i wore shoes with no socks

[day214]

so yesterday I fixed a flat on my bike myself for the first time.
part of me wants to be all like wooot! yeah! but it was so easy. seriously easy. even intuitive.
so that made me think, why didn't i just try to fix it myself the first time i got a flat?
i think it's has to do with the mystification of manly things as a woman.

Comments

[noramay]

So I suck at fixing most things, BUT I can tell you that taxes are easy. I file mine online for free every year, usually through Tax Slayer. Go to the New York state website (http://www.tax.state.ny.us/) and they can refer you to a free service.

[papergreen]

i second this suggestion. it's extremely easy.

[day214]

thanks ladies. i will definitely check those sites out when i get home and hunker down to some tax paying (boo).

but hells-to-the-yes of on the skills sharing. we're already putting it into practice here and i look forward to more.
next challenge: how to apparate $400 or so dollars in my bank account to pay said filed taxes with

[papergreen]

also, now that i've read the rest of your entry, i agree with you 400%. i always find myself wishing that i'd been a boy scout. it is my theory that that's where they teach everything that's actually useful for life.

i think we should all do more skill-sharing. i mean, i'm sure there are things i know how to do that i could teach other people, in exchange for learning these types of things.

so, if you learn how to fix something cool, show me how?

[jessebeller]

speaking as a former boyscout (though only for a couple years) i can state with authority that the only skill we ever practiced was fart jokes. and i already knew how to make those.

[carringtown]

speaking of assholes

http://www.explosm.net/movies/129

[robarchangel]

i have to say that that may not be a feature unique to you. it's been very difficult for me to gain confidence in doing my own projects. i'm still much more inclined to go to a mechanic shop for a flat tire than repair or replace it, even though i know full well how to do that. you might attribute that to my particular disposition, but i think it's also a broadly more cultural thing. fifty years ago, my grandfather fixed his own car. cars today aren't even made to be fixed by lay-people. i think there's a tendency toward greater reliance on specialists and great personal dependency on the system these days.

for me, fermenting, and making my own food, and curing my own cast iron, and even learning to drive were psychic victories. not because they were necessarily good or desirable, but because they gave me a body of experience to trust that i can, in fact, learn new skills, and integrate them into my being. failure is not assured, and all that,

anyway, kudos on fixing your own. DIY fo' sho'!

[baileyjennifer]

So, Turbo Tax has a free option, it won't file your State taxes for you, but it will do your Federal taxes. It was really useful when I files, and it found some great deductions and got me a bunch of money back. You may want to try that for your Federal return.