Dear Santa
Ten Things I Great About Me
Here are ten things I'm great at
① Driving
② Seeing details others overlook (or don't care about)
③ Understanding technical stuff
④ Being weird
⑤ Making people laugh
⑥ Coming up with ideas
⑦ Creative thinking (breaking through the fourth box)
⑧ Noticing patterns
⑨ Understanding people
⑩ Explaining technical stuff in a way non-technical people can understand
Why did I title this article, "Dear Santa”? I don't know, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Moving on...
Let's get down to the brass tacks.
Did you know: Writing jokes and puns all the time is a fantastic way to disguise terrible grammar and spelling. And there may be times where you don't even intend on making a joke or pun—it simply happens as a byproduct of your bad spelling and grammar. It's really a win-win!
Okay, second attempt at keeping to the subject at hand. Ten things I hate find great about you me. why? First off, who are you, the police? What's with all the questions? Secondly, it seemed like a fun little exercise to conduct and write about.
Is there more to it? Let's see, first let's try and get through the list and justify the 'whys'.
Driving
What makes you so special, huh? I always seemed to have a knack for driving. When I was a kid I paid a lot of attention when my parents drove. I figured the order of how things had to be done by watching.
Clutch in → Release slowly while giving the car some gas (but not too much—both my parents taught me this in different ways) → Foot off gas → Foot on clutch → Gear change → Foot off clutch → Back on the gas
Anyone who knows how to drive will be able to nitpick—you're free to, also know you're a dummy and deliberately being obtuse to miss the point.
I was so confident in my ability to be able to drive, that's exactly what I did. The first time I hopped in a car I just got in and drove. I loved it, I couldn't get enough. Then I had to come to terms with the fact that driving, especially for fun, was expensive. I didn't grow up as you would say, "well off”, or, "rich"—far from it. I felt privileged compared to some people from our neighbourhood, though we still didn't have it easy. I still drove almost any chance I could. This mostly translated to me being the designated driver for parties and so on. Which I didn't mind—I got to drive a variety of cars, some better than others. They chipped in for fuel so another plus. I had a reputation and people trusted me driving their cars—knowing that I wouldn't wrap us around a light post.
Out of my friends I was always the fastest, I know it's a small sample size, would it help if I biggied up my friends? Of course! They were fast as elder lightning.
Hey look at me there in kart 16. Way to go buddy! I have other driving stories, but, well, you know…
Seeing Details Others Overlook
I don't know where this came from or when I first noticed it. All I can say is its been this way for as long as I can remember. And by golly does it piss people off. One thing I discovered having this "superpower" is that people get really touchy and defensive when you notice and point out something they thought they were hiding so well. Sean, I saw you stealing pens from the teacher's cupboard in grade 5. You thought you were so sneaky. I didn't say anything because I was doing it as well—except you didn't know. I always wanted that red, damn you. These days I try and use my powers for good. Whether it's noticing some small detail or some obscure fact about someone to increase rapport—or to do small things for people anonymously after noticing something about them. Things like that.
Understanding Technical Stuff
This one is a combination of my genetics—specifically how my brain is wired and influence from my father. I'm not saying I'm a brainiac, I simply mean that the way my brain is wired helps me understand particular things. Trust me, there's plenty of things I'm useless at. My dad and I did many projects together—translation, my dad did all the work and I hung around like a bad smell absorbing knowledge through osmosis. We were forever hanging around our local electronics store digging through their "bargain bin"—an assortment of mildly damaged items. Apparently, being a salesperson in an electronics store didn't require much in the way of electronics knowledge. The best "score" we ever had was when we got the entire" bin"—it was more of wire mesh basket, but I digress—for the grand sum of $20. I don't remember everything we got. However there was a red Camaro remote controlled car that would have been worth more than $20 on its own. As I got older I would pull things apart to see how they worked. Occasionally, I would successfully put things back together. Most of the time it was a case of broken eggs and half an omelette.
Being Weird
Is it a good thing to be great at being weird? Don't ask me, I'm the weird one, remember! Being weird is another thing I was born into. It's weird (heh), being weird is not something you ever really get used to. No matter what you do, there will be so many times where you're at odds with societal norms. It's inherent in the very nature of being a weirdo. Compared to when I was a kid, my "weirdness" level has flattened out a lot. Does this mean that I'm not great at being weird? No, just because it's being suppressed doesn't mean much when something comes so naturally.
Making People Laugh
Another skill I've had as long as I can remember. What you read of my writing is only a taste of my humour. While some of what I write might give you a chuckle here and there, it's nothing in comparison to me in person. If I choose. I find as I get older, I feel much less need to make random people laugh. I still will but I don't feel the compulsion as I once did when I was younger. My favourite story about making people laugh is when I was kicked out of kindergatan for making the other kids laugh too much. The reality was likely something quite different, and parents say the darnedest things. Whether it was simply because I was too disruptive or some other reason like an internal power struggle where I was used as a pawn in kindergatan politics—we'll never know.
Coming Up With Ideas
I'm seeing a trend here. This skill is yet another I was born with. Though unlike being weird, I didn't suppress this one too much—I don't feel I've made the most of it but I haven't actively tried to hide or minimise it. Writing has helped me make use of this skill. One of my biggest issues with coming up with ideas wasn't the coming up with ideas part—it was what to do with the idea once it appears. That was on me for not making the right contacts, reaching out to the right people in the right networks with the right skills. Now I don't have to worry about this problem too much. If I have an idea, there's nothing stopping me from writing about it.
Creative Thinking
It might be cheating to have this in addition to coming up with ideas. Maybe I'm great at cheating as well then? It's my article, if you have a problem with it, take it up with, well me. Literally, it'd be nice to have some feedback. This can be another skill that "triggers" people. Some people think they're super smart and open-minded. Unfortunately this generally comes across in a, “I'm 14 and this is deep” kind of way. I'll give you an example of a time I got into an "argument" with someone due to me thinking outside the box. Tell me if I qualify to be in this category or not. This was years ago so don't judge too harshly—or do, I probably deserved it. I don't remember if we were drinking or not—not that it would have too much impact on the story.
A group of us—friends one might call us, were sitting around talking. You know how it is, I'm sure you've had friends before. Well the topic of probability came up—and I'm realising now I think I've forgotten the full context of the conversation. Anyway, I decided to introduce the coin flip to illustrate my point—classic, right? My example had a twist, the most cunning of twists nobody could have ever seen coming. I really wish I could remember the conversation leading up to this—I'm creative, not a liar! I asked one of the guys, “How many possible combinations are there when you flip a coin? What's the probability of landing on one side?” Their answer was predictably, “Two, fifty percent chance!” That's the moment I played my trap card, when I threw a curve ball, used and beguiled them beyond belief. I said, “No, there's three so it would be a probability of one-third”
[argument ensued]
Their argument basically boiled down to them thinking that because there was a much smaller chance of a coin landing on its edge (if you spun it so it landed on a table, for instance) that we should just call it zero percent chance. The biggest issue I had at the time was that they weren't even willing to entertain the idea. Pride and ego are a helluva drug. I think I ended up just letting it go—not really worth proceeding against an immovable object. And I realised I needed friends who could have interesting and reasonable discussions and who were at least willing to entertain some ideas. I have written previously about how I sometimes don't let the truth get in the way of a good idea. I did so in one of my previous articles, where I concluded that it could be feasible for Google to deduce what's being talked about behind closed doors. Ignoring parts of reality in order to come up great ideas requires a certain level of finnese—you can't simply disregard the entirety of reality. No, even if you are writing fiction there needs to be familiar elements if you want anyone to understand what's going on. People are complex beings and there could be any number of reasons why someone would be willing to accept a (mostly) work of fiction and the ideas presented, yet reject an idea that's actually based in reality but is perhaps unconventional. And that's where this particular tangent ends, thanks for hanging in there!
Noticing Patterns
What's a pattern anywho? I suppose it's a series of something that begins to repeat over time. Something that runs on a cycle. There are some patterns that are easy to spot, easy to measure, easy to show others. On the other hand there are patterns that are more difficult to pin down. There could be more variance in some—there could be emotions or other aspects that cloud judgement. Some behaviours in a person can become terribly predictable and yet we can be blind to them because our feelings are obscuring our view. A lot of the time I notice how many social trends run in cycles. One example of this is that every major generation come up (or copy and iterate upon) previous generations ideas about how to stand out. This becomes super predictable in that you could safely place money on the fact that new generations will come up with some method to differentiate themselves from the generation before. Knowing exactly what that thing will be is another story. Unless you're paying attention, then you can see the writing on the wall. It doesn't happen overnight, after all. A lot of the things I think I'm great at—I realise I can't really explain why I'm great at them. Perhaps it's a case of, "oh yeah all you have to do is speak with a shrink for ten years to help unravel the mystery of your brain and the known universe". Maybe another time—sometimes it's better to have a little mystery to keep the magic alive.
Understanding People
Okay, let's get one thing straight—I don't like you and you don't like me. You think I'm weird and awkward, and I think you're, well, as my mother used to say in response to, “What are you looking at?”—“I don't know, the label fell off.” Perhaps that was a bit presumptuous of me—I'm sure you're perfectly nice.
I felt shunned a lot of the time as a kid and sometimes I still do. Though now I don't care as much. I've (mostly) made my peace with it. It comes with the territory of realising that most people don't (and can't) care about everyone else on a deep level. We all have our own lives and trying to make every Tom, Dick and Harry like you and care about you is about one of the most fruitless endeavours anyone could embark upon.
Sitting on the sidelines of life allowed me to observe people in a way that most people will never experience. In physics there is something called the observer effect, whereby simply the act of observing an experiment changes the outcome. This is because the observer influences the experiment simply by existing and observing. I'm sure I'm butchering the explanation, which doesn't bode well for my next skill. The point is I feel as though I broke the rules of the observer effect. I could seemingly become invisible. Not at will, no, it was either all the time or specifically when I didn't want it to happen. Through observing many interactions between many different people I began to see patterns and sort of began to be able to predict some interactions. I like to think it gave me a good instinct for people—as long as the people weren't interacting directly with me. Though practicing this skill has helped, it still works best when I'm an external observer.
Explaining Technical Stuff To Non-Technical People
This skill is likely a mashup between a couple of other skills but it's totally not cheating, okay? I've been reassured by people in the highest positions in government—actually, on second thought screw that for validation. My mate Barry said it's alright and in my book that holds more water. The first thing you should understand is that most people aren't technically minded. Some people may think they are, some people may want to be so badly, but they're simply not. End of story. It actually takes a lot less than you might think to figure this out. I don't know how you could easily do this as a non-technical person—but all you really need to do is start getting into the weeds of a technical topic. I'm not even talking about using obscure technical jargon—no, that may be an easy way to deliberately confuse someone. Of course it would be nigh impossible to not use any technical jargon, however, this is more about the depth you're willing to go on a particular topic. The deeper you go, the faster their eyes will glaze over—and you can see it happen in real time. If you start including multiple technical topics into the one conversation, forget about it, they're probably on a plane to Disconnect Island. If you work in tech support long enough you're likely to pick this skill up. Either that or you'll just become a script monkey. I saw my fair share of those—the people, who, when faced with new job training respond by transferring half of their calls back into the queue for others to pick up. All that superficial talk about philosophy and quantum physics was just that, wasn't it Phil? Superficial. Thanks for the life lesson.
This is Not Only the End, But Also the Beginning
If you're struggling to understand what you're great at, or think you're great at nothing or good for nothing, remember we are all great at something. It's the reason we are alive in this moment. We are the ones who beat out all the other swimmers. We all have something to bring to the table, we have skills to survive in one way or another. If you don't understand what you're great at, start doing some introspection. Begin by asking yourself these questions:
What activities do I enjoy (and time seems to disappear when I'm doing them)?
What tasks do others frequently ask for my help with?
What accomplishments am I most proud of?
What feedback have I received from others about my strengths?
What subjects or topics am I naturally curious about?
When have I felt most confident and successful?
What skills or activities make me feel energised and fulfilled?
What problems do I enjoy solving?
What types of projects or hobbies make me feel satisfied upon completion?
What abilities have I developed through my personal and professional experiences?
The best way to begin understanding something is by asking questions. You may find it difficult to ask questions about yourself, or maybe you've never really stopped to consider these things. Wherever you are on your journey, a little introspection can always be beneficial. It helps keep us grounded and aware of our own existence.
That's it for now as always, good luck, stay safe and be well.