what are you really good at (that could or would never bring you any financial gain)?

I can rock you like a hurricane.

Making cappuccino
recognizing pitches/intervals/transcribing melodies
Coming up with good drum parts that fit a song
arguing
rationalizing
doing close-reading style analysis of poems

intuitive (non-step-based) dancing

standardized tests

I think it's time we monetised jed's disco dancing.

i know, i can only imagine

i giggle well!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dd/Gnomes_plan.png

Aren't arguing and rationalizing useful in the legal profession, Hurting 2?

Alba, come up with a business plan.

i'm v bad at arguing. my mind goes blank in any kind of confrontation situation.

yeah a lot of hurtings could bring him financial gain, i think he's just trying to make us feel bad

i'm OK at arguing but it makes me too upset.

i'm good at being a friend. my friends like me.

standardized tests, as well.
ancient greek.
running long distances extremely slowly.

I'm like Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction, except with things that don't involve getting rid of dead bodies and stuff. Given the proper data, I'm a good problem solver. Which is only a non-marketable skill insofar as its not terribly specific. Thankfully, I'm finally in a job that takes advantage of this skill to at least some extent. But it's the kind of thing I feel like I could make a killing on if I could just find the right angle.

Is there anyone on ILX who *isn't* good at standardized tests?

not me, but a friend of mine can identify pretty much any singer she's heard before in one or two notes, just by their tone. crazy talent with no financial possibilities.

Is there anyone on ILX who *isn't* good at standardized tests?

-- kenan, Tuesday, June 3, 2008 2:24 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

poll thread

I guess I'm confused by the thread title. I initially read it as "things you are good at that might or might not bring you financial gain." The "could or would never" is what threw me.

Lately, I've been really good at watching lots of Law and Order. Also, I've got excellent handwriting.

Which gives the lie to my claim to being good at close-reading.

But it is awkwardly phrased!

Which is a good rationalization.

Oh, yes, miryam. I am super at watching a lot of episodes of a given show, but my skill extends to a number of different series. Does that make me more or less marketable?

Probably more marketable, Deric. Hmph, at this rate I'll never get a job because of overachievers like you!

i am really good at eating food.

(multiple xposts) I can recognise most pop songs from the last 40 years given two or three bars - good for pub music quizzes but not much else.

actually, scratch ancient greek. being good at it has actually brought me financial gain...um...four times.

I have perfect pitch and I'm really good at phlebotomy.

ooh i'm good at eating food too!! i like salty foods but i think i look cuter eating sweet things. just fyi.

i can skip stones like nobody’s business, i'm talkin crazy multiple bounce style.

I'm really good at drinking sour Belgian beers, frying eggs with a perfect solid white/runny yolk, making meatloaf, weeding the garden, wasting weeks at a time reading ILX, balancing my checkbook, and wishin' and hopin' for money to fall out of the sky on me.

parallel parking

see, that's the kind of answer i'm after! some of you must be great cooks but would never want to be a chef or cook for money in any way.

i'm really good at Mega Man 2.

omgosh my boyfriend with cooking -- totally. i always tell him it would be so cool for him to study, but he just loves doing it on his own time.

memorizing tons of useless facts
baking cookies and brownies
wasting inordinate amounts of time

Impersonating David Bowie.

figuring out good places to eat when I visit different cities

Doing a 'Marge Simpson' voice.
Standardized tests.
Moving into neighborhoods before they gentrify.

Oh, I also do a really good Snarf impression.

farting and masturbating

I also have this weird idea that maybe I could make living with my draws, but probably I'm just kidding myself.

"Moving into neighborhoods before they gentrify."

is the ultimate financial gain enterprise if you have any cash to begin with.

You have summed up my conundrum in a single sentence!

it's mine too!

theoretical astrophysics

i'm pretty good at remembering faces, remembering random personal details, and remembering what meal you ate last time you came to my restaurant (sometimes even if it was a year ago) - all of which brings me no financial gain because kiwis do not tip, and brings my boss a ton of financial gain because people love this shit so they become regulars.

when I'm standing on the station platform, and there's a train approaching, I always know where to position myself to be best lined up with the doors

i'm really good at flirting with old men (at my job) in a way that makes their wives actually feel happy about it.

i can grab a pile of napkins or cutlery without looking, and just by the weight/feel, know exactly the right amount, for anything from 1 to 25 place settings.

given my current financial and job situation, i'm pretty sure everything i'm really good at falls into this category.

i'm pretty good at remembering faces, remembering random personal details, and remembering what meal you ate last time you came to my restaurant

Me too incl. the restaurant bit from when I worked for my parents. I have an amazing memory for faces, names, and tiny details. It's cool sometimes but freaks people out when I've met them once and remember them years later yet they have no clue who I am.

Also v good at parallel parking and napping.

Pretty good memory for names, faces and what person X was doing that day in 1974.

Speedy assemblage of aesthetically pleasing um hand-rolled smokes.

I wish I was good at napping, can't do it at all

sleep, that's where i'm a viking

I'm really good at Marble Madness. I am seriously ranked third in the world, going by the world record scores at Twin Galaxies, which tends to be the authority in such matters.
I am good at listening to Pink Floyd.
I am really good at being alright, like a 6.5 out of 10, at a decent amount of things. Sorta.

Jeezus, the Recording FAQ on Twin Galaxies says "Among the many resources we have at our disposal is the ability to analyze video submissions on a frame-by-frame basis." THESE GUYS ARE SERIOUS!

Boggle. and i know loads of you are scary good at scrabble.

I am good at enjoying a prescription tablet opiate high w/o getting my barf on.

Also, I am great at pooping a lot. Personal best is 5 times a day.

This sometimes conflicts with ^^^.

i'm pretty good at total nonsense poetry. a) nobody reads poetry. b) even fewer read the total nonsense kind. c) even fewer know good nonsense poetry from bad nonsense poetry. d) i don't know the difference between good nonsense poetry and bad nonsense poetry. e) i don't really know myself. f) but at least i'm better at good nonsense poetry than i am at say, bullet lists, for example. g) now lettered lists, i'm ... no, i'm actually not very good there either. h) i'm great at not capitalizing, which, much like total nonsense poetry, will surely never make me any money ever. i) but really nice people desperate for poetry in their zine seem to publish it, while they never publish lettered lists. j) such is the irony. k) except i'm pretty sure that's not ironic. l) maybe. m.

- I can reliably remember the first 60 digits of π, and on a good day with a clear head, can probably remember more than that.
- I can suck my belly up under my ribs, which combined with my existing thinness does a fair impression of emaciation.
- I can make fries better than anyone or any place I've ever met or been to, and can make the mayonnaise to match. I am also on the cusp of mastering chicken.

i almost forgot! my #1 best talent of all: i am the world's best hot-drink maker. seriously, without fail, every time i've ever made someone a tea/coffee/whatever i've been told it's the best they ever had.

it's because i always make it with love in my heart.

- I can make the shit out of any breakfast food. Folks be lining up outside our house on Sundays.
- That skill also transfers well to the other two meals of the day, and snacks.
- I can play a pretty mean blues guitar, and have been paid for it in the past.
- I have a good moral compass, and am pretty good at giving sound, ethical advice.
- I am VERY good at getting up early in the morning. I have, in fact, seen the sunrise for the past 23 consecutive days, and counting.

I am good at:

* Walking really fast
* Getting things done, when they need to be done (which isn't often)
* Judging a book by it's cover
* Judging a CD by it's sleeve
* Making a fool of myself
* Putting flat pack furniture together

I am good at making Turkish coffee. Working on becoming good at telling fortunes from the grounds, too.

I am also good at rationalizing what I want to do as what I should do. Or doing what I want to do instead of what I should do and, perhaps a bit worryingly, not feeling guilty.

I am also good at sleeping in until the last possible moment I can get up and get to where I need to be in time. Even though this means I have very rarely worn makeup or done anything to my mussed up, unstraightened hair for work for the last month.

sausage casseroles

I’ve been told i take good pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/68179053@N00/sets/
I’ve been told I’m a good musician

doodling

i was going to say doodling too, but i guess it could possible be used to bring financial ativity perhaps

I'm good at cooking, and getting it together cooking-wise to feed multiple people and still serve it all without it going cold, but I could never do that on a chef/kitchen level, it'd take all the fun out of it.

I have a good memory, especially when it comes to nights out and DJs I've seen and stuff. My friends always laugh when I say "that's the night he played this followed by this then we went here on the way home and the taxi driver had this argument about this" etc. I guess it's a miracle I remember anything!

I have the food skills that Trayce describes (also ability to pull together an edible meal from any sort of remnants lurking in the house), but couldn't do it professionally either.

I too rule at parallel parking - often have to park other people's cars for them and have had rounds of applause from random passers-by for manoeuvring cars into impossible spaces. Years of owning a Mini in an area where parking spaces were at a premium taught me the ability to grab a car + 6 inch space wherever found.

I am really good at knowing shit about z list british celebs and Scottish league football and 80s UK chart hits. I realise none of these are exclusive here, but they settle many an argument at work/in the pub and they have actually brought me financial gain via the medium of pub quizzes (something else I rule at).

I am the world's greatest palindromist

drinking and smoking.

please rephrase thata as an actual palindrome

being an asshole

playing bass

was done before, here is an example

Useless skills

im exceptional at three things:

pouring exact amounts of liquid with no measuring device, being able to tell a persons waist/hip measurement at a glance, and seemingly having no capability for physical addiction. not exactly money makers.

a "what you used to be at but suck at now" would be a good thread.

palindrome: le mord nil ap
???
(ironically "palindrome" doesn't make for a good palindrome)

lol @ being an asshole - you can totally make money there!

rubyredd i wish every waitress was like you aaw

i'm good at listening to people even if they are giant dickheads
but obv this is a transferable skill

so no one's said 'fucking' eh

goes without saying.

also that can totally bring you financial gain, has "Cathouse" taught us nothing????

wait does the thread title mean wont bring you financial gain or might or might not bring you financial gain?

well yeah i think it means that e.g., one wld choose not to use one's sex skills for financial gain even if those skills were of top quality

like i am also really good at being a ruthless blood-hungry dictator but i've got it under control

yknow not making a career of it or anything, just a hobby

i completely believe that

i am also really good at cuddling kittens

crossword puzzles

PROCRASTINATION; reading fast; lazy charm; drinking forever w/o getting physically ill; smoking w/o getting addicted; weird feats of memory like remembering where I was, what music I was listening to, what I was reading, etc., in a given month and year; spelling like a demmon, immaculate self-absorption, sleeping on a bare floor, appreciating others' good qualities, walking long distances, living extremely frugally...

Some of these things could potentially be turned into gold, but, basically, I am a master at anything under the sun which has scarce or no practical value whatsoever in terms of career paths and the like.

xpost
crossword puzzles, too.

and dancing.

Making cut shots in billiards (bank shots, not so much).

I'm really good at miniature golf/putt putt. Like, I should look into participating on the pro circuit.

oh im a really good shot with a rifle - could lead to ca$h

internet time wasting.

Conceit.

internet time wasting.

Yeah, but it goes without saying that you and I and arguably the majority of ilx are without peers as far as that goes.

sleeping.

I'm good at drawing weird things and less weird things. I'm good at cajoling people into starting leg wrestling contests. I am good at being very loud (if necessary). I am good at daydreaming and reverie. I am good at coming up with names. I am good at liking things. I am good at holding out one sound for a very, very long time. My other skills can be used in one way or another towards acquiring some or another amount of dollars, or, barring that, bartering.

Unless I get that Masters in Imagineering.

While writing a covering letter for a job application I've remembered that I'm really rather good at making jump shots in pool. Feasibly this could make me money if I were to shark it out but I never have.

Ask salsa shark!