Literally the only good thing about being on my coop's board is learning bit by bit how buildings work. I know all kinds of fancy grown-up building words now, like "envelope" and "facade"! And how water is the worst when when it gets places it shouldn't. And I have many MANY contractor's phone numbers.

No matter how many times Tim has said "soffit" (if, indeed, that is how that word is spelled, and yes I know Google exists), I still don't really know what that is. Something to do with the roof. Or gutters. Or both, somehow?

I'm thinking more and more that this is the case with me, too, and it's not just that I have bad hearing.

I have a bit of both. Some is just processing speed. If I'm not expecting it, I'm likely to screw it up. We have these illiteracy ads here that show street signs as all garbled nonsense. That's how it feels. I know it is english, I just can't parse.

Some is I don't filter sound as well on one side of my head. It's not that my hearing is bad, but that I actually have a hard time straightening out the signals from the noise. A different kind of processing issue. And I can never remember which side until I'm actually in the midst of it, and I'm moving so the talker is on my good side.

With the latter, I have never had any compunction about asking for a repeat. For the former, well, I still ask, or respond with a complete non-sequitur that I then am all self-conscious about and 'wow, I did not hear that right at all.' I usually admit it, but there is an inner ouch,whereas there isn't with the StN issue.

My mouth sometimes also starts moving before my brain does. Always has.

The fuck is wrong with people? [link]

Yeah, I have something like that. At least, my hearing has been tested on many occasions and always pronounced fine, but I really have to concentrate (and preferably be able to see the talker's mouth) to be able to get what's said to me correctly.

I appear to be a very attentive listener, hanging on your every word, because that's the only way I'll have any idea what you are saying. It's kind of a nice impression to give, a lot of the time.

OMG, those are kind of awesome! Also kind of terrible, but wow!

If you have a filter, check it once a month and if it looks dirty, change it. That will both keep your system more efficient and extend the life of your HVAC system. I have written those sentences dozens of times.

The soffit is the underside of the roof overhang. (It's the underside of any structural overhang, but most commonly refers to the roof.)

Your intern would drive me mad too. Maybe you need to preface your instructions with "Now I'm going to tell you what to do next."

I guess it would not be good management technique to tell her. "Now I'm going to tell you what to do next. If you don't understand me, ask for clarification immediately. If you do understand, do it. If you do neither, I will cut you."

I wish there'd been adulthood classes I could have taken back in my twenties, like Keep Your Car Running and Home Maintainy Stuffs You Actually Need to Do and How Do I 401k and Help the Toilet's Broken.

The thing I have trouble with is is someone tries to spell out words for me when I am supposed to remember them or write them down. I hear the letters, but I just can't process them at anything like normal processing times.

Also, is this where because Wine came up? Because I gotta say, Because Bourbon.