Things I have been good at:
- Super Mario 3. I'm seriously amazing at this game, still. Every secret, every level, all the time, nonstop.
- Bass guitar and bari sax. I wasn't, you know, a prodigy, but I think I was well within the range of "solid," which is what you want from a low-end member of a hostile rock or ska band (respectively.) I always prided myself on playing bass lines, not trying to reinvent the bass or bari as a flute or a piano.
- Being an IT guy. Again, I wasn't the most brilliant computer scientist (I can't code) up in the joint, but I had something 80% of IT guys don't: I'm nice to people and genuinely helpful with their computer problems. I treat the lowliest customer service rep the same way I treat the C-level execs (except that I hate and resent and shit-talk the latter more behind their backs.) And I can build and deploy a workstation faster than the jiffy lube can change out your windshield wiper fluid.
- Finding dope shirts and sweaters at thrift stores. Good thing, too, because otherwise I'd be naked.
- Doing crunches.
- Writing essays really fast.
- Like A, I am good at standardized tests. My proudest moment was getting a 680 on the math section of the GRE by measuring angles with my thumb and guesstimating the answers.
- Learning languages. This is obvious.
- Learning computer languages. As indicated above, I just can't fucking do it. When I started doing network stuff at the old corporate salt mine, my boss at the time tried to have me learn to do perl scripting. It just did not, could not, happen. I also sucked at subnetting.
- Picking up chicks in bars. Granted, this was only ever a factor for about three months in England, but my lord. I couldn't buy game.
- Being tough. It's just not in the cards for me. I'm 6'1" and about 165 pounds (i.e. a bad build for it) and I didn't grow up angry or violent. If someone who knows what they're doing picks a fight with me, I'm definitely going to get my ass kicked if I don't run away first.
- Networking. Just don't have the stomach for it. This is a big potential problem in my academic career, unfortunately.
- Bluffing at poker.
3 comments:
of the "bad at"
4)good thing you have long legs and an Aerodynamic head for the running away.
6)you and me both, brother.
I should point out that I *did* win five bucks at poker last year. But winning against other grad students probably doesn't count.
Dude, "being a nice IT guy" should be listed in the "Things I am the BEST at" category. When we resided in hell working for satan I would always IM you when I needed a new mouse or if my computer was freaking the hell out on me because I knew that you would just pop over and make the problem go away all while being pleasant and not sighing heavily or telling me about bullshit red tape policies. It was much appreciated.
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