Manliness +5

Its almost been one year to the day where I moved in to my house and I must say that we've been blessed not to have any major faults with our home. A streak like that is unlikely to go on forever anyway and it became a question of how soon before I had to break out the 'oh-still-very-virgin-toolbox.' I didn't have to wait long.

The master bedroom light refused to switch on yesterday morning as I prepared for work. I have changed light bulbs before, so there was probably nothing much to this one. At least that's what I thought.

As we walked in to the lighting shop where we bought most of our stuff from, my wife suggested testing whether it was really the fluorescent tube that was at fault to which the shopkeeper obliged. Much to my chagrin, it lit perfectly. So the shopkeeper deduced that the transformer (at least that's what I think he said) was at fault and suggested I replace it.

Mr Optimus Prime

When I saw what a transformer was, I was a bit worried. Those two dangly bits you see on the left side means that I have to connect them to the live and the neutral wires, something that I've never done before. I asked for as much advice I could before leaving, but as I reached home, I realised that I forgot to ask if I needed to ensure the current for the entire room needed to be turned off.

Hmm, maybe I should wear rubber gloves? Since that will be good insulation...but I don't have any. Rubber slippers? Zilch. I decided (correctly) to just go ahead and rewire it since the light switch was turned off anyway and that meant no current was flowing through.

The whole thing was a piece of cake really. Heheh. Having stepped out of my comfort zone and succeeding in my mission was a milestone for me.

TED

Total Experience Points Gained : +10

Repair Skills: +5

Manliness Rating : +5

Until it failed to work again this morning...

#$%@

TED

Total Experience Points: -5

Repair Skills: -2

Manliness Rating: -7

Well its back to Mr Handyman after I get off work tonight. I hope I wouldn't have to summon a Mr Fred Fixit from the Night Shift.