I wish I could draw/paint.

I wish I could fix something around the goddamn house. I suck at that kind of thing.

And...you?

I wish I liked marketing. I hate marketing, but sometimes you (meaning I) have to do it. Poop pee-pee bum!!

This may be a new record - poop in the second message.

I wish I could play piano. It's next on my list of things to learn.

I am going to learn to pencil sketch, and to make glass figurines.

By the way I am with you Doni on marketing, absolutely hate it, but it is at times a necessary evil.

I've been doing portraiture for years, and pencil is my favorite medium. In my opinion, Betty Edwards' way of teaching drawing, outlined in her classic Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, is the best by far. There are classes you can take, too:

http://www.drawright.com/allworkshops_1....

P.S. Marketing = Hell

P.P.S. When does poop usually show up?

Honestly, I've always wanted to be able to sing, like BELT out a song or to be able to scat like Ella Fitzgerald... or really ANYTHING like Ella Fitzgerald. I do do this, it's just probably unpleasant on the ears. I suspect I'm tone-deaf.

Doni, I draw as well. Charcoal is my favorite medium, though pencil is a close second.

I never handled charcoal well -- couldn't achieve much subtlety. Conte was fine, loved that.

I used to do portraits at fairs. Crowds would stand around watching -- the process really seems to fascinate people -- and invariably someone would say, "That must be so much fun." I used to demur ("Oh well, you know"), but one day I thought, come on, girl, admit it. After that I unabashedly said, "YEAH, it is HUGE fun!"

I wish I could do photomanipulations better! Or maybe write. Or both.

RA -> When I read the title, I expected SOMEONE out there to shout out from the gutter ;)

Oh, s--t, Tanja, I didn't even think of that.

Of course, I'm perfectly advanced in all those potential areas.

Doni wrote: "I never handled charcoal well -- couldn't achieve much subtlety. Conte was fine, loved that.

I used to do portraits at fairs. Crowds would stand around watching -- the process really seems to fasc..."

It is huge fun, but it takes me longer than a few minutes or 30 minutes to sketch a person, unless I'm keeping the detail to a minimum. And I don't like for people to be around when I sketch, weird I know.

Heidi - that was the first thing I thought of, oh how I wish I could sing!

I wish I could sing. In harmony.

I'd love to be able to rap, too. Seriously. Natalie Portman impressed me with her SNL skit.

I wish I was better at calling people back. And I wish I had stronger lungs - I'd be a runner if I could.

OHHH!!! OH! I want to run, too! I've always wanted to run, but apparently I have exercise-induced asthma and I'm flat-footed. I only recently had the exercise-induced asthma confirmed for me. I've suspected for years. I ran for the first time without wheezing this past kickball season with the aid of an inhaler. IT WAS AWESOME! Now I just need to find good running shoes that work with my flat-footedness and then I'd be THAT much closer to fulfilling that wish. Sally, we could run together! I'd be a cheerleader, I would! :)

I don't like distance running more often than not. This past week I ran a couple times because I was in a place away from hills (my house is in a city nicknamed "The City of Seven Hills") and that wasn't bad, but it's not...fun. I don't know why. I've tried. But I prefer the elliptical and running maybe three or four miles at a time, tops. It's not my lungs, etc...my shoulder hurts when I run...and later my knees a little. And I get bored.

But that's just it... even when I was a kid, I couldn't do it, Anthony. I've NEVER been able to run without wheezing.

Even when I was in the best physical condition I've ever been in (when I was training in martial arts every day, several hours a day), I couldn't run. I was the ONLY instructor (of 11) who didn't run. Everything else could handle it - my muscles, my heart, everything... except my damn lungs.

I ran around the bases for the first time without wheezing just a few months ago and it was an incredible feeling.

No need for me to improve my singing. The shower and I have a contract which serves me well. I can sing like an idiot and no one else can hear. Same applies to babies. Lullabies are EASIER to pull off.

But if I must, when I was younger I /did/ want to be a better football (soccer) player.

I played soccer throughout high school. Practice began with a two mile run, then drills, then a 40 minute scrimmage. I feel I've paid my dues in the running department. And like RA, I get bored when I exercise.

Things I wish I were better at... this sounds like an old thread, like I've talked about this before at great length, but that's probably because I go over this list once a day.... Heh. :D;

The short list:

1. I wish I could do music better. Composition/piano/guitar/vocals. I was making some progress in a couple of them until all that came to a standstill for MCATS.

2. I wish I could write better.

3. I wish I could make money better so as to not feel like such a burden to my parents.

4. I wish I could study better. I find myself easily distracted these days.

5. I wish I could love better. You know, care more, and without false motives, selflessly and reliably.

The ever ambitious Nools. :)

I also wish I could sing better, with real depth and resonance.

I wish I could draw from memory, instead of having to have a model to look at.

I wish I was more athletic, and a natural runner, instead of feeling like a huge clod thudding along the trail in misery when I try. I feel much more graceful on a bicycle, or swimming. Or doing just about anything, really.

I wish I had better vision, and could be described as having "eagle eyes", instead of being "blind as a bat." But I guess that's not something you can practice to get better at, and does not fit this thread theme. Nevermind... ;)

Everything. There are things I am good at but there isn't much I wouldn't like to do better. Maybe not whining, I probably don't need to do that better.

I also wish I had any musical ability at all. And could dance. Had better balance. Could speak more languages. Lots of stuff.

Yes, definitely languages for me too, specifically Latin, French, and Japanese (I already know enough German to get myself beaten up if I ever visit).

Same for me with writing, Angabel, I get caught up in trying to make everything sound good in the first draft and tend to get distracted and lose my flow.

If time were not an issue I have several others: become a better cook (Italian food specifically), learn a martial art (most likely Hapkido or Krav Maga), pick up the guitar again and/or learn to play piano, learn how to handle a sword and also how to care for bonsai trees.

Dancing is hopeless for me at this point. I'm way too caucasian and male...:)

With enough alcohol, Tad and I would get down on the dance floor.

That would be awesome, RA! Even after our wives fled the dance floor in shame and everyone was snickering about the two guys dancing without any women around...it would still be awesome.

Getting down and falling down are not the same thing.

You obviously haven't seen us dance, Larry...
(insert rimshot here)

Obviously. I stand corrected (but maybe a little wobbly).

You would have to drive us home, Larry. At some point or the other the bartender would say, "Who knows those goddamn assholes? Either get them out of here or I'm calling the cops." Our wives would most likely have left by then.

We're counting on you, Larry.

Lean on me.

Literally. One on each side.

tadpole, you remind me that I wish I could learn languages better. Often when I want a specific word, I can only remember it in ANOTHER language. D'oh!

I greatly admire multi-lingual people. No, not literally people with more than one tongue.

Randomanthony wrote: "Literally. One on each side."

Just remember, I may be wobbly, too.

I would like to be able to break dance. In fact, it'd be really, REALLY cool if I could dance like this guy.

I would like to be able to watch Heidi try to break dance. Although I'd admire her bravery through my amusement.

Esp. if she wore a baseball hat crooked to the side.

A Brewers hat?

Hm. Not this week.

Break dance in a Brewers hat actually does seem appropriate right about now.

Or the dizzy bat run.

Randomanthony wrote: "I would like to be able to watch Heidi try to break dance. Although I'd admire her bravery through my amusement.

Esp. if she wore a baseball hat crooked to the side."

If you laughed at me, I would bite your nose.

Kidding.

I've never bitten anyone's nose. It's all just smoke and mirrors.

Human nose bites are extremely hazardous to one's health, by the way.

C'mon Heidi! Give it your best shot!

*unfolds enormous Amazon cardboard box*





(Can you believe I have all this packaging for one small apple peeler?)

boogers

Don't flick boogers on your breakdancing surface!

You bite smoke and mirrors?