What are three things you want to learn, and three things you can teach others to do?
Submitted by bookishbiker.
There have always been artsy-craftsy types of things I wanted to learn, or learn to do better. I've never tried my hand at paper-making, which I always thought seemed very cool and fun. I've only ever made one candle, as a gift; no idea how it turned out (burning-wise), but it was pretty and smelled good, and I'd love to learn more of it. Glass-blowing has always fascinated me, but I know it would just be Too. Damn. Hot. for this heat-sensitive girl. But I could make lampwork beads instead; you only use a small flame, and it's on a much smaller scale. I'd also like to do more things like sewing, knitting/crocheting, and the like; it's quite fulfilling when you finish something and it looks halfway decent. I crocheted my mom a warm hat and scarf when she went to Antarctica a couple of years ago, and she said they helped to keep her nice and toasty. (They were cute, too!) I'd even like to try my hand at woodworking and metal sculpture. And I'd love to learn more jewelry-making-type stuff. I do know how to do quite a lot, even if I haven't been able to do a lot of the more "serious" stuff (like silversmithing) since finishing college (the equipment is not cheap), but there's always a craving to learn and do more. I get so inspired when I go to art fairs, then (mildly) discouraged because I don't know if my brain works in quite the right way to come up with something all my own, something uniquely me, something that would make people stop in front of my booth at a fair and say, "Wow." But regardless -- learning to make paper, or candles, or weaving, or to make different kinds of jewelry, and seemingly countless other artsy-type things (no scrapbooking, though!) has always appealed to me enormously. I'm also drawn to "found object" art, and reusing/recycling everyday things, in unexpected ways, that would otherwise end up in a landfill. I saw a show on the Fine Living Network about going "green," and there was a woman who made all sorts of decorative things from "trash"; it really inspired me.
Photography sort of falls under this heading as well, but it's "big" enough that I thought it should be a separate thing. My father was a pretty good photographer when I was a kid (still is), and my brother already knew a lot more about taking pictures than I did, even though he's two years younger. They were so much further ahead of me that when I would ask questions, the answers would be completely over my head. I was intimidated, so I never really learned anything about it. Then I had to go and marry someone who now is a photographer, both by vocation and avocation! Now I just aim and shoot and hope for the best. I think I have a good eye, though, and always see things I would love to take pictures of - and can see in my mind how I'd like them to come out - so if I were to start at the very beginning, take a class from someone I don't already know (sometimes that's important), I might actually "grow up" to be a decent photographer. I remember nothing about the "mini course" I took in junior high, and really, with pinhole cameras, it's more about the process of making the camera and then developing the pictures than the more artistic side of it, or even the technical aspects of using a regular camera; that's the last time I had any formal "education" in photography. Learning all about apertures and shutter speed and focal lengths and F-stops and then things like composition and lighting... that's what I'd really like to do.
I've always wanted to take voice lessons. My voice is OK, but I have a hard time staying on pitch. I'd like to learn a little more control, and to maybe keep it from being all wavery when I sing in front of people (one of many reasons I don't, besides that I don't want to make anyone's ears bleed).
Changing gears completely now -- and yes, I'm well aware that this is four and it asked for three. If you're really that big a stickler, I'd like to kindly invite you to either (a) consider "photography" under the same heading as "artsy-craftsy-type things," or (b) stick it.
I would like to take one of those courses where you learn to walk on hot coals. That is purely mind over matter. What an incredible ability! If I could do that -- block out the pain and the actual burning of my flesh just with my mind! -- it's entirely possible I could use that understanding to control my own daily pain. I doubt it would do anything to help on those days when I'm almost too tired to even get out of bed, and don't have the energy to do something as simple as wash my hair -- but if I could walk over hot coals perhaps anything is possible. Think of the possibilities, if your mind could control that much!
Now, as for what I could teach others....
I could teach you how to clean your home - and well - without using toxic chemicals. I've always been very environmentally-conscious, but didn't know until fairly recently how easy and simple it is to use everyday household ingredients like vinegar and baking soda to clean almost everything around your house. You really don't need a separate cleaner for every job and surface in your house, and you certainly don't need to use chemicals like chlorine and ammonia (and whoa--DEFINITELY not in combination!!). I use those two ingredients for 90% of the cleaning in my house. I'm slowly phasing out all the things like Windex and Soft Scrub, with no plans to replace them when I run out. I'd really like to get rid of them altogether, but then there's the issue of what to do with them that won't REALLY hurt the environment; dumping it all at once seems like it would be way more harmful than using it up a little at a time. If I could find a place to donate it all, though, I would; I'd rather they not be used at all -- heck, I'd rather they not even EXIST -- but if at the same time it were somehow altruistic and beneficial to someone who really needed it, maybe the two things would... karmically cancel each other out. Anyway, once I get you cleaning in a way that is less harmful to our planet, we'll work on that paper-towel habit. ;-)
In a similar vein, I can teach you how to do laundry properly and well. (I still use mostly "traditional" products here, but I'm working on it.) Of all household chores, it's my "favorite," and I'm quite good at it. Sure, I will admit to having ruined a few things over the years, but I think it's more to do with ancient washers & dryers than my prowess or lack thereof. Occasionally hubby's shirts will come out with strange bleached-out spots on them -- and I never use bleach. (All right, OK, so I did once, for something very specific for which I'd been able to come up with another solution, then forgot to run an empty load next, and like Murphy himself planned it, ruined a shirt in the next load. Besides the fact that it does all sorts of horrible things to the environment, that right there was enough of a reason to get me to cease and desist immediately.) But aside from that, I pretty much rock the laundry room, and excel at stain removal (except, you know, those instances where the fabric dye is actually removed!). That's a whole subheading in itself: stain removal. I can get cat barf (or other feline bodily fluids), or damn near anything you can think of, out of damn near anything, and if I don't know how off the top of my head, I know where to look it up.
I can teach you little grammar tricks and mnemonics to help you remember the things you get hung up on. (Er, that should be "the things on which you get hung up." Wait, then "up" is dangling. "Upon which you become hanged?" Yeah, no. Never mind. Moving on. Hee.) Now, I'm hardly an expert at grammar, syntax, and the like, and am learning something new all the time, but apparently I do have a leg up on at least some of the rest of the world, since I'm constantly hearing and reading mistakes, even in things like network news programs and well-respected magazines, that make me cover my ears (or eyes) in horror. But back to the tips and tricks: for example, I used to frequently confuse "lie" and "lay." It's understandable. How do you remember that "lie" is an intransitive verb, and "lay" transitive, when they're so much alike? I finally found a simple way to get myself to remember -- I made it all about sex, and it finally "took": "You can only get laid by someone else." (Here "laid" is the past tense of "lay.") (And don't be all literal here, or it'll never work!) So -- "to lie" (lie, lay, lain) is what one does "to one's self," and "to lay [something]" (lay, laid, laid) is something you do "to someone else." Then of course you extrapolate this: you lay your fork on the table, but your cat is lying in the sun, etc. I have a ton of these little tricks, none of which is coming to mind immediately, but if there's always been one (or more) that you get stuck on, just ask me, and I bet I can teach you to remember it.
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