Maybe you have a box full of transistors and diodes in the closet, because they're kinda needed for everything or at least very useful to have around. You can

Maybe you have a box full of transistors and diodes in the closet, because they're kinda needed for everything or at least very useful to have around. You can start building yesterday. If you want that special bridge chip, you start looking through online stores and datasheets (what a chore, why do they have to suck so hard?), trying to find the chip that has the availability, a reasonable price, the right specs and appropriate package for your use. Then you pay the shipping cost on top of the component, which might be more than the component itself. Then you wait a week or two for the thing to arrive. Then you pray it is intact and you can maybe start building. Hope you ordered the right part and didn't make a mistake in reading the specs.