Your Unspecialties or Undesirable Specialties...

[Iredomi]

Yeah we know everyone has something they're talented at/slightly above average at (or at least they say they are...) but what I wanted to know is what things or thing (could be trivial could be major) are you significantly or less than significantly inept at, that seems everyone else has little difficulty doing. 

My failures are, obviously, long winded unclear explanations and grammar.
But the one I had in mind is my inability to find light switches in dark rooms even though they're right next to my hand. 

[Brendan]

I spectacularly fail at recollecting the correct words for common sayings.

 

ie. I don't say "That came out of left field", instead I say something along the lines of "that came out of west park"...

 

It can lead to some fairly confusing discussions especially since I never realise I am doing it!

[Voidus]

I have a problem with doors, I walk into them a lot. Not just fly-screens either, proper thick wooden doors, and I have no idea why.

[Senor Feesh]

Spacial awareness. Specifically, my almost complete lack of it.

[Iredomi]

Spacial awareness. Specifically, my almost complete lack of it.

 

I have this problem too and I even took geography for four years. didn't help one bit.

[TheChronicFeruchemist]

Group conversations. I'm a awesome at one on one conversation, but add  more people I get worse and worse.

 

Presentations. I'm god awful at presenting my work. Which is really bad, because I need to be able to sell my ideas and make people want to use my ideas.

 

And lots of other assorted things.

[Observer]

Sitting normally. I perch on my seat simply out of habit, and putting my legs down will just result in them coming back up th emoment my attention is elsewhere. It doesn't bother me, rather comfy actually, but it drives some people crazy.

[TheChronicFeruchemist]

Sitting normally. I perch on my seat simply out of habit, and putting my legs down will just result in them coming back up th emoment my attention is elsewhere. It doesn't bother me, rather comfy actually, but it drives some people crazy.

Me too! It's only a pain cause my feet fall asleep way easily.

[KChan]

I am completely and utterly useless at any kind of sports. I'm an active person, especially thanks to martial arts. I can knock my airshield holder three feet back with a kick, but attempting to run across a field or court will have me gasping and wheezing halfway through.

 

Also, small children are my kryptonite. When I see them, I have to stop and smile and wave at them. No matter what.

[JamesW]

I can't yell at people or animals.

 

Let me clarify, I'm a 6'3" 250+lb guy. I'm going to be a teacher and look intimidating enough that I probably never need to yell.

 

But last night I tried to yell at two dogs to stop fighting. My Fiancee burst into laughter, telling me that I couldn't yell at anything. I tried again, trying to get the dogs to separate. At the end of this she was in tears from laughing too hard.

 

Good thing I'm not an angry person. 

[KChan]

I have the opposite problem. It's not that I shout; I'm just very, very good at projecting my voice even when I speak normally. So much so, in fact, that I have to consciously focus on moderating my tone when I need to speak quietly, or else people can hear me from the other room and know who's talking.

At least I don't have a problem making myself heard over a crowd?

[JamesW]

I am excellent at voice projection, but for some reason I lack either the demeanor or the attitude, or the force behind yelling at someone/thing that gives it it's "kick"

[Shivertongue]

I lack the ability to not be awesome. You know how some people can sometimes be totally boring and lame? I'm simply incapable of that; I'm always awesome, no matter what I may try. I've even managed to be awesome at not being awesome, and that doesn't even make sense.

 

But, I'm a Discordian, so not making sense makes me awesome. By not making sense in such an awesome way, my awesomeness itself makes no sense - which just makes me more awesome.

 

It's tough, I tell ya.

[darkanimereal1]

I spectacularly fail at recollecting the correct words for common sayings.

 

ie. I don't say "That came out of left field", instead I say something along the lines of "that came out of west park"...

 

It can lead to some fairly confusing discussions especially since I never realise I am doing it!

 

Ha ha, I do this all the time! Then I feel dumb, that I don't even know what the basic sayings are supposed to be. As an English major, this is particularly problematic.

 

I have the opposite problem. It's not that I shout; I'm just very, very good at projecting my voice even when I speak normally. So much so, in fact, that I have to consciously focus on moderating my tone when I need to speak quietly, or else people can hear me from the other room and know who's talking.

At least I don't have a problem making myself heard over a crowd?

 

I also have something similar to this. I tend to talk too loud, especially when I talk with my mom for an extended period of time. I can't tell at all, but usually ten minutes into a conversation my mom gets really upset with me and says, "You don't need to yell! Keep your voice down!" The problem is, it's not like I'm good at projecting my voice. It just progressively gets louder.

I also have no idea what to do with my hands in a form situation. Presentations, job interviews, talking with the CEO... it's like I'm suddenly unable to control them in a way that's acceptable. So instead, I wind up picking at my nails without noticing, or I grip my hands tightly in my lap or on the table top, which just looks odd itself.

[skaa]

My undesirable specialty is doing everything slowly. My "superhero" name would probably be "The Snail" or "The Tortoise" or something. My detailed description of this "specialty" is lengthy enough that I got a bit embarrassed by it, so I'll just put it in a Spoilers tab.

• I talk slowly. Trying to talk even at a speed that is normal for most people would make the simplest of sentences feel like a tongue twister for me. This is why I prefer communicating via the Internet.
• I'm a slow reader most of the time. I blame my abysmal memory for this. I'd often forget some important detail from a previous paragraph or something, forcing me to go back and re-read it before continuing. This is true even when reading instructions (e.g. recipes, technical specifications, etc.). And when I'm under pressure to read things quickly, I read even more slowly. The only time I seem to read fast is when I'm looking for a single, simple, specific thing in a reference material.
• I constantly correct and edit myself when I'm writing, and this takes a long time. I'm like Cardinal Ximenez of Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition sketch except in written form. This leads to me spending hours just working on a two page essay, for example. (This post has already taken 30 minutes to write, and I'm not done yet!)
• When dining with other people, I'm usually the last person to finish eating. People say it's because I chew my food for too long. I guess I'm just not comfortable with swallowing anything if I feel I haven't chewed it enough (with the exception of medicine, of course).
• I can't go down stairs quickly. I always need to go one step at a time, and only at a steady pace. I have no problems going up stairs two steps at a time, though.
• Worst of all, I'm a slow thinker. I mean, I wouldn't really call myself stupid exactly, but it seems to me like I have to exert an inordinate amount of mental effort just to avoid making stupid mistakes. Sometimes I'd say the most embarrassingly idiotic things to people when I get a bit distracted or bored. Sometimes when people would ask me to solve a problem, my mind would go blank, but then later on I'd realize how easy the problem really was. It's like my mind just randomly chooses when to work and when not to work. It's all a bit depressing, really.

Edited February 26, 2014 by skaa

[makromag]

I am in my 4th semester in university studying computer science and I have a problem with staying alert during any lecture, now matter how much i like the subject or how interesting it is, I cannot for the life of mine stay frigging awake. It has gotten better recently, when I try to do things that entertain me mildly without actually hampering my abiity to think and follow the professor like spinning a pen between my fingers or drawing.

[Iredomi]

I am in my 4th semester in university studying computer science and I have a problem with staying alert during any lecture, now matter how much i like the subject or how interesting it is, I cannot for the life of mine stay frigging awake. It has gotten better recently, when I try to do things that entertain me mildly without actually hampering my abiity to think and follow the professor like spinning a pen between my fingers or drawing.

I'm like this. " I'm so interested in what you're talking about lecturer-" then eyes start closing. Could be a real engaging lecture with skits and everything but I'll just be encouraged to sleep by the fact I'm in a lecture... so terrible. 

[TheChronicFeruchemist]

My undesirable specialty is doing everything slowly. My "superhero" name would probably be "The Snail" or "The Tortoise" or something. My detailed description of this "specialty" is lengthy enough that I got a bit embarrassed by it, so I'll just put it a Spoilers tab.

• I talk slowly. Trying to talk even at a speed that is normal for most people would make the simplest of sentences feel like a tongue twister for me. This is why I prefer communicating via the Internet.
• I'm a slow reader most of the time. I blame my abysmal memory for this. I'd often forget some important detail from a previous paragraph or something, forcing me to go back and re-read it before continuing. This is true even when reading instructions (e.g. recipes, technical specifications, etc.). And when I'm under pressure to read things quickly, I read even more slowly. The only time I seem to read fast is when I'm looking for a single, simple, specific thing in a reference material.
• I constantly correct and edit myself when I'm writing, and this takes a long time. I'm like Cardinal Ximenez of Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition sketch except in written form. This leads to me spending hours just working on a two page essay, for example. (This post has already taken 30 minutes to write, and I'm not done yet!)
• When dining with other people, I'm usually the last person to finish eating. People say it's because I chew my food for too long. I guess I'm just not comfortable with swallowing anything if I feel I haven't chewed it enough (with the exception of pills, of course).
• I can't go down stairs quickly. I always need to go one step at a time, and only at a steady pace. I have no problems going up stairs, though.
• Worst of all, I'm a slow thinker. I mean, I wouldn't really call myself stupid exactly, but it seems to me like I have to exert an inordinate amount of mental effort just to avoid making stupid mistakes. Sometimes I'd say the most embarrassingly idiotic things to people when I get a bit distracted or bored. Sometimes when people would ask me to solve a problem, my mind would go blank, but then later on I'd realize how easy the problem really was. It's like my mind just randomly chooses when to work and when not to work. It's all a bit depressing, really.

Hey Skaa it is totally okay to be slow. Don't let other people tell you how to be, you are who you are and that is beautiful. *burns zinc* *riots Skaa's self confidence*

[Iredomi]

Yeah Skaa it's fine to be slow. I'm a slow thinker too. It means me driving a car is rather dangerous due to the fact it probably takes me a second to register the car in front of me stops. 

I may have a sort of negative slant to this thread but I did make it in the mind that people are all imperfect and sometimes it can be encouraging to share our little or large imperfections. These things make us different and being different is pretty awesome =) 

[Joe ST]

My speed used to get teased, I've cone to embrace it, I think...tho talking is still difficult sometimes

[Observer]

I have a phobia of choking, so I chew things at a snails pace too.

[TheChronicFeruchemist]

Speed isn't always good. I mess up all the time cause I go so fast. And I go so fast that I can't talk sometimes, and if I don't get things out fast enough I forget them. I also make a fool of myself by speaking my mind when I really should keep my mouth shut.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Freja

[Voidus]

I have a phobia of choking, so I chew things at a snails pace too.

Ditto on that, mines quite pronounced and more suffocation than choking though, I get massive freakouts when anything's near my face.

[Senor Feesh]

Ditto on that, mines quite pronounced and more suffocation than choking though, I get massive freakouts when anything's near my face.

I have a similar issue. For the same reason, I can't stand things touching my throat. Wearing neckties is a special kind of hell for me.

[Voidus]

I have a similar issue. For the same reason, I can't stand things touching my throat. Wearing neckties is a special kind of hell for me.

neck, eyes and ears for me. I'm not too bad with neckties and such, as long as I put it on myself, nearly hit someone once when they tried to help me with it though.