Answers to today’s questions over at thefridayfive @ DW

1. Are you good at fixing things?

I’m good at fixing and upgrading computers and laptops. I’m also pretty good at software problem solving, or figuring out how to do some thing on the computer that I want to do – such as make screencaps from 4K HDR videos, or way back when, figuring out how to deinterlace DVDs with minimal loss of quality while screencapping them.

I can also muddle through simple repairs on my clothes – fix holes in socks and shorten pants but that’s about it. I’m also hampered by not owning a sewing machine so things like shortening pants always require a lot of planning because I have to go over to my Mom’s to use hers and I only have to do it like once every 5 years so I’ve always forgotten most of it, so it’s not routine or even very familiar process to me. As far as clothes repairs go… the operative word is muddle!

One of the reasons I can’t try and learn to fix things is that I don’t have the proper tools. A big reason why I can do the computer stuff is that I only needed to buy a few small screw drivers that didn’t cost a lot. All the tools like a sewing machine or a drilling machine with all their required parts cost hundreds of euros that I either don’t have, or am reluctant to use my little tax return on them just because I might need one like once every four years. I’ve heard that libraries have sewing machines to loan now (or is it that you can go use one in the library?)  and that’s interesting, and possibly good option. But if they’re as heavy as my Mom’s, you’d need a car to transport it – it’s too heavy to transport by bus. And I don’t have a car. So that’s a minus. But it’s something I’ve kept in mind for the next time I’ll need a sewing machine.

2. What kinds of things can you fix?

I’ve upgraded RAM, hard drives and SSD drives to my laptops. When I had a desktop computers, I did all those plus also added cd-rom drives, dvd-drives and secondary hard drives to my setup. I wanted to upgrade the mother board on my next-to-last desktop computer too but that would have meant upgrading all the other parts as well and getting a new chassis and I wasn’t entirely sure I would know to choose parts that all played well together; I didn’t have quite that much knowledge/experience. So I ended up just buying a brand new desktop instead because the old one was starting to be too slow to easily run my programs such as Photoshop.

3. Is there anyone in your family who is good at fixing things?

I’m not sure but I think my Dad was – he was good in math and spatial thinking, I think is the word, and he built some few furniture for our camping needs. I think being able to build things like that probably meant he could fix them as well! And in the 1980s our family’s car was a Lada – I do remember Dad doing everything the car needed himself as far as he could but that was something everyone did because cars back then were built in a way that you could do much yourself. Oh, and Dad was a welder so I’m sure he could have fixed a lot of things!

My Mom’s SO is also good at math and spatial thinking – until recently, he literally always had some project under work! He’d build a brand new thing or fix a thing needed fixing, such as a sliding door that refused to slide smoothly. For me, when I had a mouse problem, he took up the floor of kitchen cabinet where the trash bin etc. is because the mice came up from somewhere under there, and did… stuff… there that blocked the mice from coming in. It’s been about 20 years and the fix is still working! He also built a sturdy, wide wooden step for my back door – the drop to ground was too high without so built one in a day! Until recently, Mom’s SO always needed to have a project either in planning stages or actually under work – it is actually one of the reasons why they have never lived in a apartment building because he couldn’t have projects there and he’d go stir-crazy. It’s also one of the reasons why they had a summer cottage for many years – the SO could always have a project to improve it, and they both loved growing potatoes, carrots, onions etc. and having a lot of different berry bushes the products of which they’d either make into a juice or freeze for the winter. The SO is now 84 and has been diagnosed in early stages of dementia, and while he still likes to do stuff, he tires too easily to do like before and has to rest a lot.

4. Has anyone ever taught you how to fix things?

A little, I guess. I taught all the computer stuff to myself. But I know the sewing etc. classes at school had to teach us how to mend clothes but I don’t actually remember any of it. I mean I know some things, but I can’t remember where/who I learned them from? I know Mom taught me how to shorten my pants.

I really wish my Dad had been alive when I moved on my own. He would have taught me things like drilling a hole in the wall to hang things etc. He was a good and patient teacher (he taught me math because the match teachers failed me at school once we went beyond the fundamental arithmetic operations). Mom’s SO is good at building and fixing things, but he doesn’t really like to teach and also he speaks unclearly – I only started to understand everything he was saying after he retired and started to be at home much more than until then so I saw much more of him and my ears could get used to his way of speaking (he worked a three-shift job a couple of towns away and was away at work at least half of each month altogether and those years I wouldn’t even see him every month depending on how his schedule was). And anyway, our relationship isn’t one I could have asked him to teach me.

5. What was the last thing that broke in your home?

The last thing I remember for sure, was the washing machine a couple of years ago. It was 25 years old already so we didn’t even think about fixing it but bought a new one outright.

I guess one of the last things to “break” is the lock nest in my bedroom door. One of the screws has a tendency to become loose and stay in place just by a thread or two. I screwed it back in, like I always do.