i have a similarly haunting memory of an in-class presentation. mine was in middle school, and was on "Little Women", but only in those details does the experience really differ. i hadn't read it, and had nothing to say, and was showing the pictures in the book to my classmates in a completely transparent attempt to convince anyone that i knew anything about the story. i barely even want to write this because thinking about it still makes me cringe.
anyhow, the fact that i can do anything i want is something i've known for quite some time. i'm baffled when people tell me i'm "lucky" in something, like leaving NM, or going to school. i have this reaction, like -- "what do you mean, luck? that has nothing to do with it. you could do it too. you just have to decide on it. decide what you want and then do it
( ... )
It's amazing how much those things stay with us, isn't it? It's *so* difficult for me to even think about that stupid presentation. And why, really? It was just a dumb thing I did when I was kid. Kidhood is full of dumb things
( ... )
It's amazing how much those things stay with us, isn't it?
it's true. i can still replay many middle-school era embarrassing moments with perfect clarity in my head -- things that, even if i wasn't the only person to notice/care about at the time, i'm certainly now the only person to remember. what a waste of neurons.
the ways in which we converge and diverge are fascinating to me.
me, too. we are simultaneously so drastically alike and so drastically different. :)
Without failure, there's no success. We all fail. We NEED to fail... if we never failed, we'd have nothing to be proud of and not incentive to succeed.
You're right that you CAN do anything... it may take a few trys... but you CAN do it... well... with the possible exception of levitation... but... I'm STILL not ruling that out... I just need to learn to have no idea what I'm doing, I think. At least... according to Douglas Adams...
Oh... and not over-using ellipses... that's another thing that I'm not sure that I can do.
many of the greatest innovations only arrived after a lot of failures. i think that's one of the false lessons that school teaches, particularly if we're pretty good at the agme- we get used to thinking we should get everything right the first time. and if we don't.
my grandmother once told me that i could do anything i set my mind to. this was actually an observation after i repaired some cassette shelving in my room. it didn't seem like a big deal to me, but she seemed really impressed. and then i started wondering if she was right.
i've noticed that i pretty much get everything i ask for... it's just not always what i want. figuring out what i really want is trickier.
"and if we don't...." then perhaps we think we can't. our minds do a disturbing job of limiting what we believe is possible, and i certainly think the systematic regimentation of knowledge presented in school is a significant part of it.
Oh, I absolutely believe that. I firmly believe that with the belief that I could do whatever I wanted came the ability to do a lot of things I'd denied myself.
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i have a similarly haunting memory of an in-class presentation. mine was in middle school, and was on "Little Women", but only in those details does the experience really differ. i hadn't read it, and had nothing to say, and was showing the pictures in the book to my classmates in a completely transparent attempt to convince anyone that i knew anything about the story. i barely even want to write this because thinking about it still makes me cringe.
anyhow, the fact that i can do anything i want is something i've known for quite some time. i'm baffled when people tell me i'm "lucky" in something, like leaving NM, or going to school. i have this reaction, like -- "what do you mean, luck? that has nothing to do with it. you could do it too. you just have to decide on it. decide what you want and then do it ( ... )
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it's true. i can still replay many middle-school era embarrassing moments with perfect clarity in my head -- things that, even if i wasn't the only person to notice/care about at the time, i'm certainly now the only person to remember. what a waste of neurons.
the ways in which we converge and diverge are fascinating to me.
me, too. we are simultaneously so drastically alike and so drastically different. :)
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You are so cool.
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The single most important ingredient in being able to do anything is thinking you can do anything.
The second most important ingredient is knowing what actually matters to you. :)
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Without failure, there's no success. We all fail. We NEED to fail... if we never failed, we'd have nothing to be proud of and not incentive to succeed.
You're right that you CAN do anything... it may take a few trys... but you CAN do it... well... with the possible exception of levitation... but... I'm STILL not ruling that out... I just need to learn to have no idea what I'm doing, I think. At least... according to Douglas Adams...
Oh... and not over-using ellipses... that's another thing that I'm not sure that I can do.
*nod*
*grin*
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my grandmother once told me that i could do anything i set my mind to. this was actually an observation after i repaired some cassette shelving in my room. it didn't seem like a big deal to me, but she seemed really impressed. and then i started wondering if she was right.
i've noticed that i pretty much get everything i ask for... it's just not always what i want. figuring out what i really want is trickier.
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You made me think I should try harder (or at all) sometimes.
Thanks:)
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