Friday OT #2 - Help You Find Your Talent

[Angie]

We might have done this one in the past, but I'm not sure. This one came up this week in our household.

Do you have any obscure hidden talents? Ones that, you may be best friends with someone or live with someone for years, and they wouldn't know?

I had been married to my husband for maybe 12 years before he realized that I am a savant at Dr. Mario on old-school Nintendo. If @Mr Janny gives me one quarter at an arcade and there's Dr. Mario there, I'll still be playing an hour later when he comes back to check on me. It's not useful; in fact, it's pretty esoteric. But I am just really good at it.

What are yours?

 

[NDMARTIN2015]

I’m pretty skilled at sketch up. Majored in MIS, had zero reason to use it. In laws were having issues deciding what to do with their house remodel. Since my dad had done whole house measurements for flooring there, I took his floor plan measurements and sketched up 4 different 3D house models. They chose one of them and it turned out great. They were shocked I knew how to do it, and my dad was low key mad he didn’t know. I’m also pretty good at setting up LED mood lighting, and have hacked my own light strips that work with hue ecosystem. I installed under cabinet lighting this way that works on hue motion sensors for our house and my in laws. I also wired up a 24 port patch panel and pulled all of the cat 6A, installed the switch, rack etc in a utility closet at my in laws. I can wire electrical pretty well, and build things. Essentially: I’m really good at doing things for free for family….

 

[Cyclonepride]

1. I am our company's Google guy. I'm not sure why, but my thought processes must align with the algorithms. Whenever someone is struggling to find information on something online, they come to me.

2. Along those lines, I don't know if you'd call it Jack of all trades, or what, but I'm very resourceful. If I want to do something myself, I am able to learn almost any skills that I will need for the project. Probably won't be do-it-every-day-professional good in the end, but better than average. Part of that is partly due to the fact that I don't fear failure.

 

[Farnsworth]

Can we do anti talents? I have the ability to get lost absolutely anywhere, big or small. I am so directionally challenged that at least once a month I get on the interstate heading the wrong way.

Once I was heading 20 miles in rural Iowa to get a haircut which I had driven many times, an hour later I was in Missouri.

I get lost in Merle Hay mall often as well.

 

[GMackey32]

I have a weird ability to associate songs with events in my life and then pinpointing what year those songs came out. I have SiriusXM in my car and on road trips, my wife will block the screen and ask me what year the song came out. About 95% of the time, I get the exact year. The other 5%, I'm within a year or they have the wrong year listed.

 

[carvers4math]

I’m double jointed. It’s not a particularly useful trait. However when I stubbed my toe on a chair and old boyfriend was making fun of me, I turned on the tears and wailed about him making fun of me when I had obviously broken every toe in my foot. He picked me up and put me in the car to take me to the emergency room before I let him know about the double jointed thing. Then he was mad I tricked him, followed by curious.

It was mean of me, but about a week later I broke up with him. That reaction he had to me stubbing my toe and initially laughing bothered me. And he was kind of boring.

 

[Al_4_State]

Can we do anti talents? I have the ability to get lost absolutely anywhere, big or small. I am so directionally challenged that at least once a month I get on the interstate heading the wrong way.

Once I was heading 20 miles in rural Iowa to get a haircut which I had driven many times, an hour later I was in Missouri.

I get lost in Merle Hay mall often as well.

My super power is the opposite of this. I almost never get lost. Even in cloudy weather, I'm almost always in complete awareness of north, south, east, and west.

In fact, navigation apps have increased the frequency with which I get lost because I frequently find their directions contradictory and I take the wrong turn. With maps I'm just looking for the road number and not getting confused by a computer telling me "to take the 2nd turn and bear right". What's the god damn street name? That's what matters.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people use left and right as a substitute for cardinal directions because they don't know their cardinal directions. Left and right are 100% subjective to your point of view. North is north.

 

[Farnsworth]

My super power is the opposite of this. I almost never get lost. Even in cloudy weather, I'm almost always in complete awareness of north, south, east, and west.

In fact, navigation apps have increased the frequency with which I get lost because I frequently find their directions contradictory and I take the wrong turn. With maps I'm just looking for the road number and not getting confused by a computer telling me "to take the 2nd turn and bear right". What's the god damn street name? That's what matters.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people use left and right as a substitute for cardinal directions because they don't know their cardinal directions. Left and right are 100% subjective to your point of view. North is north.

I'll call my wife when I'm lost and she'll ask what direction I am heading when lost and I never have a clue.

The worst was a time when I lived in Omaha I left for a bike ride at about 4pm. I was going to stick to the neighborhoods between us and work that only stressed about a mile and only planned to be gone for about an hour joy ride. I got home around 10:30. Once dark set in I thought I'd never find a landmark to help guide me back, and then I made a random turn while completely lost and I was literally a block away from home.

 

[BCClone]

I’m very good at matching suits, shirts, ties, and such not just to themselves but to who should wear them and when to wear them.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

Most of my close friends know but Mario Kart. The original. 64 and now 8/deluxe.

A friend and I used to do speed running on those games back in college. Some people brag about their skills at like hang outs or arcade bars. I don't say anything but smile deep down knowing I'm gonna destroy them. There's some speed running tricks that make people rage quit lol

I hid my cooking skills for a long time and people didn't know until I started posting it on Instagram.

 

[CYCLNST8]

I have a weird ability to associate songs with events in my life and then pinpointing what year those songs came out. I have SiriusXM in my car and on road trips, my wife will block the screen and ask me what year the song came out. About 95% of the time, I get the exact year. The other 5%, I'm within a year or they have the wrong year listed.

That's cool. I'm good with songs from the 60s-90s. Even if I don't know the song very well, if I can figure out the artist I can narrow it down to within a couple years just by production value. Studios evolved rapidly in those decades.

For the most part I suck at video games, but I was a master at "Word Munchers." Anyone remember that game?? It was a contemporary of Oregon Trail.

 

[ISUcyclones11]

Im great at not reading a room and interrupting a serious conversation with something completely off topic and inappropriate.

Seriously, i don't even mean to do it it just happens

 

[Al_4_State]

I have a weird ability to associate songs with events in my life and then pinpointing what year those songs came out. I have SiriusXM in my car and on road trips, my wife will block the screen and ask me what year the song came out. About 95% of the time, I get the exact year. The other 5%, I'm within a year or they have the wrong year listed.

I can frequently ID a song being played in another building just by the bass guitar coming through the walls.

It has to be a song I'm familiar with, of course.

 

[madguy30]

Most of my close friends know but Mario Kart. The original. 64 and now 8/deluxe.

A friend and I used to do speed running on those games back in college. Some people brag about their skills at like hang outs or arcade bars. I don't say anything but smile deep down knowing I'm gonna destroy them. There's some speed running tricks that make people rage quit lol

I hid my cooking skills for a long time and people didn't know until I started posting it on Instagram.

OG Mario Kart is SNES.

Luigi was the best for the trial on track 1.1.

 

[Clonefan32]

My anti-talent is anything taking even the slightest bit of handiness around the house. I have an incredible ability to screw up even the most basic household tasks.

My father-in-law, who is incredibly handy, has done a great job over the years hiding his detest for me as he either undoes something I've messed up, or does a project that I should have been able to easily accomplish.

 

[GMackey32]

I can frequently ID a song being played in another building just by the bass guitar coming through the walls.

It has to be a song I'm familiar with, of course.

If it's a song that came in when I was in high school or college, my hit rate is like 99%. But I listen to enough SiriusXM 90's and 80's that I'm starting to get really good at those as well.

 

[cytor]

I'm not sure I have a hidden talent.

My wife's not-so-hidden talent is that she's great at nagging.

 

[madguy30]

Not sure if it's a 'talent' but I can typically detect if someone's toxic with very little time spent with them, and usually, my intuitions are accurate.

 

[Angie]

That's cool. I'm good with songs from the 60s-90s. Even if I don't know the song very well, if I can figure out the artist I can narrow it down to within a couple years just by production value. Studios evolved rapidly in those decades.

For the most part I suck at video games, but I was a master at "Word Munchers." Anyone remember that game?? It was a contemporary of Oregon Trail.

Word Munchers and Fraction Munchers! Both were great. The play style always reminded me vaguely of Burger Time, which I think we also had at school for some reason?!

I also remember a LOT of song lyrics. Sometimes I misheard the lyrics, but I remember a lot of them. But can't remember people's names most of the time, so really I'd probably prefer something a little more useful.

 

[Entropy]

When I was in elementary school (3rd grade?) we used to play a game called around the world. It was a competitive way to learn the times table. We'd use flash cards, and whoever got the number correct faster would work their way around the classroom.
At some point during the school year, I can remember that the class would groan when it came to me. I was pretty good at doing math in my head.

My spouse always turns to me when it comes to remembering activities we did what year. What year we did what vacation, etc. I have a good memory for that.