I’m like that, too. I tried to learn, but I can’t do it. A pretty impressive accomplishment considering that my own mother owns her own alterations shop. She’s been sewing for something like 40 years and I can’t even sew a button.
Of course, I just send her anything I need altered, so that doesn’t help
I had to get real good at a number of things to offset how badly I suck at others:
Math
Sports
Dancing
Small talk
Office politics
Forgiving the ego and ineptitude of those who call themselves professionals, but who, by all evidence, are merely pikers. I really suck at that. And it’s a tragedy, because at work, I’m surrounded by them.
Sorry, can you tell I’ve had a trying day?
Building or fixing stuff (as has been mentioned, I can assemble something that’s already been sawn and pre-drilled, but to build a garage addition to the house like my old man - forget it!
I can’t keep my mouth shut around people that annoy me. I’ve gotten ‘firm talking to’s’ from teachers about this because I have snapped at peers. I have also made many people hate me and/or want to beat the living shit out of me. I also suck at public speaking. I get all nervous and then I start to stutter. I’m fine around my friends and even around strangers, but I can’t do public speaking for the life of me.
Even if I see my own wife in a totally different context, I will likely spot her, but the delay will be long enough to offend her.
Forget being able to recognize the normally white-lab-coated chemists at work in some different context, such as a chance encounter at the mall.
When I’m watching a movie, if there are multiple good guys or bad guys interacting, I have to pay careful attention to the dialog to keep track of who is who, and I often get lost.
I can remember faces, but not names. This gets terribly embarassing when I’m talking to the person in question, then someone else I know walks up, and I am forced to introduce them.
I totally, absolutely suck at any sport involving a ball. I can run, swim, cycle, do yoga and karate, dance, whatever. I just don’t want to be around flying missiles. If I try to catch a ball, it ends up smacking me on the forehead or bouncing off my foot. I can’t hit a baseball or softball to save my life. Volleyball and basketball are terrifying with their large balls. Racquetballs are painful. Worst of all are mutant balls like badminton birdies or footballs. I hates balls.
Navigation, names & faces, office politics, getting other women to like me (or even be polite or cordial is too much to expect from many), sports (especially skating; never figured out how to skate backwards), baking (and I’m not much into cooking either), and recognizing and articulately describing motor vehicles. I’m not one of those people who could tell you if something was a Ford or a Chevy or a Beemer or a Mercedes (let alone what decade or engine size). And forget nailing the alphanumeric designations; even if I cared, I don’t think I could remember them.
Math. Oh, I know a lot of people say they’re “bad” at math, but how many people regularly have bank tellers point out errors in their addition…even after having used a calculator? Even if I get the correct sum on a scrap of paper or whatnot, I still can’t be trusted to reliably transfer the numbers onto the deposit slip. sigh.
And I still, at 27 years old, cannot tie my shoes the “grown-up” way. In my defense I’m left-handed and people (being righties all) couldn’t figure out how to show me the correct way…I’ve tried since, and I just can’t grasp what it is people are doing when they wrap ithe laces around their thumb. What is that?! So bunny-ears it is.
I can’t sew either. I had the following exchange with my mother-in-law just before my wedding.
MIL: {gesturing at a wall hanging I have} “That’s a lovely quilt. Did you make it?”
ME: {laughing} “No way. I can’t sew. My grandma made it for me.”
MIL: :eek: “…but…what do you do if you need to mend something?”
ME: “I donate it.”
MIL: :eek:
It took me nearly half an hour to figure out what we were doing at the credit union with my IRA and a term share certificate (dumping one and starting the other). They hand me a sheet of figures and interest rates and I am totally lost.
Wading through insurance policies is no picnic for me either.
I live by thinking that I can honestly not do bad at anything. Not that I am good at everything, or anything for that matter, I just feel that saying you suck at something is an easy way out. You never really know if you could learn or not and blah blah blah. Anyways…
I’m happy to say that most things I’m bad are only because I have no interest in them.
However, I suck when it comes to talking to more than a few people at one time and writing, both of which I like. Both of these flaws suck because I feel like I’m a very perceptive and intelligent person but all is lost when I try to articulate myself. :smack:
I’d say I suck most at drawing things, or rather aything. If you put a pistol to my head and told me to render a drawing of a cat under penalty of death, I’d give you the same picture I’d have given you if you said buffalo, or dog, or rhino, or sea turtle. I really suck bad at drawing.
I also tend to suck at remembering names, which I’ve learned to compensate for by saying “nice to meet you Laura, I’m terrible with names, so I’ll have no idea what to call you in 15 seconds, sorry I’m just inept that way” people seem to understand if not sympathize.
The other thing I suck at is pretending I care about something I don’t. I can keep it up well for a while, but when I get really bored, it’s almost like I want them to know that I’m not interested in order to get them to shut up. That makes me feel like a bad person. That’s why it sucks I guess.
You can suck at math and get a college degree. I am living proof. Just don’t think you’ll be getting that degree in physics or anything.
I have to use a calculator to balance my checkbook and I still make mistakes often (apparently I’m not very good at punching in the right numbers, even). Algebra and geometry? It is to laugh.
I’m thinking about getting a master’s degree, seeing as how I work at a university and they’ll allow me to take one class per semester for free. But I have to take the GRE - after being out of school for 20 years. I know I’ll do fine on the language and analytical sections. But the math section … oh the pain …
Another weird thing is that I was a graphic artist for 12 years, and a pretty good one. But if you give me visual-only instructions on how to do something - like putting together pre-fab furniture - they kick my butt. I cannot figure them out. If there are no accompanying written instructions, I might as well not have any at all.
I’m really bad with faces as well. It always amazes me that some fugitives are apprehended because some store clerk saw a newscast a few days earlier and happen to recognize someone. I wouldn’t recognize my next door neighbor if I fell over him. I would also not be able to give a description of someone I saw in passing beyond “man” or “woman” unless something really registered with me, like they had three arms.
I’m a terrible, terrible singer, and I can’t dance to save my life. I simply have no rhythm. I have good hand-eye coordination for stuff like hitting a softball, but I’m a very, very, painfully slow runner. I am, however, a dead-on shot with a weapon, though I’ve been out of practice for some time now. I may need to change my name to SometimesDeadlyAccurate.
I also can’t do things that require precision, like building something or sewing. I can manage a button, but anything more complicated gets donated. For building stuff, it doesn’t matter how many times I measure; it’s going to be crooked. On a related note, I am seriously geometrically-challenged. If you start describing something that requires a knowledge of geometry, I probably can’t visualize it.
I have a rather poor audial memory, so telling me something is a quick way to make sure I don’t remember it. I have the hardest time remember who sings some of my favorite songs, and what the names of those songs are. My eidetic memory is very good, however, so if I can see it, I can usually remember it.
Higher math (other than statistics, which “clicked” for me from the first day of class in graduate school - the teacher makes all the difference).
Video games. I have absolutely no interest in them and, like most people, don’t care that I’m not good at something that has no appeal to me.
Sports, dancing, building things, and being assertive - they’re all things I can do with no problem. Just don’t ask me to play the video game version of “Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land.”
[ul]
[li]Fixing things: Even the most basic repairs are beyond my abilities. I don’t have the time or patience to diagnose the problem, let alone knowing how to go about fixing it.[/li][li]Household chores: My house is a mess. I can’t wash dishes and make them look clean. My drinking glasses are always riddled with spots, no matter how many times I rewash them. I can’t mop a floor without leaving streaks. I do a half-assed job at just about everything else when the rare urge to clean does strike.[/li][li]Sports/athletics: I was the laughing stock of gym class in school. I didn’t know how to play football, and even though I knew something about soccer, basketball and baseball I still sucked. I always finished dead last when running (walking, panting, gasping) the mile.[/li][li]Swimming: While this could go under “sports/athletics”, I look at swimming as more of a survival skill. My mom enrolled me in swimming lessons several times. I could never get far beyond the dog paddle. I never went past the 6-foot section for fear of drowning, and I never went off the diving board. I am writing this in past tense since nowadays, with my portly hairy body I wouldn’t be caught dead at any swimming pool.[/li][li]Cooking: If it doesn’t come in a can or box and it requires anything more than merely heating up the contents, forget it. I eat out a lot instead.[/li][li]Writing legibly: I have the worst handwriting there is. I put doctors to shame. Even when I try to write neatly for other people to read it they come back and ask me what I wrote. I never developed the patience or the discipline to take my time and form each letter as I write. If I start out trying to write neatly by the time I reach the end it’s a scribbled mess. This is why I type just about everything.[/li][li]Remembering names: This has caused me embarrassment on many occasions, especially when I meet the person again shortly after initial contact and can’t recall what his or her name is. :smack: I am good at remembering numbers, though. If we all went by our social security numbers I’d be better off.[/li][li]Assertiveness: I’ll admit it. I’m a pushover, a doormat. People have taken advantage of me and gotten their way since I am not one to speak up or defend my side. I am working on this one, though, and I don’t let people get away with as many things as I used to. This lack of assertiveness has also held me back on speaking my opinions aloud without fear of rebuttal.[/li][li]Social situations:: In addition to being a pushover/doormat, I am also a wallflower, or a fifth wheel when amongst a group. I am usually quiet and I contribute little to most conversations. I have a hard time getting in a word edgewise if I do want to say something. I prefer to meet with people one-on-one. My social weaknesses account for why I am still single.[/li][li]Telling jokes: Unless I do a quick silent rehearsal ahead of time, I’m no good at the delivery. I usually flub it up about halfway through and either stumble on my words or forget some of the details before getting to the punchline. By then the listener has lost all hope of getting a good laugh. This is why I stick to one-liners and puns.[/li][li]Shuffling cards: I envy people who have magician-like dexterity to shuffle a deck of cards and deal them out as if they were a Las Vegas casino dealer. I’m as hopeless and helpless as a six-year-old learning to play “Go Fish” for the first time.[/li][li]Tying/lacing my shoes: Even as a 34-year-old I have a hard time remembering how to lace up my shoes. When I get a new pair I tie them once and leave them tied as I slip my feet into them.[/li][/ul]