KLINGON BASTARDS! KILLED MY SON!

They're the reason potential employers don't trust me!

Sad to say, I'd rather risk losing a you, than hiring one of them. When you have to look an adult in the face and ask "Do you really get that, or are you just saying it?" more than once a day, it's insane making.

I worked with someone who did that. Said "okay, okay" and then screwed up instructions. So annoying. Of course, I never write anything down myself, so I am doing my part to annoy others.

I'm a list maker.

The trick I've used with students who nod and say, "Okay okay okay" is to ask them to repeat back what I just said. If they can, then I let it go because I assume if they repeated it correctly, they will remember. If they can't, then I tell them to write it down as I tell them a second time. It takes a couple of times before they stop doing it and getting it wrong.

Though, in fairness, I'm also overkill on explanation (mainly because I have to repeat myself so often that it's mindnumbing). Now I say things once and write out the steps on the board, even down to page numbers etc. When someone asks me again, I just point at the board.

I admit I'm a bit stunned when I tell people to do things, and they don't.

I say "Pivot your foot." They don't. I pivot my foot and make them look. I say "Pivot your foot." They don't. I pivot their foot and make them look. I say "Pivot your foot." They don't.

Sure, there's not enough money in the world to get me to hit middle C, but it's a foot! Can't you at least tell it's not pivoting? It's right there -- if your kinaesthetics are off, how about your vision?

It's not that I don't get not being able to pivot -- it's the tone deafness about not knowing you're not doing it that makes me confused.

And when I can tell someone's just saying "Yes. Yes." I wonder -- how can you not have realised that you have no idea what I just said, but you're going to walk off and fuck up?

I'm intimately acquainted with the fog in my brain where facts should go when I've skipped the putting-them-in-there part. I do try and fill it before going on, though. It's less embarassing to ask (or take notes) than it is to fuck up.

I wish I could make visible lists at work, or ask people to repeat what I've just said. And I resent being part of a group where that has to happen.

Kat! I used to do that when I taught! Jason laughed at me when I was trying to train Layla, I said "Sit" and when she didn't, said "What did I just say?" out of reflex.

I knew a woman who had started college at 14... and lived in the dorms and dated freakin' grad students. Altogether now "ewwwwwww".

I knew her in her twenties. My impression is that she was pushed plenty.

I was not pushed at all in school. Except when I got good grades I got a "nice job" from my parents. And they were happy when I got on the honor roll because they could save on car insurance.

Sometimes I envy the people who were pushed. I was one of those underachiever folks.

Don't envy the pushed. They might end up knowing more stuff, but they don't end up smarter, or more sensible, or happier as an inevitable result.

Then again, I'm not as cognizant of the whole "right school" thing as I might be. But still -- it doesn't seem to be something worth envying.