My Mechanicalness

Yesterday I accomplished a great and mechanical feat. I assembled a lamp, all by myself! This was no small and tidy lamp, either. It was tall, and had shelves, and is some what pyramid shaped. Well, it would be a very skinny and tall pyramid, but you get the idea.

When Aunt Laura asked me if I could do it, my first response was a happy one. Frequently in my scholastic pursuits of the past four years I have suddenly been seized by the desire to do something with my hands - something physical. Most often I just thought about it, and then moved on to the next book. But once it did result in my going up to the men's dorm and throwing wood for about an hour. Some people, of course, do this kind of thing all the time. I was talking to Mum on the phone last night, and she told me about Daddy single-handedly (well, close) building the kitchen in the basement of the church. Framing, sheetrocking, sanding, plumbing, wiring, he was doing it all. All I can do is type! Sigh. So here, with the lamp, was my opportunity to do something with my hands besides wielding the keyboard.

My second response was to look for the instructions. I have not read comic books with a closed mind, and I know that people get into all kinds of trouble when they insist upon working without the instructions. I soon discovered, however, that there were no instructions. Apparently the makers of said lamp assumed it was child's play to assemble a lamp of such proportions.

I quickly found that it was indeed child's play. The lamp was packaged in such a way that it would be almost impossible for a reasonable person to assemble it in any other way than that prescribed by the lamp-making company. Basically all one had to do was screw the little rods into each other, repeatedly, four times, to make the legs. The only complicated part was making sure the four legs went through the four holes of each shelf. Soon the lamp was together and standing and looking mighty elegant. A jorb well done, if I do say so myself.