Putting Together the Desk
Oct. 17th, 2004 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qosI spent most of today putting together the desk I bought for the studio.
I was a bit nervous starting out, since this is the first time I've tackled one of these projects by myself, but once I got started I realized that I have done this often enough now to have figured out how to read the diagrams, and I now understand previously mystifying objects like screw locks (although this did not prevent me from inserting one upside down).
Slow, methodical, painstaking pursuits are not something I enjoy. It's one of the reasons I am a lousy student of foreign languages, and why I tended to rely on native ability rather than practice when I was playing instruments. Today I tried to simply relax and let myself focus on the pride of doing it myself rather than getting impatient. And I was mostly successful. I took some breaks when I started feeling tired and impatient, and allowed myself to de-stress, which helped a lot.
I had resolved to do the whole assembly without seeking help from the Ex, but eventually I realized there was no way I was going to be able to lift the leg and support structure, turn it upside down, and fit the pegs and screws into the correct holes in the bottom of the desk surface. So I went upstairs, and he and his future brother-in-law came down. That's when we found out that a couple of the screw-pegs were off-kilter. The two of them figured it out while I stood to one side feeling more and more frustrated and angry. I was frustrated because I had really wanted to do this all myself. I was angry because they simply took over the project. When I tried to ask questions or make a comment, I was ignored. And I retreated into fuming frustration rather than say anything because I felt it would be taken as rank ingratitude to voice my feelings while they were genuinely trying to help. But I felt like "the little woman" shunted off to one side while The Men Fixed Things. They did indeed fix the problem, but I don't think either of them acknowledged my "thank you" as they left. It really soured the project for me for a while.
Then, when I was on the next-to-last page of the instructions I discovered that the slide parts of the drawer fixture were missing. The anchor pieces are there, but there's nothing that glides in and out to which I can secure the drawer. When I tried to call the help number, I found out they closed at 5pm eastern time, and I had missed the deadline by about 30 minutes.
So my desk is mostly complete, with a nice selection of photos and pictures under the glass, and the drawer is propped up against the wall next to it. The little file cabinet is next to build, and it shouldn't take too long to complete, but my hands are sore from screwing in about one hundred small screws. The skin is tender and the muscles below ache. So I think I'm going to wait to do that. I'd like to do it tomorrow, but I have class tomorrow night, and perhaps my women's group on Tuesday, so it will be at least Wednesday before I can make more progress.
Unless I decide to have dinner and then dive in and Just Do It.
I was a bit nervous starting out, since this is the first time I've tackled one of these projects by myself, but once I got started I realized that I have done this often enough now to have figured out how to read the diagrams, and I now understand previously mystifying objects like screw locks (although this did not prevent me from inserting one upside down).
Slow, methodical, painstaking pursuits are not something I enjoy. It's one of the reasons I am a lousy student of foreign languages, and why I tended to rely on native ability rather than practice when I was playing instruments. Today I tried to simply relax and let myself focus on the pride of doing it myself rather than getting impatient. And I was mostly successful. I took some breaks when I started feeling tired and impatient, and allowed myself to de-stress, which helped a lot.
I had resolved to do the whole assembly without seeking help from the Ex, but eventually I realized there was no way I was going to be able to lift the leg and support structure, turn it upside down, and fit the pegs and screws into the correct holes in the bottom of the desk surface. So I went upstairs, and he and his future brother-in-law came down. That's when we found out that a couple of the screw-pegs were off-kilter. The two of them figured it out while I stood to one side feeling more and more frustrated and angry. I was frustrated because I had really wanted to do this all myself. I was angry because they simply took over the project. When I tried to ask questions or make a comment, I was ignored. And I retreated into fuming frustration rather than say anything because I felt it would be taken as rank ingratitude to voice my feelings while they were genuinely trying to help. But I felt like "the little woman" shunted off to one side while The Men Fixed Things. They did indeed fix the problem, but I don't think either of them acknowledged my "thank you" as they left. It really soured the project for me for a while.
Then, when I was on the next-to-last page of the instructions I discovered that the slide parts of the drawer fixture were missing. The anchor pieces are there, but there's nothing that glides in and out to which I can secure the drawer. When I tried to call the help number, I found out they closed at 5pm eastern time, and I had missed the deadline by about 30 minutes.
So my desk is mostly complete, with a nice selection of photos and pictures under the glass, and the drawer is propped up against the wall next to it. The little file cabinet is next to build, and it shouldn't take too long to complete, but my hands are sore from screwing in about one hundred small screws. The skin is tender and the muscles below ache. So I think I'm going to wait to do that. I'd like to do it tomorrow, but I have class tomorrow night, and perhaps my women's group on Tuesday, so it will be at least Wednesday before I can make more progress.
Unless I decide to have dinner and then dive in and Just Do It.
