I learned how to fix up the window mounted A/C units out of necessity, not a whim.
Some people learn new skills because they get bored and have time to kill.
For me, learning a new skill was a matter of being comfortable or spending the whole summer sweating bullets. Summers in the deep south are no joke, and it’s not unusual to get 90 plus degree weather with 95% humidity for days and weeks on end! Even in the middle of the night it remains uncomfortably hot outside. Staying inside is important for staying comfortable, but if you don’t have an air conditioner, being inside is even worse than being outside. When I was a teenager and my mom was working two jobs, I had to be the man of the house although I didn’t know what that meant. It all became clear when the air conditioner broke, and the inside temps got into the upper 90s. It was dangerous for my younger siblings to be in such heat, so I had to make an attempt to repair the air conditioning. It went about well as you would expect, and I only made the A/C problems worse. Late that night I went to a local motel, and stole one of their window mounted air conditioners. Using what I had learned from my failed first attempt, I did much better in tuning up and maintaining this air conditioning unit. My mom asked me where I had gotten the money for such a nice air conditioner, and I said that I had stolen it. She never mentioned it again.