times I could just sit and study everything and it felt great. There were other times it just felt the opposite. In 8th grade, all I had for entertainment was my TV and internet.

I disliked watching TV, I still do.

Internet was ok I guess. All I did on it was to see how things are created and how things work. I was naturally interested in those things.  I was more interested in making things than using them.

I remember the days my friends used to pull their box trucks down the road. I did make one as well. Something like the one above. I can still picture the cork wheels and the small bamboo that we ran through the middle of the wheels so they could spin while being levelled  Most of my time with a box truck wasn't spent pulling it, but trying to figure out how I could connect a motor to the thin bamboo to make the wheels move automatically.

I tried to connect tight rubbers from the motor to the bamboo. It didn't work. I tried string didn't work. I force a gear onto the bamboo and tried that; that was the closest I went to success. The gears kept slipping off one another and when the bamboo did manage to spin, the wheels weren't spinning with it.
I gave up.

But then another one of my toys got de-constructed  it was me; well I couldn't let my parents know that. I found another motor and I decided to connect the two back wheels directly to two motors. It worked!
It never moved fluidly but it worked and I was happy. 

I wished I had a picture to show but unfortunately I don't.


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