I have been working on a doing a project for a little while now, a completed and successful Rube Goldberg machine with at least 8 steps, and at least 3 simple machines. At first, I thought that this was going to be impossible, and the hardest project I’ll do, but now after I’ve made multiple sketches, I feel confident and ready.
Sketch #1:
A few weeks ago, I sat down with a white piece of paper, and a pencil at my desk. I was stuck on what to do, clueless, and had been erasing and thinking for many minutes, still, ending up with a blank paper. I realized that I didn’t have any good ideas, which made me frustrated. I also realized that I had been thinking about so many things, not bringing my options down to the stuff I had. I turned the paper over and began writing some ideas down. I was becoming a little more confident, but then I remembered that the structure had to match our basement. I felt angry now and took a break. I came back, ready to start fresh and revise.
Sketch #2:
I had started a new sketch but lowered the options which made this idea too short, probably not enough steps. I started to feel bored and wasn’t concentrating. Halfway making the sketch which took longer than the first one (because I was bored), I had to go eat dinner. I came back and had to re-think my mind about my plan again. Then, I had this amazing idea and picked up my pencil, but one of my cats, Izzy, hopped up on my chair and grabbed my pencil, flinging it off my desk. I laughed and started playing with Izzy. Then I got distracted, and forgot my great idea when Izzy leaped down many minutes later! I was about to follow Izzy until I realized she was headed towards my mom’s bedroom, and she probably wanted some sleep. I also realized that I got distracted, and I wasted so much time that could have been productive. I walked back to my room and sat down again. This is what I thought: I wish I could bring Izzy back to my room, but she wasn’t the one stuck working on boring homework, she’s free to nap in mom’s comfy bed! But..I can’t trap her with me. *Sigh* Stuck again, I never remembered that Idea, but decided for the last time, to start fresh with some new ideas, which gave me more confident and determined feelings.
Sketch #3: (Final)
This time I decided to watch Rube Goldberg videos for inspiration, and I gathered and thought about the supplies we had, the ones we could easily get, how they would fit in the basement, and the ending goal. This was helpful, and I finished a successful sketch. I wasn’t distracted at all because I closed my door, was fresh out of the shower, and I only allowed myself on my phone until I finished! At first, I was a little worried if I had too many sketches, but It was fine in the end. My sketch was very long, definitely more than 8 steps, and definitely had more than 3 simple machines. It was long enough that I needed to squish my work, but it is still easy to read. I didn’t have a ton of detail and labeling, but I had enough for me to gather and see the right materials at the time. In the end, I felt super proud, confident, and excited to make the machine! I even bragged to Jane a little, knowing she didn’t start her sketch yet. The only thing that made me worried was that my sketch wouldn’t work when testing, and I would have to start clean from the beginning, though making small changes is the real solution, without changing too much.