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       repair
       February 03rd, 2020
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       Jan posted recently [0] about the awesomeness of fixing stuff. It
       was timely for me since I've been on a bit of a repair renaissance
       here. 
       
 (DIR) [0] jan - on fixing stuff
       
       When we moved to Iceland I knew it was going to be problematic
       finding some things, especially specialty parts and quality goods.
       In the midst of that dawning situation I was also staring at my
       hobbies filling multiple rooms, offices, the basement and garage.
       We were moving from a very large 5-bedroom home to a cozy
       apartment. If I wanted to keep active on a hobby, I thought, then
       it should serve a purpose and fit in our space.
       
       I love waterproof, locking, stackable containers. I have a bunch
       of the 20 gallon ones that we use in the move and in storage (no
       worries about flooding!). I have smaller ones that stack and sit
       on an industrial metal shelf beside my office desk. In each of
       these containers is a hobby. That's the space I give them,
       generally. Flutes all fit in one with the music books. All my
       electronics fit in another. All my spinning tools, accessories,
       and fiber in a 3rd (the wheel itself is a special exception). Our
       hand-tools and sharpening stones fit in a 4th. Everything in its
       place.
       
       I also debated on bringing my 3D printer to Iceland since it
       seemed extraneous and extravagant, but later decided it would be
       useful to 3-D print parts that were hard to source in-country.
       
       So now that I've been living with this stuff for 7 months, how is
       it working? Well, I've done more sewing by hand here in Iceland
       than I did at home with a machine and a full room dedicated to it.
       I'm constantly repairing the kid's clothes, creating stuffed
       animals, toys, sleeves for tools, and so on. I 3D printed sturdy
       handles for our shopping bags since we walk to-and-from the market
       a kilometer twice a week. My wife's chromebook's touchpad stopped
       working this week and I opened it all up, cleaned everything,
       re-seated leads, and it's like new. I'm even spinning wool
       regularly now!
       
       Maintaining things is a joy. Fixing them up and not wasting money
       on new things means more freedom from work. We can subsist on
       lower incomes and spend more time enjoying life this way. The
       world has less waste. My hobbyist yearnings are itched. Life is
       good.
       
       Now if I could find a reliable tabletop RPG group, life would be
       perfect!