need some help

hi, i got no experience with electronics or anything, but ive recently been given a project which requires a fair bit of knowledge on it. i was wondering if i could get any help from anyone here as i need some pretty urgently.
i got a basic knowledge of how make a circuit, and a basic knowledge of what electrical components do what, but when it comes down to it im pretty useless. what i need to do is build a circuit with about 9 LEDS and these LEDS have to turn on randomly one at a time say in about 30 secound intervals. at the same time but i need to have another circuit, with another 9 LEDS attached to 9 variable resistors so dat i can have them become brighter and duller as i wish. can anyone help me out? maybe diagram or sumthin lol, cause i seriously got no idea what to do any help would be much appreciated

Why were you given a project that you know nothing about?
Why don't they educate you in electronics for a few years?
Why don't they use somebody today who already knows electronics?

man i got no idea why theyve given me this project. i study industrial design, and there is a big design aspect to the project aswell, but i dnt know why theyve done this, i jus need to do it best i can but, can anyone help?

Can you define "random" as it applies here? I mean, you could cascade nine 555's, and set a different timing to each - but it would be the same sequence every time.

yeah thats one thing i have heard of a 555 timer, thats fine, cascading nine of them together even though its the same sequence, thats random enough really, aslong as its a different one lighting up every time, but i still got no idea how to make it or what i would need, if someone could help me with a circuit drawing then thats all i would need to follow from

Who is "they" and why did they give "you" the task to design this?

'they' are my university lecturers, i study industrial design at university. its basically product design, nothing to do with building circuits and stuff its more arty stuff conceptual designs and stuff, designing innovative things, i guess having a knowledge of electronics could help but its not that necessary. and my task was to design a product to help a certain group of people, my lecturer wants me to build the circuit for my product aswell i dnt know why hes being so difficult, out in the real world id hire an electrical engineer to collaborate with me and help me out with it, but i cant teach myself the ins and outs of this trade in such a small amount of time, thats why.

Different one each time? The cascaded 555's won't work for that. This is getting into the area where a microcontroller is much better.

Especially since it's been my experience (over and f'cking OVER again) that when people say "random" they really mean a "sequence". So, after you bust your chops making it random, the ******** start to whine about how "Well thaaaat one lit up laaaast time." or "Why hasn't this one lit up yet?" %#@&*!!!