1. Patra Felino

    Patra Felino Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2012
    Messages:
    182
    Likes Received:
    136
    Location:
    Colombia

    What are you terrible at?

    Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Patra Felino, Feb 21, 2014.

    And give yourself a score out of ten if you feel like it.

    Dancing (4/10): I'm really bad at dancing. Even in England, where everybody's pretty bad, I was a conspicuously poor dancer, but in South America I'm deep into laughable territory.

    Having a sense of direction (3/10): My mum used to walk or drive me to school every day, but when I was nine or ten she decided it was time for me to get there and back myself. The first time I tried coming home on my own, on a journey I had made literally hundreds of times before, I got lost. I am ashamed to admit that my sense of direction hasn't improved since.

    Drawing (2/10): Jesus, I draw like a four-year-old child on his fifth pint of Stella. It beggars belief, just how terrible I am at drawing things.

    Come on you lot: 'fess up.
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2014
  2. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

    Joined:
    May 1, 2008
    Messages:
    23,826
    Likes Received:
    20,815
    Location:
    El Tembloroso Caribe
    My two biggest are the same as yours, @Patra Felino. :oops:

    Drawing (1/10): I would do better with my eyes closed, a pencil taped to my hand, in the throws of a grand mal seizure. Don't let the maps and other things you occasionally see me post fool you. Those are easily created via the magic of tech and some practice.

    Sense of Direction (2/10): The app that other people have that allows them to mentally draw in new streets to the memory map they already have is not present in me. I often think people think it's just an act to get out of driving places or whatever, but no, it's not. I know how to get to places via learned routes, not because I can logically connect where streets go in my brain. I was one of the very first people I knew to get a GPS.
     
  3. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2012
    Messages:
    4,255
    Likes Received:
    1,688
    Visuo-spatial intelligence: 4-5/10
    I'm really bad at this. I'm good figuring out the design of things in my head, but I get totally confused by things that are already there, if I haven't encountered them before. Example 1. I went to see a psychologist after my IQ test at the end of middle school, to get the results and some career counselling and her door had one of those round handles with a button in the middle, so you must press it then turn in order to open the door. Never seen this type of handle before. Fifteen minutes later, the psychologist is yelling the instructions and I'm still not getting it. When I did finally get it, I went in and she looked at me and then the results and said: "I can't understand how someone with the IQ of 156 can't work that out. But I guess, visuo-spatial was your lowest score." Shame.

    Example 2. I got a C in my final maths exam just because I failed to factor in the vector of gravity, which made right angles with the ground thus making it easy to work out the rest of the unknowns but I just stared and stared at that g because wtf do I care about gravity, that's physics not maths! I didn't get it. And I just won the national competition for massive project in theoretical maths, I was the only person in the whole country to have gotten calculations right. My teacher was beside herself because of the C. Useless. Likewise, I'm pretty crap at drawing but good at technical drawing, and I am a bit of a clutz. It's all connected.
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2014
  4. obsidian_cicatrix

    obsidian_cicatrix I ink, therefore I am. Contributor

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2013
    Messages:
    1,795
    Likes Received:
    1,615
    Location:
    Belfast, Northern Ireland
    Cleaning as I go. Evidence? You need only pop your head round my kitchen door after I've cooked a reasonably complex meal. Pots, pans, discarded packaging that still needs to put in the relevant recycling bin and drips and dribbles everywhere. I get really easily side tracked. (3/10)

    When it comes to painting and drawing, I can pass muster, but anything non-art related that involves following a chain of thought or evidence to its conclusion, I suck mightily at. Is it any wonder I rarely make a peep in the debate threads? Chances are I'd say something that is not only a misrepresentation of what I'm thinking but I'd make myself look like an absolute prat in the process. ;) My friends all seem to reckon I'm smarter than them. Not when it comes to common sense, I'm not. (3/10)

    Strangely, finding my bearings is a forte of mine. I put that down to a lot of survivalist style bivvying. Remembering to pack everything so I'm not stuck out in the backside of beyond unprepared... that's my absolute worst. (I'm gonna give myself 1/10 for this one. Rare is the time I remember everything I need to. And that's even with having a hand written note to keep myself right. It's as if inanimate objects object to their incarceration in my backpack and make a break for freedom while I'm not looking.)
     
  5. stevesh

    stevesh Banned Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2008
    Messages:
    966
    Likes Received:
    651
    Location:
    Mid-Michigan USA
    0/10 - Penmanship. My handwriting is so bad even I can't read it.

    1/10 - Drawing. I can't even draw a recognizable stick-man.

    2/10 - Taking hints, a shortcoming that plays hell with relationships with women. God in heaven, if you have something you want me to know, say it.
     
  6. thirdwind

    thirdwind Member Contest Administrator Reviewer Contributor

    Joined:
    Jul 17, 2008
    Messages:
    7,851
    Likes Received:
    3,339
    Location:
    Boston
    Math. After God said, "Let there be light," the Devil added, "Let there be alphabet in math." And that's what screwed me over.
     
    AJC, KaTrian, sunsplash and 1 other person like this.
  7. Bryan Romer

    Bryan Romer Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2014
    Messages:
    889
    Likes Received:
    391
    Juggling. 0/10
    Remembering names. 1/10 (1 if I have them written down)
     
  8. Patra Felino

    Patra Felino Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2012
    Messages:
    182
    Likes Received:
    136
    Location:
    Colombia
    Good stuff guys, although I'm not sure I can believe that you lot are worse at drawing than me. We might have to have some kind of contest to determine who's really bottom of the pile.
     
  9. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2006
    Messages:
    19,150
    Likes Received:
    1,034
    Location:
    Coquille, Oregon
    sports!
     
  10. 123456789

    123456789 Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2012
    Messages:
    8,102
    Likes Received:
    4,605
    What does this scale mean? 4/10 doesn't sound that bad, if 10 is a world class dancer.
     
  11. Thomas Kitchen

    Thomas Kitchen Proofreader in the Making Contributor

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2012
    Messages:
    1,248
    Likes Received:
    448
    Location:
    I'm Welsh - and proud!
    Common Sense 3/10: I sadly lack this necessary "skill". Several people have said that I have no idea what I'm doing (even non family members), and I do the most ridiculous things. I need hand-holding in almost every task, apart from creative writing, which is why I'm currently managing to study it at University.

    Sketching/watercolour/painting, etc. 4/10: I took Art and Design for GCSE and A-level, but I was the worst in the class, and it was horribly obvious. I'm not too bad at simply copying something in front of me, but tell me to draw in a comic-book or animation style, or to draw a tree from my imagination, and you've lost me. I love Art, but I just can't do it the way I wish I could, even with constant practice. :(

    Anything Practical 2/10: My dad's a builder, and my sister works with him often. Granted she likes to do practical things and she has the strength to do it, but it just shows how terrible I am at fixing anything. I'm a thinker and introvert and heart.

    Crafts -10,000/10: Possibly the worst thing for me, at least from the top of my head. Despite my love of Art and my somewhat reasonably decent ability at sketching, making crafts is just a disaster. I'm not joking; people actually laugh at my attempts to create things. Awful.

    If you didn't already guess, and in all seriousness, I have a major probably with being jealous of people's gifts and abilities. Maybe it wasn't a good idea replying to this thread! :D
     
  12. Bjørnar Munkerud

    Bjørnar Munkerud Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2012
    Messages:
    477
    Likes Received:
    275
    Location:
    Oslo, Norway
    Getting things done (in the morning) without having had a good, long night's sleep: 1/10 - I basically need eight hours of near-perfect sleep at night to get anything done the following day; thankfully I sleep like a baby most of the time.

    Dancing: 2/10 - I even wrote an entry on Quora about this and the time I was ironically voted as my year's best dancer at school; https://www.quora.com/Bjørnar-Munkerud/answers

    Drawing and painting: 2/10 - Other than black-and-white three-dimensional cubes I can't draw anythign to save my life

    Long-distance running: 2/10 - I'm a short-distance kind of guy, though I'd love not to be, but even that I suck at

    Hand-eye coordination and the like: 3/10 - I'm terrible at almost any sport and dance and I'm terrible at throwing and catching things etc.

    Letting things slide: 3/10 - I'm incredibly precise with almost everything I do (which is a curse more than a blessing), especially the things I'm interested in. I spend hours renaming image files on my computer, double or triple check every light, heater and volume setting in my apartment and look up anything anyone's mentioned to me ever on Wikipedia, including that which I know from before. Whenever I see an error on a website, be it mine or someone else's, I'm not satisfied until it's fixed, removed or reported.

    Explaining things: 3/10 - My worst trait considering I'm an author. Also ridiculous considering I studied for a while to become a teacher, where your job is to explain things. Thankfully mitigated when I wriute in that I have enough time to go through what I've written and rewrite it.

    Semicolons: 4/10 - As seen in this post, I use them a hell of a lot.

    Eating: 4/10 - I'm incredibly picky; see below.

    Cooking: 4/10 - Tomato soup with macaroni out of a packet and just adding water, heating and stirring is my speciality. I add more pasta and some milk and eat it with buttered bread on the side when I'm feeling experimental. It's pretty much bread, canned foods, pizza, pasta and taco all year round for me.

    Feigning (happiness, surprise etc.): 4/10 - When someone gives me or tells me to do something I'm pretty darned bad at pretending to like when I see or hear.



    And then there are a few things I do well:

    Creativity: 10/10 - Given a little bit of time I can come up with the most elaborate, silly, realistic, fantastic etc. situations and contexts imaginable.

    Languages: 10/10 - Grammar, spelling etc. I know English and Norwegian fluently and speak and write both better than most who are fluent in them.

    Geography: 10/10 - Demographics, religions, ethnicities, capitals, regions, countries, continents, historical, economy, politics, names, populations; you name it.

    Harry Potter (and to a lesser extent Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and The Hunger Games and more): 10/10 - Characters, books, films, plots, actors, actresses, directors, creatures, spells, places etc.
     
  13. cutecat22

    cutecat22 The Strange One Contributor

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2014
    Messages:
    2,780
    Likes Received:
    1,424
    Location:
    England
    I'm bad at time management. When it's work, I'm there early. Anything else, I'm always behind or something always crops up to scupper my plans. This week (half term) was reserved for getting some seriously constructive writing in. Monday was scuppered by a hygiene refresher course I had to attend, Tuesday I took the kids to the cinema, Wednesday I *had* to take hubs to the dentist to have a tooth out (he was absolutely scared to death, it's the only thing he's scared of) Thursday was shopping/cleaning/washing and today, an hours' visit to kwik fit for tyres turned into three hours of tyres, tracking and chasing around for new locking wheel nuts.
     
  14. TheApprentice

    TheApprentice Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 24, 2013
    Messages:
    1,209
    Likes Received:
    155
    Dancing: 0.000000000000001/100,000,000,000
    I can't dance. Period.

    Drawing: 3/10
    You know what I'm drawing, but you would also know it's not very good.

    Customer Service 10/10
    I am good at this, but that's a bad thing. I hate jobs that include this and am trying to avoid such work.
     
  15. Hubardo

    Hubardo Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2014
    Messages:
    1,079
    Likes Received:
    574
    I'm pretty bad at remembering names.
     
  16. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2010
    Messages:
    10,742
    Likes Received:
    9,991
    Location:
    Near Sedro Woolley, Washington
    1) Dancing. 0/10. I am the clumsiest, most awkward man alive. I'm so bad at dancing, the last time I tried it (over fifteen years ago, I think) I hurt myself.

    2) Performing. 1/10. I'm a pretty good guitarist and a better singer, but nobody will ever know this, because I have terrible stage fright. I freeze up if people are paying attention to me. My fingers tie themselves in knots and I can barely manage a croak. You have no idea how frustrating this is for me - I love music, and I'd probably be a professional musician right now if I could get past the stage fright.

    3) Remembering where I put things. When I'm finished with a tool or something like that, I just set it down wherever I happen to be. This is endlessly frustrating to my roommate/partner, because he's obsessive compulsive about these things and always knows where everything is. But if I've touched it, he suddenly can't find it, and I don't remember where I put it, and the universe is suddenly all wrong for him and he hits the roof.

    4) Listing the things I'm terrible at. I know there are other things at which I completely suck, but I can't think of them right now. :oops:
     
  17. thirdwind

    thirdwind Member Contest Administrator Reviewer Contributor

    Joined:
    Jul 17, 2008
    Messages:
    7,851
    Likes Received:
    3,339
    Location:
    Boston
    I forgot to mention Reading Comprehension on WF (2/10). I tend to skim read posts, and I'm drunk half the time I post here. Those two things are the perfect recipe for misunderstandings. :p
     
  18. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2013
    Messages:
    17,674
    Likes Received:
    19,889
    Location:
    Scotland
    Dancing. I dance like a hippy. Not a pretty sight. Fat old hippy dancing? No.

    Role playing. No. No no no no no. I can't pretend to be something/somebody I'm not. I just get the giggles. I was awful at childhood pretend games for that reason. My friends always got mad at me, because instead of 'dying' when being 'killed' I used to stand around and argue with them. Or make jokes.

    Higher mathematics. Well, I can scrape lower mathematics, ie arithmetic. In fact I even worked as a bookkeeper for a short while, and did no harm. But anything philosophically mathematic? Algebra? Geometry? Calculus? No.

    Sports. Sports that involve competition and/or coordination. I don't care, really, and that makes me crap at most of them. I like being active, which in my younger days involved things like bike riding, skating, swimming, and walking (which I still do a lot) but not playing sports.

    Sorting facts from impressions. I would be the world's worst witness. I can talk myself into believing anything.
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2014
  19. yagr

    yagr Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2012
    Messages:
    320
    Likes Received:
    168
    Location:
    West Coast
    Recognizing people - My wife will point someone out as they walk in the door. Once they take off their coat, I can no longer recognize them. I can recognize the postman in the post office, but when he says 'hi' to me at the supermarket I have no idea who he is.

    Knowing when to let it go - I figure if someone doesn't understand pov that I hold to be obviously true, then I automatically assume that it is because I haven't explained it well enough. And explain it again. And then again.

    Enjoying others company - I appear extraordinarily extroverted and can win a room over in moments as well as give the appearance of fitting in with any location or group of people. From the White House to the whorehouse and Scotland Yard to the prison yard, people tend to walk away thinking I'm one of them...and then I go home and sit in a closet for two hours to detox from the experience.

    Writing - I am working on it though.
     
  20. Thomas Kitchen

    Thomas Kitchen Proofreader in the Making Contributor

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2012
    Messages:
    1,248
    Likes Received:
    448
    Location:
    I'm Welsh - and proud!
    @minstrel. You need to take baby steps. For example, I used to be terrified of standing up in front of people. Honestly, the emphasis is on 'terrified'. I'm still a very shy, introverted character now, but let me tell you how I managed to conquer about 80-90% of my fear, and then you can apply it to your life. :p

    As you may know, I'm a Christian, and came to the faith when I was 16 (I'm 20 now). Still, I struggled a lot to pray in our prayer meetings. But eventually I managed to stumble a prayer from my lips. It was awful, it was stuttered, but I did it. The next time I did it, it became just a fraction easier, and so on until it was pretty much okay to pray every week without any problems. Then I moved on to leading a discussion group for the men in our church. This was a very small step, because very little of it revolved around me talking; it was more to do with guiding the conversation and making sure we didn't run overtime.

    The next step was much harder - I had to get up on a pulpit and lead the Sunday service for 20ish minutes, before the preacher took over. About a hundred people were watching me. It was one of the worst moments in my entire life, no joke. It took many times of going up there to get used to it. Probably about ten. A few months afterwards, I had to prepare and give a 6-minute Christian talk to a few unchurched people in an old people's home. Surprisingly, it was rather easy. Just a week ago, I had to give a talk to the Sunday School kids, for maybe ten minutes. Now that was another difficult thing to do, because I also had no notes. But that, too, also went well. I'm now studying to become a preacher, although whether that will be part-time or full-time is hard to say (though I'm not officially studying in a theological college or anything, just through reading books and talking to other ministers).

    Now, I didn't want to tell you my life story or anything! :D I just wanted to say that in just over three years, I managed to go from a snivelling wreck in front of people to a pretty confident young man. I'm now studying to become a preacher, which means standing in front of groups of people far more than 100 most of the time, and I'm just 20 years old. For me, that's a very young age. But I did it. What I'm saying is, take those tiny baby steps. For example:

    1.) Read some books on public speaking and performing
    2.) Perform for one person you know and love. Ask for feedback on how you could improve
    3.) Perform for more people you know and love, and again ask for feedback.
    4.) Now perform for one person you might now, but not very well.
    5.) Now perform for someone who you don't know.

    And so on. Some steps will be larger than others, and sometimes we just have to such it up and do it (for me to say this is a big deal, so if I can do it, then you certainly can). If you enjoy your music and want to play in front of people, then why don't you? Even if after a few weeks, or even months of baby steps, that it just isn't for you, at least you won't regret it. Let me tell you a little secret: I still haven't fully conquered my nerves. There are some things that I still don't want to do in front of people, because it's a bigger step than I'd like. But it's progress. It was only the other day that I gave a talk and felt the massive nerves I had when I felt went into a pulpit, but I did it. That's progress. Conquer the majority of your nerves, and then channel, control, and even use the minority of them. Just something to think about.

    In the end, I just want you to do what you want to do, because it'll make you happy. :D

    @jannert. If I ever kill someone and want to get away with it, I'll make sure to give you a call. ;)
     
    KaTrian and minstrel like this.
  21. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 7, 2013
    Messages:
    17,674
    Likes Received:
    19,889
    Location:
    Scotland
    I'm absolutely certain I just saw a squirrel in a fedora...
     
    minstrel and Thomas Kitchen like this.
  22. Lae

    Lae Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2013
    Messages:
    507
    Likes Received:
    224
    Location:
    UK
    Being patient: 1/10 Just a plain shockingly bad trait to have
    Feigning interest: 0/10 If i dont like something i cant pretend to be interested no matter how hard i try
    Spelling & Grammar: 2/10 Dyslexia sorted this one out from a very young age!
    Cooking: 4/10 getting better though
    Mushy romantic stuff: -100/10 cant help but laugh with it all

    Good things:

    Art: 7/10 I draw often, I drew my avatar for instance. I have a website/page.
    DIY & Mechanical stuffs: 8/10 Love my motorbikes and making functional things.
    Common sense/Practical thinking: 7/10 comes with the hobbies.
     
  23. Thomas Kitchen

    Thomas Kitchen Proofreader in the Making Contributor

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2012
    Messages:
    1,248
    Likes Received:
    448
    Location:
    I'm Welsh - and proud!
    You drew your avatar and you're giving yourself a 7/10? I know artists are constantly learning, but still. Modesty: 10/10

    Would you mind giving me said website through a private message? I love drawing but just can't get the knack of it.

     
    Bjørnar Munkerud likes this.
  24. Lae

    Lae Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2013
    Messages:
    507
    Likes Received:
    224
    Location:
    UK
    Thanks for the compliment! much appreciated. The website (more of a community thing called deviantart) is actually on my profile, you should be able to see the link if ive done it correctly.
     
  25. Tesoro

    Tesoro Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2011
    Messages:
    2,818
    Likes Received:
    300
    Location:
    A place with no future
    Dancing!
    Speaking in public.
    Personal economy.
     

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice