I wouldn’t consider myself a party animal. Not a partier at all really. They are too loud and awkward for me so I generally don’t like them. But I did like this girl. And we both liked Stranger Things (popular TV show, check it out if you haven’t already). And Prom is kind of coming up…
Maybe you can see where this is going?
Well, I’ll spill the beans. I was gonna ask her out.
The Plan
I wanted to make something awesome, so naturally, I began with a quick google search. And I began the hunt for decent Promposals on Google images.
I found this. It seemed pretty cool. It was for homecoming but same thing…
But I couldn’t just copy him, mine had to be different. So I started thinking of ways to program the lights to spell stuff out (I wasn’t really diggin’ the ‘S E Y’ for yes…)
I had no idea how to program lights… All hope seemed lost, but then I remembered my old friend, Google. (I might need to see a doctor, I’m a bit of a Google-holic…)
I found this guy, which was exactly what I was looking for, and this guy, which was a little different but explained so much better.
The Process
At this point, I was really wishing I was in robotics (I’ve wanted to be in robotics for a while, they do awesome stuff. I definitely would’ve learned how to do this better…).
I set about on my journey in January, for I feared my endeavor would last until June if I was lucky. Maybe I would have to wait until Homecoming… At that point, I didn’t know. I bought all the materials and got to work.
My first mistake was using plywood… It kinda got ripped apart on the back (see the yellow in the feature photo? That was an accident…). So after the first step things weren’t going so well…
I also couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to get the lights to turn on. But President’s Day weekend I just decided – I am going to get this done!
I glued and wired and soldered everything (even though at this point I still didn’t know how to test the lights). It was a learning experience for me. Only about a dozen 2nd-degree burns…
Just kidding.
It took a long time to solder but I got the hang of it. Unfortunately, I did something horribly wrong and destroyed my soldering tip.
All my robotics friends were baffled, shocked that I could mess up so badly, and lost for words. My second tip lasted till the end, not sure what the deal was…
The Troubleshooting
It turns out that not testing the lights was a really, really bad idea. A few in the second row didn’t work. Replacing them was probably the most frustrating part of the project. But then they all turned on!
That was a super exciting moment, one of the most fulfilling of the year so far. But I still had to program it.
That’s when I ran into my second major super-annoying-obstacle. The chip I bought (blue thing in feature photo), an Arduino Nano, was cheaper than all the others I saw. So naturally, without question, I bought that one.
Well, there was a reason it was cheaper. No matter what computer I tried, the computer didn’t see anything in the USB port. The chip clearly had power, but the chip and computer weren’t communicating. I was pretty annoyed, I thought it was going to be the easiest part.
Thanks to the help of my step-brother, we found out that it was cheap because it was a Chinese clone. We had to download files from a shady Chinese website and were worried about viruses. But all turned out well (at least it seems that way), and the shady Chinese files let the computer finally see the chip.
The Result
Sorry for the lighting! And the overall poor film quality!
I was actually pretty happy with the result. I added her name to the program after. The only small problem is that some of the lights still weren’t fully functional. Each light has three colors, red, green, and blue. Blue didn’t work on G or Z which was disappointing when I was programming color spectrums, but for a “promposal,” it turned out fine.
I finished way earlier than I thought I would, so that’s why I asked in February instead of March or April like a normal human being.
The Act
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…
AKA Thursday afternoon at Starbucks on Inwood Road…
I showed her the sign. The bottom row of lights wasn’t working which was supremely annoying. I had faced the problem before though. For some reason when I short circuit it (connect the power wires on one light directly) that seems to fix it. And it worked! And I asked her and she said yes and that the sign was super cool. (Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it was super cool).
We hadn’t decided which school’s Prom we’d be going to, but things were going pretty great. Then I got a text later that day saying we couldn’t go to the one at her school because she was going with her boyfriend.
Oops…
The Lessons
I learned a lot from this endeavor. Here are some interesting building/electronics skills I picked up, along with some unfortunate life lessons:
- Don’t use plywood for anything that’s supposed to be nice
- Get someone to teach you how to solder
- Test machinery before installation
- Always be prepared for a malfunction
- Ask about her relationship status before you ask her to Prom (especially if you aren’t really into parties)
Hopefully, you learn from my mistakes (especially Lesson 5)! If you decide you want to make something like this and are having trouble, feel free to email me (19370@jcpstudents.org) or reach out to a robotics kid if you know any (they’d probably be more useful anyway).
I definitely don’t regret making the sign. It was cool, especially because it works. Don’t really regret asking her out – I’m one of those kids who needs the practice. Definitely regret not asking about relationship status – totally messed that one up.
Thanks for reading. Stay tuned to The Roundup for more exciting news! If you have any stories worth sharing, consider writing an article! Any Jesuit student can join and getting started is only one email away! Contact Mr. Nava ‘02 or Dr. Degen for more information.
