The most bedeviling assembly of the build so far has been the mask that I must wear inside the helmet. I think this is finally it: wore it for half an hour today with the visor down; no wriggling or other movements of my head dislodged any of the hoses, which lead from the inhale and exhale valves to the inhale and exhale ports located on my chest. Attaching the microphone should be straightforward. Next weekend, a pressurized test! Very few components left to build.

Also, today, picked up a spare diving suit, identical to the one that composes the pressure bladder of this suit. I will build that second suit into either a duplicate (it will take I think only a week, now that I know exactly how to do it) _or_ might make a radical new approach, patterning the new suit after the Russian Sokol suit, which closes with no airtight zipper, but an ingeniously simple system that would make the suit easier to put on and off, and, critically, making it possible for me to do so alone, allowing me to do my own tests here at home without an assistant.