harnessing my inner plumber

i'm ecstatic. but now that i think about it, the word is inappropriate. i'm proud. that's the more apt word to describe how i'm feeling. but no, i didn't do something heroeic or anything remotely noble or grand. i'm just proud that i was able to harness my inner plumber last night [hehe, i know, i know - i'm weird]. but seriously, i managed to change my own water supply line with no help from anyone. the task sounds so daunting, but actually it's not. nevertheless i feel as if i've accomplished something really big. if you google "how to replace a toilet water supply line" you'll see how simple it really is. that's what i thought at first, too. i was so confident that i can do it on my own. but, when i was down on my knees trying to twist the angle valve and attach it to the water supply pipe, i was cursing expletives in my head. it's quite difficult because i only had about an inch or two of space to work with. i couldn't easily turn the valve the way i want it because the wrench was too big to allow it to turn the valve to a full 360 degrees. another difficulty is every time i get the angle valve tight, the opening to which the water supply line will be attached often always end up facing sideways. i wanted it to face upwards so it'd be easier for me to attach the water supply line's packing nut. thus, i ended up re.adjusting the valve and was yet again faced with the difficulty of twisting and turning the valve. another difficulty is of the job requiring muscle strength. but i refused the urge to call out for help. so, after several tries, i finally did manage to get my toilet a working water supply line. BRAVO to me!

after this success, i proceed to tackling the faucet in my bathroom sink. the faucet is now all too rusty. sooner or later, it too would give way. thus, i also bought a replacement faucet, but to my dismay - the plastic that holds the pipe in place was too tight. i couldn't unscrew it. the area under the sink is truly not friendly for repairs. the place was too cramped to allow a full range of motion. i guess, plumbers have to be creative on how they pull off twisting and turning pipes with such a limited space. oh well, i didn't want to have a leaky faucet, thus i postponed the tinkering to some other time. i'll just resort to observing my newly installed water supply line for leaks.