(no subject)

[aprilstarchild]

Got one of the newest ADD books, by Hallowell and Ratey (they're sorta the gold standard on ADD books, they wrote Driven to Distraction, the first ADD book written for the public). It's called Delivered from Distraction. It's written in a slightly more humorous tone than in the past, and that's fine with me. I also like that they write books that aren't "dumbed down." Lots of ADD people have trouble reading, either from dyslexia or inability to focus, so books written for them have large type or a less complicated vocabulary. Grrr. I'm not stupid.

In any case, what everybody seems to emphasize over and over, is finding something you're good at and pursuing it. Not just because you'll be more likely to find a career you can stick with, but because if you've failed at things in life over and over, it's a huge self-esteem boost to be good at something.

I am notoriously bad at self-awareness (yeay, another typical ADD thing). So I'm asking you people:

WTF am I good at?

It doesn't have to be something that I could necessarily be paid to do.

Totally random: Someone is performing Personal Jesus on TV right now, on Fox. I don't know what Depeche Mode looks like, so I have no idea if that's who I'm looking at.

Comments

dom

[silverrose79.livejournal.com]

this weeks people has an article on lost, It also aludes/mentions what alot of people have been speculating that he and the actress who plays kate are dating.

Re: dom

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

Oooh, really? I get paid on Tuesday, hopefully it'll still be on the shelf.

fidgeting

[5minutelimit.livejournal.com]

The was an article in the paper last week about a study showing that people who fidget are more likely to be lean, less likely to have weight problems, than calmer people.
So, to every meditation-Nazi who has ever told you or me to hold still:
Nya-nya-nyanya-nya!
So you should explore some more ocupational/creative fidgeting. You already knit. What else can you think of? LET your mind wander (another thing you are good at, so think of it as a creative process not a fault!) on what you could create with your hands and where it could go...

Re: fidgeting

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

I saw that article! Made me giggle.

I'm not a terribly fast knitter, but I enjoy spinning so much I've wondered if I could sell hand-spun yarn. I'd have to learn to use a wheel (I only know drop-spindle). Plus it would give me an excuse to own goats. *lol*

[sagcat.livejournal.com]

knitting and writing come immediately to mind. I'll think of more later, I'm sure, and then I'll feel bad for not including them here. But... you strike me as incredibly talented and capable, so those things that interest you are things i think you can tackle.

Your ADD (for me) shows itself when you lose track of a conversation, so I'd suggest *not* be a pshych therapist ;-) or something that requires you to be a good listener. =-b (says the guy who talks to much)

otherwise, i'm flumoxed to think of things you *wouldn't* be good at.

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

What's odd to me is that I don't realize that I lose track of conversations a lot. For a while I was convinced that I didn't have that aspect of ADD. Ha!

Re: writing. I have been told I'm a good writer. However, getting me to do it is another question. Vast majority of college (or high school!) classes that I've failed were due to papers I didn't write. When I do write them, I get really high grades, though. I've fetl guilty many a time for banging out a five page paper the night before it's due, feeling like I did a shitty job, and getting one of the highest grades in the class on that assignment. In a poli sci class (admittedly, I liked the subject, and that teacher laid out his exact expectations in a way that made the paper ridiculously easy), I wrote a paper in one day that got a perfect score--the only one.

If the topic is interesting I can write stuff I'm damn proud of. But expecting a steady output....oy!

Something I've considered is being an editorial writer. But I don't know if I can stand to watch politics closely enough to write the kind of things that get published in mainstream magazines and newspapers. They remind me too much of shitty debate shows where nobody actually brings up the truly important shit and instead argues about stupid things that seem important.

Also, I don't write fiction. I just....don't. It's never appealed to me and I've never been good at it.

[sagcat.livejournal.com]

I bet you could hammer out some quality harry/hermione slashfic. =-)

(i've started reading HPOotP again)

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

Speaking in terms of canon, of course:

Harry/Hermione is just wrong. Harry/Ginny? Sure. Harry/Luna Lovegood? A bit tricky, but a good author could make it believable. Harry knows she isn't as crazy as she appears, and they have something in common that most people don't (the whole people that they love dying thing--him with Sirius and her with her mother) and understand each other better than a lot of people. Same for Ginny--outside of her early crush on Harry, they're friends now and have both had run-ins with Voldemort, she's only a year younger and she's probably quite attractive.

Ron/Hermione is a hell of a lot more likely. The way they react around each other in four and five, it's obvious that Ron has a crush on her and refuses to admit it. This is especially evident when Hermione mentions Viktor Krum. I doubt the feeling is returned, but she has two more books to go and Ron will probably start to grow up a little.

And as a random side note: slash, technically speaking, is homoerotic by definition. Het pairings have gotten the convention of being designated by /, just like slash pairings are (it being, of course, the origin of the term slash), but erotic het fiction is relatively new on the fandom front and isn't part of the term.

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

Rereading this, I realize I've thought about this WAY too much. *lol*

[sagcat.livejournal.com]

Aside from your problem with the use of the term "slash" for het-fic...

Harry Potter started off as a kid. He's not anymore. He's the main character in a story about adventure. In every such story throughout history... he's the guy who gets the girl.

J.K. Rowling has been so uncharacteristically heavy-handed in dropping her Ron/Hermione hints that it simply has to be a red herring.

Why was Hermione sorted into Gryffindor? I mean that as a topic of discussion. I thnk it was Ernie McMillan who first voiced "why the hell is this girl not in Ravenclaw?" Well? Clearly the Sorting Hat knew that she was needed in Gryffindor and sorted her there despite the apparent mis-fit of her and her house. This is not that she's not brave, but a Gryffindor doesn't go around raising their hand in class and nagging her housemates to do their homework.

My take on question I posed is that she was put into Gryffindor because Harry was put into Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat knew damn well what to do with her: put her in a position to save the world. The Hat may have even been instructed to do so by Dumbledore.

Their bond (H/H) is way more significant than the bond between Ron and either of them. I'd go so far as to say Ron's expendable, story-wise. Hermione is ultimately the feminine power that balances the male (Harry) in the entire story. She is the goddess to his god.

Take for example (there are many such examples in the books) when Draco uses the phrase "I'll be dogging you" on the Hogwort's Express in year 5. H & H immediately understand that Draco had seen Sirius on the platform (and the implications, as it really meant Lucious had seen him) and Ron sat there stuffing his face with chocolate frogs. Oblivious. Clueless as always. Haryy and Hermione? Exchanging meaningful looks in silence. It's not Ron's fault. Ron is who he is - he's his father's son. He is cool by association. He's the frelling SIDEKICK. (for another example, see how H&H save Sirius while Ron is the damsel in distress in PoA.)

Have you EVER read an epic adventure in which the leading lady and *the leading man's sidekick* get together?

Count yourself among the millions of people who have completely had the wool pulled over their eyes by JKR with her "hints" that Ron & Hermione are meant to be a couple. And it's only "hints" if you could call being hit with a 2x4 in the nose a "hint."

But we'll see come july, eh?

And you can go ahead and send the H/H to my email ;-)

[axiom.livejournal.com]

Strange. I would have thought the answer to this would have been fairly obvious.

Take the three things you are good at:

- Analyzing ADHD
- Talking to people
- Writing

and mix them together. Still don't see it? Hmm.

I would imagine something fairly advanced in the medical field. Probably a Phd in something that would have you designing clinical trials and publishing research that would help other people find the answers you wish you had every day. Go talk to your b.f. about it. He can point you in the right direction.

Just take it one step at a time. Start with one night class per term. Then two when you can handle it.

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

See Matt's answer above. *lol* I'm good at talking but not listening. I had this conversation with my mom several years ago:

"You should be a therapist, you're talkative."
"Yeah, but then I'd be listening to other people talk."

I've thought about doing some sort of ADD advocacy work. Public education and whatnot through CHADD (Children and Adults with ADD) or something. But figuring out the intracacies of educational policy and arguing about disability rights...dunno if that appeals to me.

I've seriously considered getting an MPA: Master's in Public Administration. Evergreen has that program, for pete's sake. Assuming I get that far, I wouldn't even have to move! I don't see myself wanting to work in a for-profit thing anyway, no matter what, really.

As far as psychology: Studying general psychology (or getting a med degree and doing psychiatry) is another thing that never really appealed to me. Sociology has fascinated the hell out of me, but psych classes? Poking through some of Miguel's textbooks has been intrigueing, but mostly because of the humorous (to me anyway) realization that he's going to be paid by people to manipulate them--especially for family therapy. People are going to give him money to do, what most people would be pissed off if a friend or relative did.

Another option I've considered is doing what Kurt (Koenbear)'s partner does, which is teaching at a school specifically for ADD/LD kids. I've thought about being a teacher before, but the idea of dealing with the public school system is enough to make me run screaming. But in a charter or smaller private school, dealing with kids who remind me of myself? I might not mind teaching them social studies. :-)

Speaking of that school: GRRR!! I wish I'd known about it before!! It's called Thomas Edison, it's middle and high school, and it's adjunct to Jesuit high school--it's in the same building, so if you want to you can take classes at Jesuit. Small class sizes, and everything is about helping ADD/LD teens learn--and support them in becoming students who will learn at a "normal" college. The material is still challenging, but they take ADD stuff into account. I wasn't diagnosed until post-high school, but Christ! Why didn't my brother Chris' counselors tell my parents about it? They have financial aid! I'm the only one of my siblings who did the cap and gown thing...that's so goddamn sad. Chris would have done a LOT better there.