Right, sounds like we both followed our interests, albeit different. I've said before, I studied the engineering of nuclear power plants - NOT something one can play with at home, but that was my interest at the time. And that's how I bumped up against knowledge I didn't have and needed to progress eg quantum mechanics.
When I got my first car, I investigated how the thing worked and could fix many things up to the limits of not having a proper garage and equipment. I could even tune an engine! lol.
In medieval and renaissance Italy, most people never went to university, but there were 100s of trade schools - everything from navigation to choral singing! lol. That's the background of people like da Vinci and Michelangelo - learning how to do stuff.
As a child I would take every toy apart if it was possible, and put it back together to see how it was made, I started restoring motorbikes aged 8, my step father used to supply me the paint, he worked in a paint factory as a director of sales.
I did have 4 years at school doing motor vehicle mechanics, Mr Hargreaves the teacher gave me the school Lambretta for a token £1 as he said it was me that fixed it.
Engines, cars, things that can come apart, I always took them apart, made them better, if I could, it is that mindset that took me far in life, still got it for now. One day maybe not, but for now it is still there, hence me restoring motorbikes still, just for fun. And the HHO is a thing I am liking doing, I see it as the future, not climate change lunatics and batteries.