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.

When dealing with the blankfaced I ask them to repeat what they're going to do back to me until we've got nothing more to say to each other.

I noticed as I was leaving a meeting with my old boss the other day that he did EXACTLY that to me, twice.

So, you know. Your intern may just be me.

What kind of irritation am I setting myself up for with over-use of the lidoderm? I need to do a pros and cons thing, because I just took one off and that shit had been WORKING.

.the home warrantee guy who gave me the lesson on radiator care didn't mention that, so I think we're good.

Thank God!!!

Oh man, we had an awesome on-point intern last year who took care of all the shitty bullshit work we had to do in our shitty bullshit requirements management system. She was careful and quick and never complained. Unfortunately (for us, great for her) her summer job this year is in the field she's getting her degree in (something in the sciences and not computer science). We pay our interns, fwiw.

In a work situation, if I need time to think, I will totally be all 'give me a minute.'

I totally watch people's lips when they speak and not their eyes. And then occasionally realize in supposed to be looking at their eyes and panic and look up and then they're looking at me and I feel weird and look away and go back to their lips. ...um, I'm hoping to not as bad as it feels?

Our current intern is like an overeager puppy. And he's a little bit of an asshole geek, in that he's 20 years old and feels the need to prove his geek cred ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Which I am 100% certain was also me at age 20 (please, nobody go back and check the archive threads) so I mostly smile and nod and let him think he's impressing people.

Changing furnace filters is a thing? Furnaces have filters? That you have to change?

Oh god, yes. My parents' furnace is the bane of my existence because I'm the one who gets to change it, and relight the pilot light when necessary. I'm convinced that one day I'm going to end up launching that thing through the roof like a miniature Saturn V.

I too joined the ranks of the steak-eating for dinner tonight, having chanced upon a half-regular-thickness ribeye for $4.90 at the supermarket today. Turns out when the cut's that thin the fat renders out nicely and it doesn't end up feeling like my steak is riddled with dried rubber cement. I may put this knowledge to good use at the butcher's next time around.

I have to do the watching the lips thing too. I can still hear the noise that only teenagers are supposed to be able to hear, so my hearing can't be gone, but there's something off about how I hear human voices. As in, I can't understand half of what people are saying to me.

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.

This is what I'm talking about! Practical shit you've got to do, and rarely does anyone actually teach you how to do it. I've been baffled many times by people not knowing how to, say, pump gas, or plunge a toilet.

What gets me is all the stuff I learned in a DIY house as a kid? Has changed. I totally could not figure out my toilet float/feed. $60 warrantee visit for stupid. I'd never had radiators. Or a house fan. Hell, never even heard of the latter. Regional issues. But I can drywall patch and replace glass in single pane windows and flush a hot water heater like a champ! I have plaster walls and fancy pants factory windows.

YouTube is a great resource for minor home/car repair stuff - I haven't found a problem yet where there isn't a how-to video online showing how to solve it. And then even though half the time I wind up calling in a professional anyway, at least I know what they should be doing once they get here.