What's that, it's ACTUALLY Friday? And I'm posting? What??
As it turns out, in a humorous turn of events there has been wifi in the downstairs common area of the residence the WHOLE TIME. Of course, the helpful and thoughtful administration never informed us of this and we finally found out from some students who live in the hall. Womp womp. It isn't the fastest internet, but it's unlimited, doesn't block "unsavory" (aka downloading) sites, and is in the same building! Though now that I've told you this I'll no longer have an excuse to post late... Nice one, Christina.
Also before I get to the topic, I wanted to let you guys know that I finally started posting on my travel blog about my time in France. If you're interested you can read it here!
I've never been an athletically-inclined person and I've always wished that I were more sporty. I'm not a good runner, even when I'm in shape. I can't hit balls, can't kick them... I'm just not good with the whole hand-eye coordination thing. And running and throwing/catching things at the same time? Disaster. So sports are one of the abilities I envy. Not so much that I'd actually put effort into practicing so I could, you know, actually improve. Just something that it would be nice to be able to do, but when push comes to shove isn't actually enticing enough to merit the work.
I'd also like to be a more artistic person. I'm good enough at graphic design and I think I could become much better if I took it back up and worked at it often (I used to have my own website that I designed myself, graphics and html), but I'm not so great at drawing, painting, things that require a steady, practiced hand. Maybe this has something to do with hand-eye coordination again, definitely not a strong suit for me.
In the same artistic vein, I also admire writers. I would like to be a better writer, especially now that I'm regularly blogging for this blog and my travel blog. I feel like I use the same phrases over and over in my writing, repeating the same words. I just don't see a lot of variation in the way I express myself and it's something I want to improve. I'd love to have the writing ability of, for example, Stephen Fry or Neil Gaiman. I also very much admire Rosianna's writing (missxrojas on youtube). She's one of my favorite internet people in general; I love the way she expresses herself both through video and text.
That about sums it up, I believe! I would like to be better at sports, drawing/painting, and writing. And I'm currently working on writing. :)
Showing posts with label ability envy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ability envy. Show all posts
Friday, November 11, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Monday can't play the piano
Hello, girls, it's Monday!
Alexandra: Your friend is such a brilliant reminder of how we are all intelligent in different ways! Also, I want you to know, I have completed your challenge! I won't be talking about it here, obviously, but I have cooked things, and my boyfriend and I ate them, and neither of us got sick! So, success! :)
Carlyn: Procrastinate? You? Never. I refuse to believe it. Also, thank you for the ice. I got it to my . . . friend . . . and you'll be pleased to know that the penguins have been taken care of. Now to figure out what to do about the carpet . . .
Christina: Fingers crossed for your internet. We miss you!
Nano update, for anyone interested. It is Day 7. Target word count for the end of Day 7 is 11,666 words. My current word count is 14, 092. I am not currently beating my brother (not that everything's a competition between us . . .) For about six shining hours this morning, I was. Then he got up and wrote another 500 words. And I've spent the morning doing errands. Sigh . . .
But speaking of the fact that my brother and I aren't competitive at all, this week's topic!
So, I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I took piano lessons for about 11 years of my life, from first grade through high school, with a couple hiatus years in there when I was between teachers. Overall, I had two phenomenal teachers and one pretty mediocre one, but I got a good grounding in how to read music and chords, piano technique, and music theory. And I can play, strictly speaking. After eleven years, I can sit down with a piece of music and get through it, more or less. But I cannot really just play the piano, and I certainly can't accompany anyone. I stop and start and second guess myself and am far too much of a perfectionist. It takes about five months of constant, daily practice and pretty intensive work for me to get a piece to the point where I will play it in front of someone, and that was back when I was taking weekly lessons.
So, I'm not piano player. I realized this pretty early on. And I realized it because both of my brothers are. This is the point where Matthew will sputter and deny it and say that he actually can't play very well at all, he just knows how to fake it. This is also the point where I punch him. Because faking it or not, he's still miles better than I am, and he always has been.
I was okay with that, growing up. I mean, he was older and music was always more his thing than mine, so I could live with him occupying that niche, as long as he didn't come over and start sightreading the piece I'd been working on for five months and play it better than I could.
But then I started to notice that my little brother was also a better piano player than I was. And that wasn't okay, because he was three years younger, and had three years fewer experience, and was still better than I was (You should all be impressed with my maturity at this point, because I very rarely admit that my little brother is better than me at anything). The point when I realized that was the point when I came to the conclusion that I was never going to be a piano player. I envy people who have the ability, though, and I'd love to be able to just sit down and play and have beautiful, flowing music come out. But, sadly, that is not among my talents.
I would also love to be able to sign. From a young age, ASL has been fascinating to me. I love to watch interpreters -- I think there's something very beautiful and poetic about sign language. I'd love to actually learn calligraphy forms, instead of the self-taught stuff I can do, and I'd like to be able to juggle.
And that's my ability envy. Now, if you'll excuse me, Matthew's 1000 words ahead of me, and I must close the gap.
Monday out.
Alexandra: Your friend is such a brilliant reminder of how we are all intelligent in different ways! Also, I want you to know, I have completed your challenge! I won't be talking about it here, obviously, but I have cooked things, and my boyfriend and I ate them, and neither of us got sick! So, success! :)
Carlyn: Procrastinate? You? Never. I refuse to believe it. Also, thank you for the ice. I got it to my . . . friend . . . and you'll be pleased to know that the penguins have been taken care of. Now to figure out what to do about the carpet . . .
Christina: Fingers crossed for your internet. We miss you!
Nano update, for anyone interested. It is Day 7. Target word count for the end of Day 7 is 11,666 words. My current word count is 14, 092. I am not currently beating my brother (not that everything's a competition between us . . .) For about six shining hours this morning, I was. Then he got up and wrote another 500 words. And I've spent the morning doing errands. Sigh . . .
But speaking of the fact that my brother and I aren't competitive at all, this week's topic!
So, I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I took piano lessons for about 11 years of my life, from first grade through high school, with a couple hiatus years in there when I was between teachers. Overall, I had two phenomenal teachers and one pretty mediocre one, but I got a good grounding in how to read music and chords, piano technique, and music theory. And I can play, strictly speaking. After eleven years, I can sit down with a piece of music and get through it, more or less. But I cannot really just play the piano, and I certainly can't accompany anyone. I stop and start and second guess myself and am far too much of a perfectionist. It takes about five months of constant, daily practice and pretty intensive work for me to get a piece to the point where I will play it in front of someone, and that was back when I was taking weekly lessons.
So, I'm not piano player. I realized this pretty early on. And I realized it because both of my brothers are. This is the point where Matthew will sputter and deny it and say that he actually can't play very well at all, he just knows how to fake it. This is also the point where I punch him. Because faking it or not, he's still miles better than I am, and he always has been.
I was okay with that, growing up. I mean, he was older and music was always more his thing than mine, so I could live with him occupying that niche, as long as he didn't come over and start sightreading the piece I'd been working on for five months and play it better than I could.
But then I started to notice that my little brother was also a better piano player than I was. And that wasn't okay, because he was three years younger, and had three years fewer experience, and was still better than I was (You should all be impressed with my maturity at this point, because I very rarely admit that my little brother is better than me at anything). The point when I realized that was the point when I came to the conclusion that I was never going to be a piano player. I envy people who have the ability, though, and I'd love to be able to just sit down and play and have beautiful, flowing music come out. But, sadly, that is not among my talents.
I would also love to be able to sign. From a young age, ASL has been fascinating to me. I love to watch interpreters -- I think there's something very beautiful and poetic about sign language. I'd love to actually learn calligraphy forms, instead of the self-taught stuff I can do, and I'd like to be able to juggle.
And that's my ability envy. Now, if you'll excuse me, Matthew's 1000 words ahead of me, and I must close the gap.
Monday out.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Week 35: Ability Envy
From Carlyn:
What do other people do that you not do but that you would like to do?
Follow that? :)
What do other people do that you not do but that you would like to do?
Follow that? :)
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