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.

I knew college students 18-27, who didn't know how to WASH THEIR CLOTHES.

This is why I make M repeat back instructions to me, even though he's smart, and I am driven that he be taught common sense tasks, like cooking and cleaning properly. Last Xmas, (he was ten then) I washed the bedclothes and was all "OK, make your bed" and he didn't know how to put fitted sheets and pillowcases on. WTF? His mom had maids that come in 2x a month (so glad our child support is spent on maids and we can't pay utilities some months) and we did it together.

Next time, he did it himself, and did an OK job. I refuse to have a part in raising a child who cannot be pretty self-suuficient. Sure, some thing people don't know how to do, but making a bed? Washing clothes? Not knowing how to load and start a dishwasher at 10? I think of all the things I'd been taught at 10 and I boggle.

I know how to change my oil in my car in theory, but I go to Jiffy Lube, that's for fucking sure! Things like that.

I don't understand people who don't TRY. Everyone has a learning curve, but DANG...some people expect someone to do everything for them! But then, I have a need to teach people stuff; I love teaching.

Oh, and sarameg, I'm not dissing you; M's mom is NOT DIY; she was raised well-off and prefers to be waited on hand and foot. And then yells at M for doing things SHE models. ARGH. And she avers I'm an indifferent parental figure. Why -- because he LOVES me? Because my discipline is rational and explanatory and hands-on teaching and making him try things himself with instruction if he's stuck? Sorry to rant -- it's just so...UGH.

I was gonna come here with a Jillifont video, but I prefer this snake one from Gawker: [link] I'm glad I didn't know about that nightmare option when I was a kid.

"Hey, Mr Plumber! Jody on the interTUBE has a different wrench from you! Are you sure you're doing it right??" Being backseat driven by complete strangers who aren't even live must be fun times.

Well, at least it is when I do it.

I've been assuming everyone hears noises and there's some processing delay/decision mechanism that turns them into words--except in scenarios where you accidentally hear that one time they mention half a scandal, and you have to stalk them to find out the other half and you never manage to.

I moved out of the house at 23, and my mother was genuinely surprised that I was immediately able to clean and cook for myself (with the occasional advice call for the latter). The thing is, while I rarely did anything around the house beyond pet care, taking out the trash, and routine straightening up, I understood how to do the other stuff and was just never motivated to do it myself before Supermom stepped in and did it herself. Switched to an environment where my clutter/dirt tolerance was lower than that of everyone else in residence, I turned into Monica Geller.

Found out recently that one of CJ's ARP buddies has never done a load of laundry. His mom does all the wash and irons everything for him. Including his Carhart pants. I used to think she was sane but now I worry.