Finding my way around. I know people joke about not having a sense of direction, but I really, seriously have none. I’ve been in my current town for over a year, and am just now figuring out how to get around. Thank og for GPSs, it’s really amazing how much more independent and less anxious I am with one. I tell people it’s my prosthetic sense of direction.
I’m learning this semester that I have difficulty saying the word “statistics.” There’s not only a family trait of lisping on esses (sometimes with a slight whistle!) that becomes exaggerated when I say the word, and I also stumble over the syllables. “Shhtashhhtictishh.”
I also find it difficult to run lots of errands, kind of like eleanorigby’s thing of not getting how people thrive on busy. People always act amazed when they find out I juggle school/teaching/full-time work, but I imagine their amazement is due to the fact that they think I’m cramming errands in there as well. I’m not. It’s a busy week when I get my hair cut and shop for groceries; if I have to mail a package, too, my week is just shot. And I’m like that when school is out.
I got a ton of 'em, including some already mentioned. In reverse order:
Sigmagirl - me too. Waddaya mean you just called to chat? I saw you not two days ago, I got nothin’ else to say.
NinjaChick - I can’t do mental math very well either. Other people just reel off answers to everyday math problems while I’m still trying to take off my shoes. (the better to count, you see)
eleanorigby - yeah, the hell with that rushing around all the time thing. I have books to read.
Dung Beetle - I also am a wimp most of the time, but I range into assertive territory often enough to throw everyone, including myself, off their game.
Freudian Slit - ditto right/left and whistling. I mean I know right from left, it’s just under pressure when my mind takes a little side-trip.
To add some of my own: finger snapping, hairstyling. I have more to list, but no more time.
If anybody ever feels inadequate, just talk to me and you’ll feel better. Just not via telephone.
I am rarely able to line the car up properly to the automatic car wash tracks. The attendants hate me. Otherwise I am a good driver. Parallel parking not a problem.
I panic at drive-throughs, especially if it’s a place I don’t often visit and don’t know the menu, or if I’m ordering for a bunch of people. I prefer to order inside.
Phone calls bug me too. (Interesting trend…) I can only call a hnadful of people - my parents, husband, ex, and a few very close friends - without going into full on panic mode. Ordering pizza? Gyah! Only if I’m starving to death. I’m able to make calls when it’s needed, like say for a doctor’s appointment or something like that, but it makes me sweat and I stutter so bad you can barely understand me. (I, too, rehearse what I’m going to say ahead of time, but it doesn’t make the situation any mre bearable.)
This also crosses over into face-to-face meetings a little, if it’s a complete stranger. I can’t really ask for directions or initiate any kind of conversation with a waiter or hotel clerk. Just the other day I took the kids to the zoo, and it was extremely difficult for me to speak with the ride operators as we were heading onto the rides.
Not really sure why I’m afraid, or even what I am afraid OF, but it’s definitely a hassle. 
:mad:
Parallel parking.
Yes, yes, I know about the angles involved. I know how steering from the front (or back, if reversing) affects movement. I know about oversteering, understeering and how you are supposed to correct yourself. I have good spatial awareness and good aim.
I just can’t get the damn thing to sit at a reasonable distance from the kerb on the first attempt.
Putting on makeup: I can do a passable job, just the basics, but I see these teenage girls and their faces look perfect! How do they do it? It looks totally professional.
Styling my hair. I’ve been told I have beautiful, thick hair. I have no idea what to do with it. I use no products whatsoever. I’ve tried, but I just don’t get it. I wash, towel-dry and comb. That’s it.
Make myself brush and floss my teeth every night: I have such a hard time falling asleep that, once I start to nod, I run with it and hit the bed/couch. When I brush/floss it catapults me right back into wakefulness for at least an hour.
Exercise: I exercise like I diet. I’ll be a maniac about it for awhile, but, then, if I miss even one time or take a bite of one wrong thing, then, I’m all fuck it, I’ve blown it, might as well give up for awhile.
This is depressing…
I’ll join the I Hate to Talk On the Phone crowd. I am terrible at this. I really just don’t want to simply shoot the shit, and it shows because I’m awkward and almost nervous because I just don’t want to talk! For me phones are for relaying information. I’m pretty talkative in person, but I get itchy being stuck on the phone. I wouldn’t have a cell but I gotta have one for work.
And I too suck at parallel parking. Baltimore is a really tough place to park. All the streets are so small and narrow. Makes me crazy.
Swimming. I was scared of the water as a kid and learned how to swim my senior year in high school (graduation requirement). I haven’t done any recreational swimming in about 20 years. Since triathlons are starting to look attractive I need to get my butt over to the pool, sign up for some “adult beginner” lessons and have at it.
Dancing. I used to go from time to time. Now I suffer from the fear that I look like a complete and utter spaz and the entire place will look at me like they looked at Elaine on Seinfeld. The hottest chick in the world could ask me to dance and I’d be incredibly uncomfortable.
On the plus side I don’t have some of the “normal” fears, like speaking in public. I’d get up in front of a Superbowl stadium sized crowd with no problem. Talking on the phone is no big deal either 
I don’t lisp, but if I try to say “statistics” without being very careful, I’ll stumble on it pretty badly.
Getting laid – I’ve been celibate for 22 years.
Damn man, you should consider going to Amsterdam and using one of the government checked women (cough).
I loath the very idea of calling strangers on the phone, or even acquaintances.
I’m fine if they call me, though.
Parking.
Not parallel parking. Just parking straight, between two lines.
I’m not stupid- I just have some kind of brain defect that makes me not know where I am, exactly, in space, and makes me not be able to park straight or to tell exactly how far I am from things while driving. I can, of course, tell how far I am from things well enough to avoid hitting or being hit- it’s just the parking thing I have trouble with. So from now on, when you see a car that’s parked just a little skewed between two lines, please don’t automatically think that person is stupid. Maybe they are, in fact, quite intelligent, but with just a little problem in that area.
Whistle using the “Finger” method. Ya know, putting your fingers in you mouth to get that really loud whistle.
Can most people do that? I can’t do it, and have only known a few that could.
Count me in for the phone hating, I’ll add:
Recognizing names/ faces. I mean, I have a hard time remembering your name, and if i happen to bump into you the next day, i’d have a vague impression to know your face, but it takes me a while to put 2 together.
I drive my sister crazy, when she talks about some actor, i’ll need to know what other movies they played. Or even dish names, for some it’s the nth time i ask what is ‘…’ dish? She’ll have to tell me the ingredients.
Otto, i also have to force myself to go outside (other than work) I’d rather avoid being around people. Although i get periods where i don’t give a fart and run outside.
Judging length, volume, distance, time. I hate having to put leftovers away because I never pick the correctly sized container.
Parking. Any of it, but especially parallel.
Drawing. I wish I could make nice pictures, just nice little sketches. I’m not interested in painting the next Mona Lisa. I just want to make simple sketches that resemble something. Instead I draw like I’m in Kindergarten.
Good at Photoshop, though.
Calling old friends, relatives or acquaintances that I haven’t seen for a while.