You can do it...

The wonderful thing about being semi-retired is the opportunity to spend the free time doing things at a leisurely pace. No time constraints, no pressure and for sure, no high expectations. Doing things just because you want to try and that it doesn't matter if it doesn't work out.

I consider myself a DIY enthusiast. Not really a skilled craftsman but an amateur handyman who can tackle the minor repairs that often need to be taken care of at home. Basic stuff such as plumbing works, install light fittings, replace faulty locksets and the like. The extent of what I am able to do is limited by the tools that I have, which, while not much, is more than sufficient to cover the routine maintenance work. Until recently, the only power tools that I own are a used corded drill and a jigsaw. The drill was given to me by my late brother many years ago. Also included were a few of the most common and necessary drill bits. I've used it many times for drilling into brickwork walls or timber posts. Works fine and there have been no problems so far.

But such a tool is not suitable for screw fixing work such as in the assembly of flat-packed furniture. Not really a necessity because a manual screwdriver does the job just fine but then, where's the fun? Any serious DIYer worth his salt should have a few power tools in his arsenal. The first tool that most skilled woodworkers or handymen suggest getting is the cordless drill driver. I had been longing to buy such a tool for quite some time. There are so many in the market and the cheap no-brand ones from China can be got for less than RM200. Many times I have been tempted to buy such an unbranded drill, the reason being that I'm only to use it occasionally, hence an inexpensive one would do just fine. However, after watching some Youtube videos by seasoned DIYers, I followed their advice and opted for the established makes. 

And so, two weeks ago I took the plunge and placed an order for a Black + Decker 18V cordless drill driver from a dealer on Shopee. I chose the most basic package available; single battery plus charger (don't see the need for spare batteries as I won't be doing continuous drill driving work), no drill bits (I already have some) and without dedicated casing (an old toolbox I have would do fine for now). I went for the B+D brand because the corded drill that I have is a B+D and that has been very reliable so far. Black + Decker is an American brand but like most other manufacturers nowadays, assemble their products in China.

Delivery from the dealer was quite fast. The package arrived within 5 days of ordering.

The first task I put the drill to use was in the repair work to an old folding banquet table that I bought in 2011. I use the table for my bonsai gardening hobby (pruning and re-potting). The original tabletop made out of fibreboard has rotted and I replaced it with 12mm thick plywood which was also bought online. The plywood board is sold pre-cut to the dimensions of 600mm wide by 1200mm long (or 2ft x 4ft in old-school terms) and this is exactly the size of the existing tabletop. No further cutting is required except that I rounded off the four corners for a neater look. For this, my jigsaw came in handy.

Other additional works that I did was to cover the plywood top with wallpaper (which was already on hand from a botched attempt to re-coat an old refrigerator) and to spray paint the table legs (also from cans already on hand). All in all, I like the look of the finished product. Not sure how long this plywood top will last but hey, I now have the tools and experience to make another one if so required. No satisfaction like do-it-yourself.

Have gun, will DIY

Old banquet table set to be given a new life

The blue table legs because that's the leftover paint
my son used to spray his bicycle

Spread your wings...

 

Maisarah at AEON Mall Bandar Dato' Onn, Johor Bahru

Work hard and aim high,
You'll never know if you don't try,
The only limit is the sky,
So spread your wings, my dear and fly...

Lunch and a day out at the shopping mall with my eldest son and his family yesterday. The first time we took our granddaughter to the AEON Mall at Bandar Dato' Onn was in January 2019 when she was still a babe-in-arms. At that time, her parents were on assignment and we gladly agreed to babysit her for a few days.

This time around, Maisarah is a 3-year old toddler. Highly observant and very talkative. Her parents wanted to buy new sandals for her and the children's shoe section at AEON has enough variety on sale to allow the young lady to pick out the pair that she likes.

After choosing her shoes, it was just a short skip to the adjacent section which all kids would not want to miss, the toys department. While her parents were at the cashier, I took the young lady to browse the toys.

"Tengok saja tau, take beli ya," I told her. Ok, she agreed, although I had doubts if she would actually keep to this arrangement upon seeing the huge range of toys on display. We had recently bought her a toy for her birthday last month, so I didn't think it is time yet to get her another one.

True enough, the moment she laid eyes on a particular doll, she told me she wanted it. So I said, you can hold it for a while but we are not buying it. A few minutes later, she walked to the stuffed toys area and picked up a unicorn. She hugged the toy and told me she wanted it. Again I gave the same response. I was pleased that she was quite obedient although there's a visible look of disappointment. The important thing was that she did not create a tantrum. I could have easily agreed to buy the toy because it wasn't terribly expensive. But I was hoping to teach her something and I do believe there is no better time to start than at an age when she is already aware of things that have value.

After a few more minutes of browsing, I told my granddaughter that it is time to move on because we had other places to go to. As we passed the stationery section, I spotted a sticker pack of the cartoon characters from Didi & Friends (a local animated series). I pointed it out to Maisarah who immediately became excited and picked it up from the display stand. She looked at me imploringly and said that she wanted it. I finally relented and said okay, I'll buy it for you. The look of delight on her face was precious. Those stickers would probably not last the week when she gets to play with them but her happy smile I will remember for a long time.

Maisarah kept her hold on the sticker pack as we made our way to the cashier counter. I told her to place the pack on the counter for the cashier to scan. After making payment, I told the cashier to hand over the sticker straight to my granddaughter. Without prompting, Maisarah said, "Thank you, Achik."

The young cashier was pleasantly surprised, smiled back and replied, "Sama-sama."

That's another person that Maisarah has caused to smile that day. Lovely.

Bonsai gardening... an update (4)

It has been a while since I last posted about my bonsai hobby. The last post on this topic was almost a year ago when I wrote about the pair of ficus religiosa plants that I re-potted. Those plants have since grown new leaves quite vigorously to the extent that I had to prune them again a few months ago.

In this post, I'm sharing the update on a ficus retusa plant that I am styling to have an umbrella-shaped canopy with some exposed roots. I believe I've had this tree from the very start of my bonsai hobby (about 3 years now) and it has been re-potted once. It has grown quite healthily and is slowly approaching the design that I have in mind. I did some minor leaf pruning a few days ago and I'm happy to say that it is one of the better-looking bonsai plants in my collection, not that I have that many.

I am now planning to buy a more suitable bonsai pot, one that is slightly larger but shallower, with the intention of re-potting it again in a year or so from now.

Row of bonsai plants in training. Two ficus religiosa on the left, guava in the middle,
ficus retusa and bougainvillea

The ficus retusa before leaf pruning

After some minor pruning

A time to watch

Over the past year, with the enforced lockdowns and restricted travel, I have indulged in a new hobby. Collecting wristwatches. Perhaps not quite a new pastime because I have been buying new wristwatches every few years or so but I had not paid much attention to the details of the watches that I bought. Neither did I make any proper attempt to take care of them or store them in a neat way. I had mostly bought them based on looks and of course, price. All my watches are cheap, or to use a more polite term, in the budget range.

With the extra free time because of MCO restrictions, I began to read up additional information about wristwatches and viewed many Youtube videos on watch reviews. I learned many new things which I had previously not cared about. I began to understand the significance between quartz and automatic (mechanical) movements, the important case dimensions to take note of and many other aspects of a wristwatch such as dials, hands and lume. To a wristwatch enthusiast, the term 'complication' does not mean a problem. And jewels are actually bearings and not precious stones. I noted that watches can be classified into a number of types : divers, field watches, dress watches, chronographs and pilot watches, just to name the most common categories. Looking at my personal collection, I mostly have quartz dress watches and chronographs. My next target would be an automatic field watch. I already have one in mind (launched a few months ago) but am holding out until the price drops to a more affordable level.

As a first step towards organizing my collection, I bought a watch storage box made of wood with a glass top. It has 12 slots, each with a small black velvet pillow or cushion to enable the watches to be nicely displayed. Initially, the box held six of my watches and six belonging to my better half. When I bought a few more of my own, I decided that another storage box is needed. The next box that I ordered has 6 slots and is made out of PU leather. Not as classy looking as the wooden box but not too shabby either. This smaller storage now holds all of the lady watches in the house.

As of today, I have six (6) watches that are in working order and wear on a rotation basis. I have a few which are not working, either the batteries have run out or the movements are totally gone. In my younger days, I would simply throw these faulty ones away but now, with this new hobby, I will attempt to check first by replacing the batteries myself. The watch repair toolkit I ordered via Shopee arrived yesterday. I am now able to open the caseback of the non-working watches without the need to send them to a watch shop.

In this post, I do not wish to give a full list of the watches in my collection but rather, introduce the latest acquisition which I ordered online and arrived earlier this month. It is the Timex Expedition Metal Combo Black Dial TW4B17200 analog/digital quartz movement. I bought it from the Timex Official Store on Shopee because it had a huge discount during the 9/9 sales. I ended up paying less than RM300 for something that was normally sold at RM480.

To me, this watch looks great. Very suitable for day-to-day wear. It is 40mm in diameter with a lug-to-lug length of 46mm, a lug width of 20mm and a thickness of 12mm. It fits nicely on my thin wrist. The caseback is made of steel but the material of the watch casing itself is not indicated. A youtube reviewer has mentioned the case is made of brass, which gives the case a seasoned and tarnished look. It is a look that I actually like. There is a rotating black plastic bezel but since all the bezel markings are also in black, I fail to see how it can be useful. No matter, I prefer the black look anyway. But the feature that I like the most is the digital display window at the bottom. The digital component of this watch is in effect, a separate counter. We can use it to mark a second time zone, set an alarm, use it as a day-date display or utilise the stopwatch function.

Prior to buying it, I had searched Youtube for reviews of this watch. Not many of these reviews are positive but I went ahead and bought it because the discount was too good to ignore. Furthermore, this is the second Timex Expedition that I'm buying. The first Timex I own is also an analog/digital combo that has served me well for more than 15 years and still works.

Timex is an American watch company with some history. Nowadays, most of its watches are assembled outside of the USA. This particular model I believe is made in the Philippines. 

The watch originally came with a tan leather strap but I swapped it with a black nylon one. I think it looks even cooler. I am extremely happy I bought this one.

As is, out of the box

On wrist photo shot

My 1st Timex. Has undergone a few battery and strap replacements. Still reliable.

The joy of being a grandfather

Two days ago the 10th of September, was the birthday of our eldest granddaughter. Maisarah, the daughter of our eldest son, turned 3-years old.

We get to see her quite often because my son and his family live in the Johor Bahru area too. It is either our son comes by our home to visit or, if we feel we miss her, then I'd just drive over to their place. It's only about half an hour away.

Maisarah is a very bright girl. With each visit, there is always something new I find out that she has learned or is able to do. She was able to stand and walk even before her first year. By two years old, she has an understanding of basic words and I could communicate with her in a simple way. Then she learned about colours and shapes. At one visit, I found out that she knows how to count from one to ten. When we next meet her, she could count to twenty. Subsequently, she shows us her ability to sing the ABC Alphabet song. The amazement never seems to cease.

A fortnight ago, we were at our son's home. I showed Maisarah a small cut on the pinkie finger of my left hand which I sustained while doing some gardening the day before. Of course, it no longer bleeds but the cut on the skin can be clearly seen. She had a worried look on her face when she asked, `Tok Abah sakit? Ada darah?'

'Sakit sikit je. Mula-mula ada darah tapi sekarang dah kering,' I replied.

Her next question surprised me. 'Tok Abah pergi doktor?' It was her look of real concern that really warmed my heart. She was able to associate the injury with the need to seek treatment. I laughingly answered that it is only a small cut and no doctor necessary.

We met up again two days ago to celebrate her birthday. After the initial hugs and kisses, she quickly took hold of my left hand and asked, 'Tok Abah sakit?' She remembered the cut on my finger!

I showed her the healed finger with the cut no longer visible. She smiled.

As always, I would try to take selfies with Maisarah each time we meet. At a suitable time later, I plan to create a collage of the photographs, to show the progression as she grows up. I have previously done one such edition last year. This time around, I brought a camera tripod because Maisarah already understands the concept of posing for a photoshoot.

After I finished taking a number of shots using the delayed timer on the mobile's camera, I was about to pack up the tripod when Maisarah said it was her turn. She wanted to set up her phone (her mummy's old faulty I-phone which now has become her toy) on the tripod. I clipped the I-phone to the holder and was about to place the tripod when she stopped me to say, 'Maisarah buat', meaning that she wants to set up the shoot herself. She then fiddled with the tilt lever of the tripod, angled the phone to face where I sat, and then, in English, remarked, 'Perfect'. Whoa... where did she learned that expression!

She then came over and sat on my lap, and we both faced the phone in make-believe that an actual selfie is being taken. Complete with the imaginary countdown and the 'Cheese!' at the end.

Three years old and I love her to bits.

We have two other granddaughters (daughters of our second son) whom we've only managed to see once. They live in Selangor and thus we are eagerly waiting for the MCO travel restrictions to end so that we can visit them too.

Grandpa's jewel