The Most Excellent Apparatus of Cool

On Friday the 13th (my birthday), I went to the End of the World Ball, a homeschool dance put on by a group in my area. (It was awesome, but I'm still mad that they didn't play R.E.M.'s It's the End of the World As We Know It). Because the theme was the end of the world, I seized upon this excellent opportunity to dress steampunk.

For those of you who don't know, steampunk is a kind of science fiction. Think Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, gears, goggles, Victorian-era dress, time machines, complicated and ingenious inventions, really cool hats, mad scientists, gentlemen adventurers, and steam. Lots of steam. Anyway, one cannot dress steampunk-style without some sort of weapon or tool. In the steampunk world, I'm fairly certain that lacking a type of apparatus is against some ancient law or other. Hence the title of this post.

I made the Most Excellent Apparatus of Cool out of an old plastic slide whistle, tinfoil, widgets found in the basement, and liberal amounts of bronze paint. I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out:

What does it do? I have no idea. That is why I called it The Most Excellent Apparatus of Cool: I don't know if it's a tool, weapon, or even if it's just a cleaning brush (however, I sincerely hope it's not the latter). I'm flirting with the idea of making it sonic, but I have no idea how to go about it and I'm not very good with electronics. (If you can think of some way to achieve this, by all means leave this spark of brilliance in a comment and be rewarded with the knowledge that you have my eternal gratitude).

I loved making the Apparatus so much that I have begun to keep spare widgets that I find around the house in a plastic box on my bookshelf, to use for future projects. My mom even promised me that when the vacuum cleaner breaks, I can have the pieces! Squee!

~Naddie

Four Signs That Your New Friend May be a Time Traveler

I wrote this because you just... never... know.

Four Signs That Your New Friend May Be a Time Traveler

1. Your friend has the irritating habit of, during a completely normal conversation, suddenly adopting a look of alarm and running away with a sense of urgency, often accompanied by a brief utterance, such as “Then it’s not too late!” or “Forget the stupid time-space continuum! I can fix that!”

2. When you first met your friend, they were dressed strangely, or even offensively. Examples include wearing a life preserver far away from any body of water or a hat resembling a small, sleeping wombat. Either they have just arrived from another time and have not had time to change, or they are unaware of what the rules of acceptable dress are in this time.

3. Your friend does not know how to use, or appears transfixed with, commonplace technology. Examples include attempting conversation with radios or television sets, riding escalators up and down over and over again, playing with the lever on toasters to such an effect as to burn the bread, or walking endlessly in circles in a revolving door. (Note: this last example does not necessarily indicate that your friend is from another time.)

4. Your friend uses uncommon or outdated slang terms, such as “That’s just infestational!” or “This is heavy.”

Also, a tip: If you ever pick up the phone, the caller doesn't introduce themselves, and the voice on the other end sounds remarkably like yours, just hang up and register for a new phone number as soon as possible.

~Naddie