Yeah, I saw a forum post once where a mechanic said the same thing, that aluminum pans and factory plugs are a bad mix if you're just going by feel. They pointed out that the crush washer gets replaced and the metal is soft, so it's really easy to go from snug to way too tight without realizing it. That one story convinced me to at least get a cheap beam-style torque wrench for oil changes. It feels silly for one bolt, but stripping those threads is such a pain to fix.

Wait, your sister painted a whole cafe orange and blue? That sounds like it could have been a total mess but I'm so glad it worked out. It's wild how seeing something in real life can change your mind when you've been stuck on a rule forever. I'm still too scared to try that in my own place but maybe I need to visit more cafes.

Your uncle nailed it... that's exactly the feeling. I use a sharpie and mark the stud centers with a big "X" and write the cabinet width right on the stick. @margaret_lane mentioning the notches is spot on too... you can run your thumb over them in a dark corner and know exactly where you are. It saves so much brain space on a long run of uppers. Once the stick is right, you just transfer the marks and everything lines up the first time.

Oh wow, that's beautiful. It's wild how kids cut right to the heart of things, they don't have all the filters yet. I notice that a lot, the most profound observations come from just watching something simple and saying exactly what you see.