I’m in the (slow) process of finishing my astronomy senior thesis project. I met with my adviser today, and he asked me what a certain number of pixels was in arcseconds in one particular image. I knew the pixel scale, so it was a really simple thing to calculate. But for some reason, I always have a lot of trouble with these type of unit conversions. If there are .43 arcsecs per pixel, then how much is 7 pixels? That type of thing a 4th grader could do in their head, but I really embarassed myself today with how long it took me to figure it out. If I put it on paper and carefully write it out, I can do it, but this is the type of thing that I, having completed a physics degree, should easily be able to do in my head.
I have a theory that for every one thing someone’s good at, within that thing there’s one particular part of it that they still inexplicably struggle with.
I’ve been a nurse for 20 years. I STILL have to say, “snow over the mountain, red vs black” when I put cardiac leads on a pt. (white lead over green; red lead over black; brown goes in the “middle” of the chest). I do this even with a diagram in front of me. I do this even though I could do correct lead placement in my sleep. :rolleyes:
I have trouble with your basic “Left” and “Right”. If I’m giving you directions in the car, follow the pointed finger and not the words coming out of my mouth. :smack:
Give me any word with two c’s or two s’s side by side, and I will misspell it. If they are both present in the word, I stand almost no chance at getting the spelling right.
Firefox has an inline spell checker. For that, I am truly grateful.
I also have a terrible sense of direction. Getting lost is a normal occurrence for me. My kids know that if we’re at a restaurant and I go to the bathroom, if I’m not back in 10 minutes they’ll need to come looking for me- and they have.
I will frequently forget which numbers are “odd” and which are “even”. I have no idea why. I once tried to justify it to myself, but I couldn’t even manage to convince me - it was sad.
Ditto for me. In fact, in a thread a few months ago (I can’t recall which) several other Dopers mentioned being left/right challenged as well. We’re not alone!
Converting months to numbers. I never use numbers to indicate the month unless forced to, and while it ought to be a really simple matter to switch, it’s always difficult for me. June & July are especially tough (I’m literally at 6’s and 7’s for no good reason).
I cant open things. I routinely fail at opening bottles of pickles, bags of chips, packets of ketchup… you name it, I have a good 75% chance of failing to open it. If the object in question is anywhere near hard to open by societal standards, then I will unquestionably fail in my attempt.
I also have a piss-poor sense of direction, but that is mitigated by the fact that I always go the exactly opposite wrong way. Thus, I can find the right way by going the way I would not go. Savvy?
I am a really clumsy person. Almost without fail I will bump into, trip over, drop or crash into various furniture. I can’t help it. My body’s normal state will have either a bruise on a leg or an arm - I’m quite surprised that I haven’t gotten one in a while though! Maybe my body is getting used to the abuse and is growing thicker skin.
To give you a better idea of how clumsy I am, I was laying back onto the bed to watch some tv, and totally knocked my head on the SO’s bass as he was playing it. You’d think I’d learn the first time. This has happened several times since then. He said that when we get married, he kinda wants to put in his vows “I promise not to hit you during our marriage”. He would then want me to put in my vows “I promise to try to not run into your fist”.
The saddest part is that’s kinda true, I’m really that clumsy/accident-prone.
Changing time based on location. I usually end up setting up the Dopes poker and can never remember the correct time as it’s not central standard. My Auntie will tell me she’ll call 10pm her time in San Jose CA. I have no idea what time that would be here.
Don’t feel bad- my mom often gets the pointed finger wrong on top of having the words wrong.
(I’m really thankful I didn’t inherit that disorder.)
For me, it’s buttoning up clothing with a long set of buttons- I’m fine with a shirt with a few snaps at the collar, and usually even a standard button-up, but if I’m trying to button my denim dress which buttons from neck to mid-shin, I will miss at least one button or one hole every time and have to go back.
And it took me years to figure that much out. To me, things screw and unscrew* that *way and not that way.
I’m fairly hopeless at the swipe things, too–I keep forgetting they exist and I hold out my card so the checker can take it to make an imprint of it. I am 45. :rolleyes:
