Snowed In (Finally!)

A couple Fridays ago, the first snow of the season hit! Personally, I prefer the winter weather, so I was quite pleased by this development. I mean, in cold weather, you can just put on a sweater, or snuggle in a blanket, or even GET IN A SLEEPING BAG if you feel like it. But in the hot, you basically just have to sit around in the uncomfortable heat, or, what, rip your skin off? I mean, sure, you could get air conditioning, but you can also get heating for cold places.
This is one of the many reasons I plan to live in Massachusetts. Not to mention it seems like a pretty intellectual place. You always hear about "new studies at MIT" or "scientists at Harvard found" or stuff like that. That sounds like a prefect place for an aspiring inventor like me.

Anyway, it was still snowing the next day, and so we decided to continue our Star Wars movie marathon thing. Over the course of the weekend, we watched Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

The snow finally let up around Sunday, at around three feet. When the next Monday rolled around, we had an announcement cancelling school. Then the same for Tuesday. Anticipating being housebound for a while, I collected a bunch of books I wanted to re-read. At one point, I got the idea to try to build the Roman Collosseum out of LEGOs. Before I did that, though, I went to check if anyone else had made such a design. There were a couple, but they weren't very accurate.
For context's sake, let me explain that, when I was younger, I was really into LEGOs. But that was before they started hiking up the prices of sets, making the hobby rather unsustainable.
I couldn't realistically get all the exact pieces I needed from my personal stores, but among other advantages, LEGO's digital design software provides unlimited LEGOs of any kind. I downloaded the Google Earth 3D models of the Collosseum, Stonehenge, and the Titanic for building reference. I also found the instructions for a couple five-hundred-dollar sets, so I can build those on the computer for free, but for those I can't order the parts after I build them digitally. After I finish my designs, you'll be able to see them on the Stuff I've Made page. You can already see some cool stuff I've made on there.

After I started the first Artemis Fowl book in my pile, I remembered how awesome that series was, and proceeded to buy all the books I had originally gotten from the library.
I'd like to take this moment to say, the Artemis Fowl series is hands down one of the greatest, if not the greatest book series I've ever read. I recommend it to anyone and everyone who likes to read. Plus, the main character's Irish, like me! Well, I'm a second-generation American, but I'm very proud of my Irish heritage.

On Friday, the snow started to melt, which was disappointing. Back during Snowmageddon in 2010, my area got around four feet, and it didn't melt for two and a half weeks. This is the first time I've felt betrayed by a weather element.

The next week, we were back in school, and on Tuesday I was back at my Makerspace. I spent a fair amount of time brainstorming new ideas for mechanisms. The idea I went with is this: a box with a long arm protruding from it, with an outstretched palm. But when you put something in the hand, it snatches it up, and the arm retreats quickly back into the box. Then it just holds it in the box until you take it out again. Another idea I had, that I'm planning to do later, is a crawling octopus, with a really fun walking mechanism involving floppy tentacles and suction cups.

 Then yesterday I uploaded my first level in a game I play called Super Mario Maker, where you create your own Super Mario levels. My level is based on an area from a classic game called Super Metroid, and I think it's pretty good. However, if it isn't popular enough within a week, it'll get deleted from the server ,so I'm understandably nervous. You can check it out and help me out here and here. If you play the game, check it out, and if not, help spread the word! Thanks, you guys, you're the best!

Update: I've uploaded an improved version of the course, which you can check out here and here. Thanks again!