Good at, Bad at

I'm riding the meme train- inspired by Stacey and started by Sarah. Here is the part where I confess that I hate the term "meme" because I don't know how to pronounce it. So many possibilities....."meem," "mimi," or (en español) "may-may." I first encountered the word reading the Selfish Gene during Freshman year of college, and it's been taunting me ever since. Hey, meme, why don't you go order yourself a gyro.

Onto the, um, thing where a bunch of people answer the same little questions.

List 5 things you are good at (and give a tip about one of them, if possible).

1. Knowing what time it is, without looking at a clock. I attribute this skill to the fact that I have never worn a watch.

2. Shuffling playing cards. During the summer after fifth grade, I made it a goal to be good at shuffling cards- you know, do the bridge thing and make them whir like a Vegas dealer. (or croupier, if you prefer). I practiced for weeks. It worked.

3. Parallel parking. Here's a tip: look over your right shoulder as you initially back in, and cut the wheel exactly when the rear left corner of your vehicle is aligned with the front left corner of the vehicle behind you. Works like a charm.

4. Organizing people. Hmmm, I'm not bossy per se, but I tend to fall into a leadership role when in a group setting. For example, I've ended up being the captain of most sports teams that I've joined, and it certainly isn't due to my athletic ability. I hope I don't sound full of myself (Hey, y'all, I'm a born leader!), I just think it's because I'm good at organizing people- part motivator, part delegator, part compromiser (compromiser? more like word inventor.). It's typical of Libras- that's why we make good diplomats.

5. Cryptoquotes- A word game in which a quotation has been encoded using single letter substitution - i.e., each letter of the alphabet has been replaced by a different letter or a number. I've never encountered one that I couldn't solve. The CIA should be all over my shit- I'm a code breaking savant!

List five things you are bad at:

1. Determining whether clothing is wet or dry. I completely lack this ability.

2. Non-shoe sports. This category of activities includes any sport in which you put something on (or under) your feet that is not a shoe, sneaker, or cleat. Prime examples include ice skating, skiing, snowboarding, rollerblading, rollerskating, surfing, and skateboarding. I am downright awful at all such activities.

3. Remembering anniversaries. I have a decent memory for birthdays. I might be a day or two late, but I'll remember. But anniversaries? Not at all. Every year, my mother gets mad at me for not acknowledging my parents' anniversary. My sister Eri had the best rebuttal- "How am I supposed to remember? I didn't go to your wedding." Maybe if I ever get married, I might remember my own, but we're talking two pretty big maybes.

4. Posing for head shots. In 95% of my identification cards, I look foolish, partially undressed (I posed for my Peace Corps I.D. when I was wearing a strappy tank top, but the way the photo was cropped, you couldn't see the straps, so I looked naked) or obese. In the other 5%, I look fat, crazed, and potentially dangerous. Unfortunately, that 5% is my most recent passport. Fortunately, none of this bothers me at all, so I don't ever ask to retake a bad photo, which is probably why I have some many unfortunate ones.

5. Sudoku. Good at letters, bad at numbers. It probably isn't even that hard, but when I look at a sudoku puzzle, all I see are a bunch of numbers that I don't feel like dealing with.