G/T Class

I was in the Gifted & Talented program when I was in school. In elementary school they would take like 10 of us out of each grade twice a week and we'd work on logic problems, or take special trips, or have research projects. When I look back and think about it the kids that got pulled out for this didn't really ever have a chance of being "cool." Everyone in the class hated you because you got to go "play" while they had to sit and read about George Washington.

Anyway I'm a dork and I loved the logic problems and all the learning stuff but the one part of the program I hated was every year we had to invent something. Every year. Who can invent something every year?

One year I did a new musical instrument with little pieces of wire soldered to the inside of a coffee can that you filled with balled up Hershey kiss wrappers and shook around. The different wires made different sounds and that was my invention. It had a name, something like Plunker I think. Isn't that genius idiotic?

Well the next year I decided to invent something that woke my sister up. The idea was it was supposed to reach across the room and it would be a ball you drop into a shoot and it travels down this path and that hits a pulley that swings something around and eventually rings a bell by her head. Well the complexity of keeping everything going with my very basic understanding of gravity (I was like 10) the contraption would only work if I was a like a foot and half away from her. At that point you might as well just hit her upside the head or say "Get Up!"

Why am I telling you this?

1. I want you to know I had no chance of being cool.

2. I am not an inventor.

3. I have an insane appreciation for the complexity of this stunt.

Enjoy!