I thought it about time that I put finger to keypad and lay down some observations for my challenge over at Jed’s site Okay What If?

In the latest challenge which you can view HERE, I asked:

 Okay, What if you went to bed one night and the next morning you awoke to find you were able to do three things that you couldn’t the night before. That can be anything, new skills, new talents, give it your best shot.

As I am sure you can imagine the options are endless, skills that could make me rich, popular and successful to name but a few. Me, I don’t want any of those things, I’m perfectly happy being ordinary thank you very much.

So smarty pants, you quite rightly ask, what would your new skills be. Well if you hang around just a little longer I shall tell you.

Drumming

By this I don’t mean my fingers on my desk to express irritation, any Eejit can do that, I mean drumming of epic rock band proportions with actual drumsticks. I found out many years ago that the rapping of pencils on a bean tin while providing a nice little rhythm didn’t quite cut it.

I’ve always been fascinated by the rhythm and beat that someone with skill can extract from a drum kit. I was lucky enough in my younger years to have a friend in a band who excelled in this art. I was allowed to try a few times but the result was nothing short of horrendous, making the very foundations of the barn in which we were housed shake.

Sadly it quickly became apparent that while I liked rhythm, I didn’t fecking have any. It was then that my hopes of becoming a professional drummer were abandoned.

Sign Language

I would love to know sign language. I once had a friend whose parents were deaf and it was mesmerising watching him converse in what to me felt like a secret language. It amazes me that in schools they teach foreign languages yet do not offer something that could be more beneficial to every day life. I have a qualification in French but I’ve never been to France. I have however met people with hearing impairments who I wish I could have conversed with, but was unable to.

That said, there is nothing stopping me trying now, despite the fact that my brain does not retain information like it once did. My friends daughter, the little girl who I adore can sign makaton and she is only four years old, I have been trying to learn little bits and pieces but I’m only up to a few words.

If you’re not sure how much better my learning of sign language as opposed to French would have been, then watch this video, yes it’s an advert, but just look at the reaction being greeted with sign language gets.

Sketching / Driving

Ok I realise that is actually two more skillz, but I’m balancing between what other people would want for me and what I would want for myself.

I can’t drive, it’s not something that I am proud of and I feel for others around me it is one of my biggest let downs. I just don’t have the confidence and even though I try to explain my feelings on the subject, no one ever really listens. I was never a great passenger after being involved in a couple of accidents, but what clinched the deal for me was later being involved in one where there was a fatality, albeit that it was not as a direct result of the collision. Perhaps someday I will pluck up the courage, but for now I get the shakes just thinking about it.

Of course, if I were to go to sleep one night and wake up the next morning just automatically knowing how to drive it would be amazing, but I would also have to receive an injection of confidence along with that injection of knowledge.

For me I’d love to be able to sketch and draw properly. I can doodle away to my hearts content, in fact I am quite adept at telephone doodling these days.

But I’d love to be able to draw more than silly characters and eyes, don’t ask, I appear to have a bit of a thing for drawing eyes and half faces with wild hair. On days when the train WiFi is being an arse I’d love to sit and sketch away while listening to music on the pod. For now though I’ll just have to keep doodling.

What would your skillz be? There is still time to tell us :)