Monday 17th February 2014

It is the mid-term break and today was the first day out of the the three days given to work at the d.t lab. I went school early in the morning at 10:00 till 12:00. I did a lot today since there were less people meaning more resources and tools available. Today, I managed to cut out my four pillars of the rack which was not as easy as it looked. First I did the measurements and drew the four pillars on the wood consistently measuring and referring to my design to avoid complications later. To cut out the pillars from the wood I had brought from home that was about an inch thick couldn't be cut using the jigsaw therefore I had to use a tool that I was completely new to. At first Abror who is one of my colleagues cut one of the pillars teaching me how to use it and then handed it over to me. It vibrated a lot and was really tiring ending up cutting crooked pillars. There was also a lot of dust therefore I also wore a coat to avoid getting dirty. This took me about 30-40 minutes since I was sharing with a generous girl. Soon after, I kept the compartment together and double-checked if my pillars were okay. Then I used the jigsaw to cut out the pillars properly and then straightened my pillars. It was soon time, and I was glad and thrilled by the work I had done today and by looking at the work I had done today gave me confidence to continue this way.

The challenges I faced was using the machine to cut the wood since the machine was not attached to something but I had to hold it and it was quite heavy and hard to control and use. I overcame this challenge by  asking help from Abror, who has experience with such tools. My strengths were that I was able to use my time-management, wood cutting, measuring, straightening, reflecting and judgmental skills though my weakness was that I was unable to use some tools without some guidance or help meaning I have to work on my self-management skills. At 12:00 we had to clean up and return all the materials back to where we found them that improved my cleaning up skills. I was very happy with the work I had done today and felt at ease when I reached home.