Like David, I took a typing class in high school on IBM Selectrics. They ruined me for every other keyboard I've used since. I loved the way when you pressed down on a second key, the first key you pressed would get pushed back up.

{{{{{askye}}}}} That is a very bad no good way to start your day. I'm sorry.

I would look at Mother's shorthand books and think "I will never learn this." I had a hard enough time with cursive, I had no faith in doing coded cursive correctly. I was also dreading slide rules, but technology advancements saved me from both those fears.

That's exactly what it's like.

When I was driving to the store I was thinking "even though I feel like crap I will try to match up at least one pair of gloves" and now I'm like...fuck it that's too much thinking. I'm going to put on comfy clothes, drink water and...do something. Maybe finish up the Librarians or rewatch Leverage.

I took typing in high school - on manual typewriters. I remember I was sick the day we learned about the top row (numbers) and I still have minor problems with them.

I went off to college (in 1969) with my mother's 1930something L.C. Smith Corona typewriter (manual, of course). Nice big keys to hit, although they did tend to tangle.

askye, may your day go nothing but up from here on.

I took typing in HS, too, and it was probably the skill most directly linked to earning income for several years of anything I did in school. And mighty useful for college. Also, there was something super satisfying about those electric typewriters... I think we had the ball kind? I don't remember. I sort of slacked off when it came to the numbers, though, MUCH to my regret.

askye, I hope things get better.

I took typing in high school on a manual typewriter. In 1985. I think the nuns just wanted us to suffer.

Typing class in middle school was my first and only C and I cried about it for weeks.

Askye, please do us all a favor and TAKE your phone with you when you go out. I worry about you on the slick roads when not feeling well. Please take it. I am glad you figured out the branch and key solution!

askye, what a crappy way to start the day. I hope it gets better! Curling up and watching the last of The Librarians sounds like a great idea. I ought to do that too. I'll watch them with you, virtually.

I never learned to type "properly". I did my homework in 6th grade on a manual typewriter, typing with my left hand because my right arm was in a cast. I type well enough now to do my job, but I'd never make it as a secretary.

I don't think my tiny rural high school even offered a typing course. But I would have refused it anyway. I didn't take any of the Home Ec courses the girls were expected to take, because I'll be damned if I'm going to school to learn to be somebody's "helpmeet". And now I can't sew or cook, but I'm not some redneck's wife either, so that's cool. High-school me is quite satisfied with how things turned out. Except now I don't have a wife either, so I really need to learn to cook and sew. I got what I wanted, but not necessarily what I needed.

Maybe I just need a wife. I'm trying to get G. to marry me, but she still likes guys. Hmpf. Heterosexuality is foiling my plans.

We all, boys and girls alike, had to take all the home-ec, shop, art, stuff. We couldn't opt out. It was fine. I didn't really learn how to sew, but I can do a practical button sewing, hemming (not that well, but well enough). I'm not entirely sure I learned it in home-ec, though. I have a general idea about how to handle powered tools safely, so, that's good. Also, I made a set of bookends in shop that my sister still uses, so I was pretty amused by that some thirty years later. Also, my batik bird got hung outside the principal's office.

Our typing class was pretty evenly matched, gender-wise. It was mainly a vo-tech class, which track seemed pretty well balanced from what I could tell.