Why do I still feel like a child? I don't feel irresponsible or immature, just... Idunno... like I shouldn't be wearing plaid shorts anymore or getting overly excited about artichoke plants. Giggling at ugly plastic silverware in Ikea is not sophisticated (balls!).
Neither is wanting to shoot potatoes out of PVC pipe.
Will I ever learn to be a professional? A small part of me dies when I have to dress and act serious all day.
I like laughing at everything absurd. Does that make me juvenile? I studied to be a competent engineer, but part of me never wants to loose that childlike sense of wonder. Hopefully they are not mutually exclusive.
After this weekend I have some concrete evidence of the contrary.
Sunday myself and two other scientists spent the day perusing around Maker Faire 2009. Basically it's a huge festival for the 'Do It Yourself' crowd to show off their hacks, creations and experiments. A real science, technology and art lovefest. The un-distilled craziness made me warm and fuzzy inside.
There was a life-sized version of Mousetrap.
There were homemade cars and meat pillows, hacked pianos and robots.
Oh-- there were robots! Some were over 8 feet tall, lumbering around the compound. Many were remote controlled (fire equiptted!), a few were autonomous.
My absolute favorite, though, was a simple little robot fashioned from a Dustbuster vacuum:
Someday I will make a Dustbuster 'bot-- right after the smart beer-fridge, solar cell phone charger and automatic pancake flipper. [Man, I need to get busy!]
On the way home we discussed laser etching marshmallows. That was immediately followed by a heated debate over time travel.
Things are definitely looking up.
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