GEARS!
Why not?
The clearest final goal I can foreshadow is that I want to build a WALL OF GEARS .. sometime this semester.
So my "plan" is to get some wooden gears cut. However the wood I had chosen is not good for the laser cutter, so now I am using masonite. This is fine. Afterall, it is really just a test. I don't know if the gears I designed will work either by shape OR material (I'm concerned about the friction of the wood -- although wooded gears do exist and function).
So what specifically do I want to make? I don't know! I have a some ideas, revolving around the concept of complexity creating simplicity and simplicity creating complexity. I want to make beautiful narrative machines. Very human-like in their existence. I'm hoping that once I get my "building blocks" I'll be in a great position to start playing with form and function so that I can start to understand my what I am able to build.