Andrew M. Whalen

I was ridding my closet of useless junk and came upon a stack of papers, some of which were dated 1996. That would put me in the 6th or 7th grade.

• Darth Vader drawn with oil pastels.
• A “Life Support Suit” drawn in pencil.
• A motorcycle drawn in pencil.
• A “Lava Proof” building drawn in colored pencil.
• A cat in a window drawn with colored pencil.

Darth Vader’s not bad; it was probably drawn from a reference picture. I found the motorcycle on the inside of an old folder. The cat in the window was probably a drawing of Jasmine.

The “Life Support Suit” boasts a pretty impressive array of features:

• An oxygen pack
• Fuel tanks for the rockets (to move in space?)
• Batteries to power the electronics
• Missiles
• Life boat with a 200 mile radio
• Hand-warming gloves
• Super-lite snowboard that attaches to the back of the pack
• Parachute
• Arm Strap Monitor to control everything
• Flashlight on the arm strap runs on its own batteries

The “Lava Proof” obelisk-shaped building is amazing as well:

• 2 (maybe 4) 50-foot pure titanium beams holding the building in the ground
• Soft sand around the titanium beams, to allow the building to wobble rather than crumble in earthquakes
• Heavily compacted dirt around the sand for strong support
• Alternating concrete, titanium, and insulation shell
• The titanium in the shell is apparently so lava doesn’t get inside
• Each floor is concrete surrounding titanium