For the record, I'm a
DIY kinda guy. It all started when I was a kid. My first big project was a racing bicycle. I am the second of three siblings and as usual the eldest was mommy's boy and the youngest was daddy's boy... me... I was the devil's boy. Hahaha... anyway... my elder brother was lucky enough to get a racing bicycle from my parents. Can't understand this... my results always aced his but he always got the good stuff. So... the idiot crashed his bicycle. The brake handle fell into the wheel while moving and he and the bike went flying... so he claims. The bike was a total loss... to him... he junked it.
I took the bike apart piece by piece and salvaged whatever that was not damaged.... I gradually bought the parts back with my pay (I was already working part time). I bought a few cans of paint (aerosol) and lacquer, repainted the bike then put it back together again... piece by piece. How did I manage this? I spent a lot of time at the bicycle shop observing and learning and I borrowed a couple of things like the tightener for the spokes. This monkey see and this monkey can do. I did a bloody good job to the surprise of my parents. Alas, the bike was stolen a couple of months later.
My parents then bought our first home and only... Well, my late father actually and he only paid the down payment. The installments by me and I am still paying for it now... but that's another story.
Anyway, we were all excited about our new home a.k.a 870 ft² pigeon hole. My senior colleague then, Ong Chit Lai was the one who introduced me to DIY. We bought all our stuff and installed them ourselves. Now when I say DIY, I mean literally DIY. Example... the fluorescent lamps had to be assembled and wired. The casing came separate and had to be installed (put together), the choke had to be wired then attached to the casing, the starter then wired in, etc. This was back in 1990 and everything we installed is still working.
When I bought my own home which was second hand, I did all the painting myself.... alone... all 1364 ft² of it... with the exception of the doors as I replaced all the doors with solid doors and the new doors required sanding, an undercoat and all and I was just too lazy for that. I hired someone to do the doors. I also bought additional cabinets for the kitchen from IKEA and installed them myself. These were for the oven and microwave oven. My ex actually thought I couldn't do it. It's not easy though but it's not rocket science either. It is very much different from assembling the book shelves and what not from IKEA. Those are no brainers. For things like the kitchen cabinet it required some basic skills. The counter top came in standard lengths so you had to custom cut it.
So, fast forward to today. The washroom did not have a bidet and I decided to install one. I went out to buy what I needed or at least what I thought I needed for RM17.00. I got back home and then realised that I did not have the tools I needed. Alamak... I didn't want to go out again so I went to my car to see if I had the tools. No luck. I then went to the convenience store downstairs. He didn't have the tools either. He only had a pair of large pliers. Desperate and lazy, I bought it for RM9.90. Went up and tried... it was ok but I couldn't tighten it properly and it was still dripping slightly. Then I realised I was short of a nipple. No, not MY nipple.
A nipple. Shit! Shit! Shit! I had no choice but to go out and buy the nipple.
I didn't want to drive all the way to Wangsa Maju to where I got the stuff earlier so I tried driving around the vicinity. It's a Sunday and that makes it more difficult. I start off around Chow Kit to Jalan Ipoh to Sentul and finally found a hardware store on Jalan Genting-Kelang. Bought the nipple and an adjustable spanner to do the job properly. 50 sen for the nipple and RM9.90 for the spanner.
Got home, took everything apart again, applied the thread seal tape properly and generously and then assembled everything properly. These days we have the screw-on versions as opposed to those days when we had to use sealants.
From left... T-elbow, nipples in black, the tap and the bidet's flexible hose. The thread seal tape is white. I'm sure most people have seen it before but just don't know what the heck it's called. Colourful eh?
