I'm the rain man of useless information.
God dealt me and odd hand when I was born, If you don't believe in that stuff call it a random chance of nature.
I had a severe attention deficit problem but my verbal and reading skills were at college level by the fourth grade.
I easily memorized 6000 individual inventory catalog numbers when I worked in a parts room but for the life of me couldn't complete a simple form without it looking like a retarded chimpanzee filled it out with their toes.
Social sciences, literature and history were about all my brain was good for. Algebra may as well have been a Greek city state as far as I was concerned.
Back in school the other kids thought I was smart. I didn't agree. More often than not I was totally bewildered about what was transpiring around me but somehow managed to fake my way through most situations. This didn't stop 15 people from copying my school work when the teacher was out of the classroom.
My mother thought I was lazy and possibly stupid. I was just completely baffled by some things. A lot of information just went into my ear and crashed into a brick wall where my brain should have been.
My one saving grace was common sense. I could analyze a situation and figure out what needed to be done fairly easily. I was always cool in a crisis and excelled under pressure. Figuring out how to stay out of trouble and what not to do has often kept me from suffering needlessly. I have never been able to convince anyone else to listen to reason, which is probably the biggest frustration in my life.
As an adult, I think my mind has matured and is able to function a bit better. I still can't fill out forms without a tanker truck full of white out. Multi-tasking is completely out of the question. I'm one of those who cannot talk hold a conversation while reading or watching TV.
Several people have told me that I can talk about any subject with authority, whether it be middle east politics, internal medicine or the atmosphere on Venus. I don't see this as special. Being able to talk like a "know it all" will get you ridiculed with "bullshit flags as often as it will get you admired or laid.
I've had several people call me an old soul. There must be something to it because complete strangers will walk up to me and start telling me their life story for no particular reason. I'm usually kind to these people and try to be a good listener because they otherwise seem perfectly normal. They will usually snap out of it and be mortified that they told a complete stranger about the time they accidentally killed someone or screwed the neighbors cat.
No. I'm not kidding.
I don't take compliments well as I have very little ego. When someone says something nice to me I get an overwhelming feeling of embarrassment and shame.
Still trying to figure that one out.
Labels: Personal interest, Society
posted by Bill Rowland @ November 11, 2006
16 Comments
16 Comments:
That's like... reading about myself. Excellent reading, comprehension, and vocabulary at a young age. Math problems that were mistaken for me just not trying. Kids asking me questions like, "Why you gotta talk like a teacher?" And I do not know why every-freakin'-body in the grocery store or at the bus stop thinks I'm their best buddy. I don't think I'm anything special, so I expect people to at least be on my level, and gracefully accepting compliments is a foreign concept to me.
It is first the last years, I finally accepted and understood what people have told me many times.... Other people don't think like me or have the same logical sence as me.
Example: When other people take panic, I stay calm and do what needs to be done, without knowing from where the knowledge of what to do comes from...but I always do what is needed correct.
It is this which confuses others.
But this is also a part of the peculiarity of being a Sirius-soul (Indigo-person)
Not like me at all. I was a dirty little pinched looking thing with holes in my tennies & no friends. I didn't talk & everyone thought I was retarded or something. But, I could read well & read fast. My claim to fame, Speed Reading Champion!
I have learned to just say "thank you" when accepting compliments, No saying "thank you, but.." just a simple thank you & it's out of the way.
I usually look for what someone wants from me when they compliment me on anything. In school, education came second to managing the school operations and deviant behavior at a level far beyond the common troubled kid. I maintained an average GPA and I can't remember ever really doing much actual school work. I was too busy.
How concisely you summed up the basics of you. So lucky to have a life ruled by common sense...its rare.
AHhh, without sounding like abrown-nosing blogger hanger-on looking for kudos in Haloscan...
You and I are wired similarly. I was reading at three and just seem to remember words well.
Memorization of numbers and names is my downfall.
Old soul I've heard often. I don't buy it. WHat could be old about a soul? It is not logical or reasonable to have age differrences in souls.
When people try to tell you their life stories (perfect strangers), I have learned to stop them before they get going, for many reasons. I don't need the information and it is rude of themto assume I do withou asking me, first...
I don't need other people's emotional turmoil hung around my neck to weigh me down.
Most people who attempt this manuever of cornering a stranger and "opening up" have a pathetic nature that I just want to slap and wake up.
I take compliments and put them in my pocket for later. It is nice to recall how well someone thought you played goalie on a particular SUnday twenty two years ago, when your knees ache and you prefer beer to sit-ups.
Scott, I've had the old soul thing explained to me a couple of different ways. (I'm not sure why people who feel the need to tell me I'm an old soul also feel the need to explain it to me every time.) One way is that there are new souls created on the Other Side from time to time, and so an old soul is, well, one of the ones created earlier. What really doesn't work for me about that is that I don't believe time is linear on the Other Side/in the Afterlife/whatever you want to call it.
The other way I've had it explained has to do with reincarnation. The idea is that people with old souls have reincarnated more times, therefore having more collective life experience. I feel like there's still a hint of that "not linear time" problem in that explanation, but I'm also prone to not believing in things until years after I first heard of them, if ever. I wouldn't say I am a skeptic, but I think there's such thing as a healthy dose of skepticism.
Well, pheonix, what you got were superstitious beliefs "explained".
It is neither logical nor wholly rational to believe in the make-up of things immeasurable.
The belief itself is fueled by fear.
It is really OK to not know what lies on the outskirts of our undersanding. In fact, it is really quite liberating to appreciate these mysteries for what they are.
The skeptical part of me was always bothered by "old soul" too.
Part of me thought it was about reincarnation the other part feared people were trying to con me or take advantage of my good nature. I still keep everyone at arms length. For some reason the people who spilled their guts just did it, I made a few polite comments and they went on their way.
I'm still scratching my head about it.
I hear you, hammer.
I have a head stuffed with information utterly useless to me as well- in fact, utterly useless to almost anyone. And I often feel the useless crap is crowding out anything that might have value.
Maybe you have the kind of face and attitude that says "I'm the person who will never tell whatever you say to me."
A fellow walking compendium of useless info salutes her elder. (Never had the people walk up to me and just start spilling their guts, though...maybe I look too hostile.)
- ISU Tinkerer
"I don't take compliments well as I have very little ego."
I took an emotional healing course before moving here and one night the instructor got very interested in me and was talking to me a lot, and then said, "You don't accept compliments very well do you?"
That confused me.
He went on with something like, "Every time I give you a complement you make a smart remark to brush it off."
He suggested that I just accept it and say thank you. It was a great course, one of the best I've ever taken.
I see that you also have a complex mind also, interesting aren't they?
I know a lady that says that she is an old soul. She can't explain it properly though.
I am an old soul, and I can explain it. :-) It's an omnipresence, always here, that you are a part of, still evolving.
I want to add, never expect the cosmos to heal you. If sick get to a doctor. God is a doctor.
BBC, yeah just saying thank you is what I finally learned to do, I think it was a teacher who finally told me to shut the hell up and accept kind comments gracefully.
If sick get to a doctor. God is a doctor.
I'vr been doing the herb thing for quite some time now. I bought several books and now have the internet as a reference. It's worked really well. With my past experience regarding doctors I'll do anything I can to stay away from them.
Phoenix, Sounds like we have similar attitudes and aptitudes, no wonder I read your blog at least 3 times a day.
I'm that way, too - complete strangers just spill their guts to me. Husband calls me a weirdo magnet, but it's because I take people at face value and don't judge them. I realize it's not what most people experience with others, but I also find it very interesting, and I meet a lot of people. Life is interesting, isn't it?
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