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Skills

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11:34 / 03.01.03

Rather than totally derail young Byron's thread on Memory, Skills etc. in Headshop, I thought I'd ask here - what skills do you have? Do you think you could teach them to others? What skills would you like to accquire and why? With the acquisistion side of things, we could bring more ephemeral, "life skills" type things into it ie. organisation etc.

Myself, I'd say I'm acquiring (too slowly) the skill of processing and asessing large amounts of complex information in a professional way, 'cos of the work I do. I'd like to have more general PC knowhow, not of specific packages, more in a general "find-my-way-around" kind of way.

12:12 / 03.01.03

I don't really have all that many skills, apart from in one area. However, it's primarily unmarketable (assuming legality has to be part of the package here). I could probably teach it to others, but I'm unlikely to be put in that situation.

Other than that, I'm quite good at stringing a sentence together in an academically acceptable fashion. And I like to believe I'm quite incisive when it comes to other people's emotional difficulties. I am considering training as a counsellor after I finish college - but I think I probably enjoy the sensation of clarity, of being right, too much, and without the balance of real compassion. (Hey, way to indict yourself, girlie...)

I'll likely train as primary school teacher - because I'd then be unlikely to ever be out of work, and it's a highly portable occupation. I did apply for teacher training last year, but even the worst teacher training schools wouldn't have me, since I have one bad A-Level and a degree in an non-National Curriculum subject. So I'll have to do some OU courses or something, after I finish my PhD (assuming I get accepted for a PhD in the first place, of course). Other skills I'd like to acquire are mostly artistic (pottery, glass-blowing, stuff like that), or martial arts-related (fencing, Wing Chun)...but I never seem to get the time to even start.

I read the tarot - I used to believe I did that well...now am not so sure.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

18:16 / 03.01.03

Somehow or other, I aquired the ability to test well. Standardized tests? Nothing to fear. And if a professor writes his or her own True/False test, I'll automatically get at least an 80%. Just 'cause I can tell when they're lying. Also, I have the uncanny ability to charm my bosses without really trying. Hence, I've never ever been fired or even disciplined at any job. I'm a good shot with an automatic rifle, too.

I'd like to be able to read in any language.

19:57 / 03.01.03

I am good at feeling slightly guilty. Particularly for things which I haven't done. This makes me a good big brother and a good employee. It makes me dependable in that I always live up to my obligations which is fine for an everyday chap like me, paid to take care of other people, but I wish I had some insouciance.

I envy people who can express their emotions very directly. It can wrong foot the listener but it must feel good. I am unable easily to unlearn 1950's social skills training. Which, in turn, is tied to spontaneity and that's definitely a skill I lack. Like Tim Curry, I'm one of those who finds it isn't easy, having a good time. Have to drink my inhibitions into submission first.

I am a good Team Worker, apparently, according to umpteen personality inventories through the years. I will always be ChooChoo or The Brain and never Top Cat.

Fortunately, I also have the skill of being able to see that the other man's grass is just the same shade as mine, and possibly even yellowing at the edges.

Tryphena Absent

21:59 / 03.01.03

I suspect that my number one skill is throwing a good party. I find it quite easy, simply inviting people and setting down the right rules, sweetening the neighbours and picking the right time. I'm also ok behind a ridiculously busy bar and I never thought that would happen but it is a skill that I gained after a while.

What skills would I like? The ability to play the piano at a grade 8 level, I'm much too lazy to even commit myself to an instrument, a slightly better memory so that philosophy exams were that much easier (the skill of memorising?) and I'd like to gain the skill of acquiring a very rich husband though I'm not sure that it is one!

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

22:55 / 03.01.03

Swearing.

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:20 / 04.01.03

I am very disappointed, Mr Illmatic, to discover that this thread is not about your rhyme skills. I am sure you have MAAAAD SKILLZ, son. And was thus hoping you were going to kick it wild style, drop some crazy vocab, etc.

That's the skill I'd like: to be able to rap convincingly. I can do the lyrics, it's just my delivery that's somewhat lacking. As in middle-class, English and white. Failing that, I'd like to be able to sing.

12:52 / 04.01.03

I've got straightforward and, thankfully, marketable skills as a graphic designer. 3D illustration mainly. What I'm about to find out (by moving from Australia to the UK in less than 4 weeks) is if they are tranferrable, or of international standard.

Another part of this is a skill I do not have at all and which I am about to learn or drown - how to work and play well with others.

18:47 / 05.01.03

Son, I got the crazy skills!! I got the ill type supercalifrajalistic type flo, yo!! Maybe white english middle class rap accents will be hot for '03? (being white Eng. mc is the new black). I could see the yanks going for it, they love the accent and they aren't as aware of how tied up it is with repressing the proletairat, an' all dat.

If Louis Theoroux can do it, so can you.

21:04 / 05.01.03

Maybe white english middle class rap accents will be hot for '03?

Comin' atcha from the mews.

11:29 / 06.01.03

yeeaaah, chums!

No star here laces

12:52 / 06.01.03

I'd love someone to talk me through the basics of art direction.

Also public speaking.

And some more advanced welding (I can stick two plates together but would like to get a bit more sophisticated).

In return I can offer: beatmatching, sailing (theory may be easier to pass on than practice...) and market research...

Whisky Priestess

15:06 / 06.01.03

I have the entirely useless skills in this day and age of

a) near-perfect spelling
b) the ability to write rhymed and scanned doggerel - no good for modern poetry as nobody writes verse any more. It would be useful for writing song lyrics but alas, I can't write music ...
c) encyclopaedic knowledge of the A-Team and South Park

and the slightly more useful ones of
a) making cocktails (bit rusty this one, but I do have all the equipment and I used to be a professional)
b) being able to drink quite a lot and knowing when to stop
c) knitting

The skills I'd love to acquire are
a) reading music and playing the piano
b) blowing smoke rings
c) formal dancing - everything from the charleston to the waltz

anyone fancy doing swopsies?

Goodness Gracious Meme

15:16 / 06.01.03

Blimey, think there might be something to that 'skills awareness' thing someone was talking about on the old thread.

Specific

So, I was thinking that some of the body awareness stuff my counselling course has involved might be interesting. Could show peole some basic stuff, tie it into yoga.

I have (though you'd not guess it from round here!) alot of training in listening skills, paraphrasing, reflection etc... as well as some interesting stuff on facing down prejudices and beliefs via some CBT-type work. Counselling and listening skills, setting and maitaining boundaries when listening etc.

I can read music well, and play the piano a tiny bit, if someone wants the basics.

Erm, a variety of reasonably good DIY skills, messing about with drills/sanders/jigsaws and the like is what i do.

And I can crackleglaze like nobody's business. (hey, never said they were useful.)

Pretty familiar with a bunch of typical computer applications.

General

Adaptability, i guess, from a long period of temping and having worked in a whole load of different sectors (accountant, admin bod in the city/media/record companies, factory work , bars/restaurants, curator, gallery manager, mental health worker/volunteer)

I'm pretty good at landing in a new situation, especially workwise, and getting on with people, sussing out what I need to do, what the atmosphere of the place is like.

Wants

I want to learn to roller skate. I have a pair of blades that have been sitting in my warderobe for a year now.

Would be v.interested in some simple meditation stuff.

17:03 / 06.01.03

I have: PC geekery, fixing the things, building the things, tinkering, usually breaking something else in the process.

Musical stuff: score reading, piano-playing, also electronic stuff - help with electronic music and suggestions, ability to program beats (though obviously still learning), etc. Also: can play jazz piano. Can possibly try and point any current pianists in the right direction, though I forget how I learnt how. But yeah; lots of musical odds and ends, prod me or what-have-you.

Also: remarkable affinity for trivia, useless broken brain, but it might have something in you need. Can't help much on teaching people memory, sadly - I don't know how I remember stuff, I just don't forget it.

I can kind-of play squash to a relatively bearable level; my general fitness hinders my squash-specific skills. Not sure if anyone is interested, but it's true, and it's a skill.

Other than that, I don't know what I'd class as a skill; many of mine, such as skill at wordplay/games and the like just aren't teachable.

Stuff I'd like to know: umm, Whiskey P's suggestion of how to dance is actually interesting, though I'm not sure I'd put it to use. I'd like to know more about wine; I have a little more knowledge than none but would love more. Also, cocktails. I'd like to be better at cooking, or at least more confident at cooking.

17:15 / 06.01.03

I have taken a central contribution role in a number of successful high-profile submissions, involving planning, leadership and technical skills, adherence to challenging timelines, and customer requirements capture and negotiation. In addition I have dealt directly with regulatory authorities. I have advanced skills in SAS application development, as well as familiarity with a wide range of other packages, environments and languages. I am proficient in business French, and in my spare time I enjoy hangliding and judo.

Development goals: I would like to develop my skills in different technical areas with the aim of integrating different aspects of the development pipeline, with respect to code genericisation and company-wide standards compliance.

10:19 / 07.01.03

Suddenly I like this thread even more and want another go. I was only thinking of the obvious saleable somebody-might-pay-me-for-this-shit stuff earlier but subsequent posts have opened my eyes to other it-might-make-me-feel-better-about-myself-to-tell stuff. And I could use that right now (sorry about the starting a sentence with a preposition thing but apparently that's OK these days, grammar is one of my skills which I'm trying to grow beyond).

I'm very good at acquiring stuff online. Music, software, access, piece of piss. I make a very popular range of mix tapes (now on CD) too. I'm an expert at Deck. When forced to I put on brilliant parties. Slide Nights From Hell that I'm always being hassled to do another one of. I think I write well. Actually I fairly certain that I do. My letters of complaint to various official bodies are, apparently, legendary among friends and acquaintances. They work too. I've only ever had three bad debts to my business in 14 years because I shame recalcitrant payers into coughing up. I even managed to convince the council to force my elderly neighbour into parting with her ever barking dog. Didn't even make an enemy doing it! Psycho Granny, as I call her, thinks I'm wonderful since I demonstrated my skill at breaking into her house after she'd locked herself out one cold night. I'm a good listener. I do empathy and mean it. I get really cheap quotes from suppliers, they feel sorry for me because of my car I think. I'm brilliant in leading an easy, simple, straightforward existence. I can go for days without doing anything if I feel like it, then have a mad flurry of activity and make my months wages in a week. I can sleep better than anyone anyone I know knows. I can construct messy sentences that still mean stuff.

I still have a lot to learn. Usually I do a good line in modesty and humbleicity but I feel like being nice to myself right now. I'm scared. 23 days until I move from Australia to the UK.

I'm really bad at cutting down smoking right now. VERY good at drinking whisky though.

12:54 / 07.01.03

I am really skilled in tittyfucking 69 year old men, until a cardiac arrest sends them squiggling like squids.

I can clean my nostrils with my own tongue.

Sferics.

I wish I could write more coherently when I am tired, but mistakes I always make.

14:00 / 07.01.03

Chrome: it's vital that these skills are transferable - can you teach me the thing with the pensioners?

14:06 / 07.01.03

Pensioner's Club on Friday, okay with you?

15:37 / 07.01.03

All the skills I have are pretty useless - not sure that anyone would want to have them transferred to them.

I can (as I said elsewhere):

write in several different calligraphic hands, including: uncial, half-uncial, various forms of black letter, book hands, and a sort of bastardised version of carolingian minuscule. I never quite got the hang of italics, but I can make a stab at them - bit out of practice though;

draw coats of arms etc. from the blazon, and likewise blazon coats of arms in the correct form (I know most of the major charges, though only really any good on British forms);

make books (OK, I'm not really very competent at this, but they do stay together).

The things I want to acquire are a bit less ridiculous - I could do with some memory help and some techniques for making myself get on with things...

No star here laces

15:45 / 07.01.03

Oh god, I could tell you all sorts of bullshit management techniques that're supposed to help with those. Just bear in mind that I have zero faith in 'em.

20:31 / 07.01.03

I can juggle.

13:26 / 08.01.03

I wouldn't say I'm actually that skilled at anything. Apart from knowing a ridiculous amount of random pop culture information.

Anything that actually involves practical manipulation of the physical world I'm just lame at by default.

Ideally I'd like to be able to draw cartoons like a master, knock out endless chapters of bizarre, mindbending prose, write blinding two minute pop songs and rock out like a fiery demon of hades..

If I had a natural aptitude for any of those things, I'm sure I'd have noticed it by now, so I think I'll just have to live with doing them all badly..

Goodness Gracious Meme

16:23 / 09.01.03

ooh! ooh! bullshit memory/motivation/organisation improvers, yes please!

Actually, Paleface, if you want to chuck some ideas of things you like eating up here, I could probably come up with easy/cheap/tasty recipes. If that's a skill, I got it.

(thinks: i really do have that thing where I find it hard to conceive of the things I find easy, eg cooking, as being skillz. duh)

On which tip, wouldn't say I know everything there is to know about it, but I'm damn good at dealing with DSS/Housing Benefit/JSA/other neccessary poorscum evils... This genuinely is a skill, and one learnt from long and bitter experience.

And along with this am good at getting things for nothing/discounts/finding free cool stuff/charity shopping extraordinaire. Not sure you can teach this though.

00:54 / 10.01.03

KCC: Your skills rock. I want 'em. In exchange, I can:

play the violin and mandolin
read and draw maps
name almost every country and all the US states and Canadian provinces
I always know what direction I'm facing, and I'm great with computers in the sense of getting tempermental ones to behave, and find stuff online...

I would love to know how to do printmaking, and actually be able to speak another language fluently. (There's a skill! I can order coffee in...8 languages!)

Constitution Hill

01:15 / 10.01.03

"grammar is one of my skills which I'm trying to grow beyond"

A fine sentiment indeed.

I can read really damned fast, and can find a quote in a book right down to it's location on the page from memory.

The plots of films never confuse me, though i don't know how i'd teach anyone that.

I adore books, and am doing ok at communicating that passion to others . My 13 year old nephew still eludes me though.

I can lie. Really, really well.

I can invent mammoth internally consistent past histories for people in a flash. {which i think is a corollary of my previously stated skill.}

I'm rarely lost, though i often get confused on bridges in Budapest.

I can guarantee someone a way to score at least one point during a sabre-fencing fight.

I always know when two people have slept together, and i often wish this skill would disappear to whichever hell dimension it seeped from.

I can roll a cigarette while running for a train.
***

I'd like to learn how to play the piano.
I'd like to learn sign language and a glut of european languages.
I'd like for someone to teach me how to master even an ounce of self-discipline.
I'd like to communicate at least 1/10th of what i think i know about the way life works to others, and i wish we all learnt more from each other.

01:37 / 10.01.03

One thing I'd like to improve is my memory though I'd'nt like to remember unpleasant incidents....

I have no charisma, no communications skills, no life skills......

The Return Of Rothkoid

01:55 / 10.01.03

Well. I don't really have any concrete skills like the people mentioned here. I can hack around on guitar in a Big Angular Rock kind of style, but not really much worth a damn, I think.

I know about pre-press and basic production as far as printing goes, and can subedit/write/rewrite/interview/research/critique/destroy text as far as it goes. Am pretty OK at most page layout packages, I guess, and am reasonably au fait on the PC/Mac side of things. Linux I don't do as I just haven't had time to play with it yet.

I can do Theatresports and have done stand-up, if that counts for shit.

Apparently, I have some kind of web-fu happening.

But if anyone's looking to stock up on social awkwardness tips, thwarted ambition or useless trivia, feel free to contact me. That's where I really shine.

10:40 / 10.01.03

I can hack around on guitar in a Big Angular Rock kind of style, but not really much worth a damn, I think.

I think that's worth a damn. Or at least, a significant proportion of my income goes on paying to listen to people do that, so I guess there must be something in it..

10:43 / 10.01.03

What's with all the people wanting to improve their memories? Is it because your all getting old?

10:55 / 10.01.03

Wait till I see you - thwacks! with the walking stick for you.

Goodness Gracious Meme

15:20 / 10.01.03

Ooh, see that reminds me, any Aikido /Capoeira experts out there? Two things I've tried and never got around to pursuing properly...

21:52 / 10.01.03

Not much of an expert, but when I was in Brazil in 94/95, I attended a class with my friends - sad to say, I have forgotten most of the excercises. But 3 days ago, passing through a notice board at school, someone had pinned an ad for some local capoeira.

Might just try it out.

pointless and uncalled for

11:26 / 11.01.03

I can think in B&W and read light levels according to their source and form.

That's about it really, apart from feeling wholly inadequate in the presence of other vertebrates.

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