I can't remember when my education started. It wasn't in chemistry class nor was it in English class, or when my 10th grade teacher straight up told me I am horrible at writing. For some people, the system works in thier favor. They were popular in middle school, they hung out with the cool kids at lunch in high school, they had the Nike and the Uggs. They followed the rules and the world were kind to them. Whether they benefitted from gender inequality or affirmative action, thier life was conforming to the society expectations. The more they conform, the more they are awarded.
Some critter walked on it before it dried. rageeeeeee face
You always know who benefitted in such fashion as they mature into adults. They follow the rules to the letter, they seek certify professionals for the smallest of jobs, they plan everything and apply to 50 schools for college, they are always looking for others approval for thier actions. They fear taking risk, and fear those who do.
I do not fault them, it is thier world view, and if I was brought up in the same environment, I would have sang the same tune. But the system never worked for me. Affirmative action cheated me out of so many things, and I had claw my way to get the simplest of things. I still remember my hs graduation speech fiasco, I remember all the inequalities I had to battle. The lesser applicant that was picked because they were African American or Hispanic. The system talk about minority representation, but asian was never part of "minority", it was and remain still the biggest hypocricy that every educated person in the education field has bought into with hook lines and sinkers.
So, no, the system didn't work for me. I always did things against the grain because fitting in just never did me any good. I ran my student groups, I started martial arts clubs, and I started my own car group. Because the system never benefited me, but I wasn't about to let that dictate or maginalize my life. To that end, I never like holding hands and going to the bathroom together. ::figure of speech:: I was always perfectly comfortable doing my own thing when others search for the solace of others approval.
When people ask me, "how did you learn how to do so many things?" Referring to renovation, cars, writing, and myriad of other obscure skill sets I don't often market. My response was always of perplex confusion. "I... Just did it?" Almost always they would follow up with the question "no one taught you?" And while I often wish to answer "why do you need someone to teach you?". I realize early on that that comment undermines people who couldn't learn things themselves. So instead I respond with with more progressive lies, "oh I learn this a while back from watching 'so and so'". While it's true, I did watch someone else do it, but so did every one of us for everything. I am always learning, every interaction every moment. Hence while I graduated out of acclaim schools like Jhu and many other certificate under my name, I never gave my formal education much weight in my growth and learning.
My dad never likes re-doing old work. If he done it 10 years ago. He will never re do it. Even if it didn't turn out well before. In contrast, I love re-doing old work. It reminds me how stupid I was just a year ago or 5 years ago. How I tried to build this wall and failed miserably. How it was crooked and uneven, and how there is wood, concrete siding, and cinder block and myriad of nonsense I smash together.
Pour a proper footing for the block wall this time. 4 inch deep and 15 inch wide pad for the block work.
This is me and Phaedon buring the sump pump pipe underground. Should of done this from the get go.
Foundation setting with Phaedon
Concrete pad before smoothing
Smooth out. The concrete
Blocking the wall. The first few times was quite the embarrassing diaster. After the third go around, I figure everything out.
Repetition always help, and every successive attempt got simpler and easier.
Wall is straight as an arrow.
So I got tire of working in the dark, so I properly wired outdoor grade electrical conduits, I read it up online, went to Home Depot a few times and figure out what is there and build the whole box in a day.
Outlet and switch for light complete. I later install two led light panels. You'll see in succeeding pictures.
Both walls are done and I even blocked the rear wall for a shelf cause I got so good at blocking the wall.
The roofline was uneven, so instead of blocking to the top, I decided to use wood base construction for framing, and go with a stucco siding. Aka mortar bed siding.
Framed both window openings, I was able to use the old 2x4 I took off for most of it. I finish the frame after work.
Having this on the wall making me feel legit.
Note* I did most of this after work. A little everyday by myself.
Outside view. This was when I secured them with lag screws.
I end up with 1/2 inch ply instead of 3/4 because my spacing between the studs were less than 14 inches apart. Typical spacing of 18 require 3/4 sheeting. Also the gap to the outside I calculated with 3/4 inch stucco is where the frame is sitting. Either way, I thought it was a good choice... Famous last words.
Board goes on and windows mock up.
Windows in.
Frame the dor frame while I was at it. Phaedons cat died. He was so sad. So we work on stuff and he gave me a hand, and took his mind off of it. 
Inside stucco panel. I'm getting better each time
Plywood spacing on the door.
Window trim on and all plywood trimmed and installed. Time to build the door.
I enlisted phaedon and Jeff for help, as these doors are custom 7 ft by 3 ft custom carriage doors. I never build them before. So we just wing it. We do that often.
Wally was helping out....
Framed up and mocked up
We used pretty thinly trimmed ply since we have 2x4 pt lumber for frame. We glued and nailed the door.
Mock up. Left corner was an issue with gap, and we found out the rail wasn't straight so we fixed it.
Mock up #2. With hinge. We didn't trim the door yet, we wanted them to hang for a bit. And the storm was coming so I wanna see how it faired in the rain and then make adjustment before installing the trim.
Super tedious process of installing waterproof paper to the plywood.
Then I put pesh wired stapled to every inch that the stucco is gonna cover.
First coat of stucco... Total mess. I mess up so many times.
I got better towards the end.
I sponge over to get a rough texturizing smoothing look
Jeff helped me get the door dressing on. It warped a little, so I adjust it.
Install the hardware and the lock and additional trimming. I put deadbolt on top and bottom on the panel close to the wall.
Then I dry lock the entire in and out so it's gonna be bone dry.
Still have to build the cover for the sump pump, and load the compressor on top, but it's essentially done. Im going to get the girls in there on Monday.
Door still needs to be painted. I caulked all the trims.
If you want to do something, you just do it. Read it, do it. Beause quite frankly someone just like you and me, made up all these crap from the getgo. It's not rocket science. Even rocket science is not rocket science. If someone else figure it out, so can I, and with some luck, I might even be able to do it better.
I'll post pic via my Instagram when I get the bike in.