Humbled by a Bookshelf

Do you ever just feel really ambitious? Do you ever think to yourself, "I could totally do this in under X minutes,"? Have you ever gotten a bookshelf that you 'get' to put together yourself and you are just SO pumped about it? Well...I have.

Last night I went browsing in Target with my friend, Shannon. We (ok, she) stumbled upon a bookshelf that would be PERFECT in my room. So...I snatched that little bugger right up. And when I say "I", I really mean Shannon; and when I say "snatched" I mean...it wasn't that easy. We check out, head home, and Shannon carries the newest addition to my room right up to our apartment.

Now sometimes around midnight I get really good ideas. This was one of those times. It was just about midnight and my wheels were a churnin'. I decided that I was going to quickly and quietly put my shelf together! "It won't take very long," I thought to myself. "I could probably do this in 20 minutes. Psh. No, I can do it in under 20 minutes. Ya. Then I'll brag about how cool I am," I thought. (Okay, I didn't actually think that last sentence!) Yep! I was feeling ambitious.

Here it is! Oh ya, easy peasy lemon squeezy.



Pretty self explanatory. I don't need directions. (But I better keep 'em just in case.)

I grabbed Leah's tool kit and went to work. How hard could it be? I get the frame set up, ready to be screwed together. Whew! That only took...20 minutes! I even took a picture!

So. Proud.

Notice anything wrong? Go on, look again. At the bottom. Ya. I just spent 20 minutes screwing this sucker together, and...I had a board in backwards. Awesome. I chuckle and think, "So much for my 20 minutes. Ha, I'll get it in 30." And set to work.

This is it! I got it. For sure. Everything is screwed in and...then I notice the boards are different lengths. (Look at the picture above again.) The bottom left is sticking out, like it should be. The bottom right...eeeh...not so much. Cool. I WOULD get the only bookshelf where the holes are not right. So I sit there, puzzled, not knowing what to do. Thankfully my awesome, manly friend, Derek, was awake. I sent him a picture of my problem and he knew exactly what to do (of course). I had another board backwards. I couldn't stop laughing. How does this happen?! Oh well. I flipped it, and got everything screwed in correctly.

A little over an hour later...I finally have the frame put together.

Next step: put the back on. That will be easy. It requires a hammer and 28 little nails. Awesome. By this time it's about 12:30 a.m. "I can hammer quietly, no big deal," I thought. Have you ever tried to hammer quietly? Well let me just tell you, there's no such thing. After hammering in the corners and a lot of laughing at myself for being so ridiculous, I decided I better save the rest for a more appropriate time.

After about 2 hours of man (woman?) labor, the finished product!

What I learned from this experience: guys are (typically) better at this kind of stuff. I have a new found appreciation for the male species. Congratulations, men of the world, Derek Birney gave you some brownie points. I would personally like to thank Target (for selling the shelf), Leah (for letting me use her tool kit), my neighbors (for not killing me for hammering at 12:30 a.m.), and for Derek and men everywhere (for...well, for being men).

I hope you enjoyed this little excursion. Until next time.

Over and out.