Have any of you done some unique DIYs at the time of an emergency? Well, let me give an example. My first DIY in crisis (which, btw, I did when I was ten years old) was to mend a broken umbrella with a rubber band while it was raining. I know it sounds simple, but it was my most memorable one.(because "that" thing did last for quite awhile after I did some mending). It was raining quite heavily back then. Well that day the downpour was quite heavy to the point of our knees and we students were awaiting for our bus in the rain. Since our bus was the last to arrive, there was quite a stamped while getting into the bus. Also adding unto the fact that 'that' bus was relatively smaller as compared to the others because it was the oldest bus on campus and....it hadn't been repaired for awhile. So, all the students were pretty much squeezed in onto their seats and the bus was filled to the brim-to the point that students were squeezed into the entrance. To cope with the situation and my broken umbrella which got turn while securing a seat in the crowd, I took a rubber band and just wound the parts that needed to be wounded. Btw, I remember I had a plastic thread which somehow I used to wound the upper part of the umbrella too. So that's how I managed to avert the crisis of not getting wet. So , do you have any similar such experiences?
Honestly I can't remember if any of the things I fixed as a kid were me or if my dad fixed it while I was blinking. That guy can fix pretty much anything with nothing.
I stitched my bag once, picked the thickest thread I could find in my mom's collection, and just kept going clockwise. I think I used that bag for over a year after that. I was around 11-12 maybe. I also stitched a button on my shirt around the time. Apart from that, once I got into engineering college, I came across this concept called "Jugaad". It basically means diy with whatever is available at hand. So in college, I once refashioned an old console joystick into simple controller for an rc toy car we had built. Had to replace part of the board inside.
The first DYI crisis I had was my pencil broke. So what I did was I took the pencil and placed it between the binders ring connectors to sharpen the pencil.
i don´t know if it was yesterday or the day before that but my power went out while I was making oatmeal, and I was given the wonderful suggestion to make a mini fire pit to cook the oatmeal. It worked, which was all well and good except I´d forgotten that fire alarms have batteries, so not a minute after relishing in my success I tragically lost my eardrums. The oatmeal was delicious though so it was all worth it
My most memorable fix happened when I had just started high school and bought a new pair of running shoes for track. We were doing some home construction at the time and it was memorable because I had just opened the door to our home and found that my left foot seemed to have gained a serious amount of weight when I took a step inside. Looking down, the blade of a running Sawzall/Reciprocating saw had lodged into my shoe from where one of the workers had just put it aside. It was a fairly easy fix, getting some super glue and an air compressor to blow up the air pocket of the shoe back to the right pressure. That shoe lasted through two track seasons and a couple years of everyday wear after before refusing to blow back up anymore.
DIY, huh. There was one time when I was still in six grade. My school uniform, the super and the lock in my skirt was broken. At first it was just the lock that was broken, and me being a kid, just ignore it cause there still the zipper. You know zippers can locked themselves and it will never go down of you didn't want to. So, one time I am playing with my classmates, running here and there at the school campus– when I suddenly felt my skirt loose. Thankfully, I was quick on reflex, before my skirt went down on my knees, I held it and crouched down. It was very awkward you know. I walked around the campus, going to the canteen to see if there's a pin. There is, and I manage to secure my loose skirt. But then, I went to play again and lost the pin. But I don't have time to go to the canteen again to get a pin. So, I held my skirt towards the classroom, I attend the class holding my skirt and went home holding my skirt. There is also one time with my bags. Use, our school doesn't have any lockers. Their not that famous in our country. So, we have to bring big heave bags everyday to school. Me, I always have sling back for my note books and a big attache case for my books. I dunno, but my school bag always got their stiches loosened? One time, I'm just walking casually when I felt my shoulder feeling better like the weight of the world disappeared entirely. Then I looked back to see my back on the floor. It's always like that, even when I'm using back packs. So, what I did, I will cut some hole into one side and tie the handle into a knot. And voilà, it was good as new. But it will only last for days.
The right side of my wireless headphones broke off (not the cup, more like the connector that lets you adjust the size), so my brother used half of a wooden clothespin as a splint, and used some bright yellow duct tape to keep it in place. Honestly, it gives it more character, instead of just leathery black and silvery metal.
I don't remember the first DIY I did but I have a memorable one when I was in 12th grade. My friend and I went to the capital (our neighboring city) to apply for the entrance exam in a uni there. It's in the afternoon and there are a lot of people. After getting off the public transpo, I noticed that something's off with my shoe. Half of the sole fell. Argh. We were about to cross off the street and I just slide that shoe on the ground. I told that to my friend. Fortunately, I remember bringing a double sided tape and taped it back. Lolol. People look weirded. I forgot to fix that at home. And yes I've used it for 2 years more before deciding to let someone sew it.
Was eating school lunch in highschool, I forgot to get a fork. It would've taken too long to go back for one that I wouldn't have time to eat. Broke off one edge of the disposable cardboard tray, twisted it and used it as a spoon. I used the same type of cardboard tray to cut through the peels of oranges at other times because I didn't want to get my fingernail full of orange peel. I've done a lot of DIY for things that weren't crises but didn't have a good fix for at that moment, and just kept going with it until it broke completely. Sometimes they'd get really complicated. There was one I remember, a pair of headphones whose cable was damaged internally, and would only play sound if the wire was twisted in exactly the right way. So, an array of tape, hairbands and a hairpin was used for some months. It started with only one piece of tape, but as it kept moving and getting more picky about where the sound would work, I kept adding more things.