Skills, Intuitive or Otherwise

Stuart McLean was talknig about intuitive skills on one of his radio broadcast. he defined an intuitive skill as something you can do without thinknig about it that has not been actively studied. His example of this was one I too am able to decide: he kicked a coin that was lying on the street. He was able to discern from the noise the coin made while skittering along the street what its denomination was. It was a dime. It sent my brain rocketing back to a video we watched in Health about the brain. In the video, the protagonist fell off her bike into mud. Elbows deep in the mud, her grasping fingers found something. Although it's usually not a good idea to look at something you've found in the mud, the girl knows without looking that it's a dollar coin. The video explains that being able to use tactile senses to identify common objects is a naturally occuring intuitive sense, such as when you reach into your pocket and know which coins to grab. Stuart also posits he has the intuitive ability to find the bathroom in any cafe without asking and being able to know which exit off the highway leads to a gas station. It got me thinking about my intuitive skills, and my skills in general:

 

Skills I think are intuitive:

• The ability to find quiet spots in the city, such as parks, benches, backstreets, alternate routes and hidden cafes and bars. I blame this on having to walk to school for the better part of my academic career.
• The ability to overidentify with songs, TV shows, books, or comic books of an emotional nature (especially the sad and bleak) to the point where they effect the rest of my day. I think of it as a contagious mood. Recent examples include reading Wanted and hating it, myself and the world (see previous entry); being at the gym and getting a few The Pogues/Eels-the-whole-world-is-down-on-me-songs on my iPod, and wanting to put the weights down and sit in a corner away fromeveryone; watching the first ten minutes of 28 Weeks Later and feeling bleak and hopeless; reading the ending of an Ultimate Spider-Man trade on the bus (the one where he and MJ plan their grown-up "special fancy date" which coincides with the same day Peter, while encountering Dr. Strange, is attacked by a demon, making him live out his worst fears, most of which involve MJ dying. He escapes, goes home, and sits by himself, shell-shocked, and won't even answer the door when MJ knocks, instead leaving her standing in the rain in her fancy dress, mumbling in a tiny voice "but this was our special date." Ouch.) and having it gut me for the rest of the day.
• The ability to be a peacemaker. Adrian and Tanja were discussing this on Sunday. I have the uncanny ability to pick my moment and verbally dive between two people just before one of them is about to explode and inflict bodily harm.
• The ability to find liquor stores that sell fancy imported beer.
• The ability to, upon hearing a song, to recall details of a specific situation in which I heard that song before (not the first time, just one of the times). Example: I can hear "I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks" by the Bloodhound Gang and am transported back to Grade 11, sitting on the floor of my room in the basement of the house in Southwood Park with my friend Jason, playing the snow level of GoldenEye on his N64 that he had brought over and set up on the floor of my room with miles of cords, while simultaneously talking on the phone with my friend Miranda who didn't know Jason at the time, but wanted to meet him. And that song was playing.
• The ability to be liked by people I don't like. See a certain redheaded person at work (actually, quite a few people at work), a T-burger, an Outback Adventure Ken. I cut these people down on a regular basis, but they think I'm just kidding around. I'm usually not. But they think I'm their best friend.
• Back rubs. I'm good at them. Don't ask me how.

Skills I'm intuitively BAD at: 

• Shopping for non-standard hats such as caps or beanies/tuques. I will inevitably buy something that will tear, look bad, or inexplicable stop fitting and start giving me headaches no matter how much I adjust it.
• In workplace situations, thinking I'm more popular than I actually am. This is becoming less of a problem lately as I'm getting more realistic, but at Insight, Borders and Salesforce, I've planned events where I've gotten 20-30 responses of "I'm definitely coming" and 4 or less people turn up. And being my overplanning self, I'm usually both overprepared (food and beverage-wise) and bitterly disappointed. Quick examples: Any Halloween party ever, my last few birthdays (despite my last one being great, Tanja invited way more people that didn't show and it was a damned surprise party).
• Cooking from a cookbook. There are recipes that I can do, through practice, but as Tanja knows better than anyone, if I'm making something from a cookbook for the first time I will stress over every detail and declaim at least 3 times that "I've ruined it!" and she'll have to step in and save me from myself. Sometimes it turns out edible (Aussie Berko) sometimes not (Migas).
• Shopping for casual purchases over $20 when I'm on my own. I can't just pick it up and buy it. I believe this also stems from when I was young. I used to hate picking Lego sets or toys from a range because I would feel bad for the ones I didn't pick. This has been replaced by finance-based neuroses. I have to wander around the store with it in my hand, or, in extreme cases, tack by it on the shelf 4 or 5 times while debating in my head (whether or not I can afford it this week, or whether Tanja will give me a serve for buying things I don't need, or if I'll really like it once I get it home, etc, etc) before finally biting the bullet and buying it while feeling not relieved, but slightly guilty. DVD box sets, clothes, shoes, books, and knickknacks are particularly susceptible to this. Basically anything I don't especially *need*.

A Skill That I'm Unsure Where To Put:

• Recall. Memory. I used to joke that it was photographic, but really, it's not. It's just oddly good with some things, and dismal with others. I pretty much remember anything I write down, to the point where if I write myself a note, I'll remember without checking the note. I nearly remember things I read (more strongly if I read them on the computer), such as being able to recite the history of nearly every Marvel comics character after reading the entirety of Mutatis Mutandis. I can go through entire swathes of movie quotes, especially if they're conversations between characters. But if Tanja tells me to hang the laundry out before I leave, I can forget absolutely until she mentions it. I lose my glasses/phone/iPod in a empty room. I can remember, repeat and write down phone/account numbers on the fly, no matter how fast someone says them to me, but I can't remember how many days ago I did something(hence my frequent use of the very Canadian phrase "the other day") or a person's name after they introduce themselves.

 

So yeah.

 

Sincerely, Internet's...

Lucas Brown

Now completely legal (in the states he's not banned)!