So, I bumped into the name bj murray jr the other day. Wasn’t looking for it, just popped up somewhere, maybe scrolling local news or something online. Didn’t know the guy, but the name, seeing it written out like that, kinda kicked off a thought process, you know?
It got me thinking back to a few years ago. I was working this job, felt like I was just spinning my wheels. You know the type. Show up, do the same stuff, clock out. Not bad, but not really… going anywhere? Seeing names like that, younger folks making waves or getting recognized, sometimes it just makes you look at your own situation a bit harder.
Getting Things Rolling
Anyway, seeing that name was like a little nudge. I’d been feeling this itch for a while, this need to actually build something myself, something tangible. Not just shuffle papers or answer emails. So, I decided, right, I’m gonna do it. I had this old hobby, tinkering with electronics, radios, simple stuff from when I was a kid.
First step was digging out the old boxes. Man, what a mess. Dust everywhere. Half the components were probably shot. I spent a whole weekend just sorting, trying to figure out what was junk and what might still work. Didn’t even have a proper workbench, just cleared off the corner of the kitchen table after dinner each night.
- Found my old soldering iron. Still worked, surprisingly.
- Had to order some basic stuff online – resistors, capacitors, breadboards. Nothing fancy.
- Tried remembering basic circuits. It was slow going. Lots of trial and error. Mostly error at the start.
The Actual Doing Part
My first little project was just trying to make an LED blink. Sounds stupid simple, right? Took me ages. I kept getting the wiring wrong on the breadboard. Shorted out a couple of batteries. Got frustrated plenty of times, felt like packing it all up again.
But I stuck with it. Little by little. Found some old diagrams online, watched a few videos – not tutorials really, more like other hobbyists just showing their messy setups. That helped. Made it feel less like I was the only one fumbling around.
Slow Progress is Still Progress
After the blinking light, I tried building a simple AM radio receiver. That was ambitious. Lots more parts, more complex connections. I spent weeks on it, evenings after work, bits of weekends. My wife thought I was nuts, hunched over the table with wires everywhere.
There were moments I thought, “This is pointless. What am I even doing?” Like that time I spent three hours troubleshooting only to find I’d put a capacitor in backwards. Felt like a real dummy.
Where It Ended Up
Did I invent the next big thing? Nah. Not even close. The radio eventually worked, kind of. Lots of static, could barely pick up a station. But you know what? Hearing that faint sound coming out of something I put together, piece by piece, that felt pretty good. Better than anything I’d felt at that desk job in a long time.
It didn’t make me quit my job or anything dramatic. But it shifted something. I kept tinkering. Built a few more little gadgets. Failed a lot. Learned a bit. It was just for me, not for any big reason. Sometimes just the act of doing, of trying, is enough. Seeing a name like bj murray jr just reminded me of that whole period, that little spark that got me off my butt and actually making something again, even if it was just a crappy radio in the kitchen.
