A New Skill

Picking up a new skill is hard.  It’s why it’s best to start early.  I learned how to play the piano when I was seven and even though I quit at age twelve, the habits of fitting my fingers in crazy positions was not difficult for me.  It’s why later playing the clarinet, using a QWERTY keyboard, and recently learning how to use this Steno keyboard is not such a difficult thing for me.

It certainly has given me an edge in my court reporting program.  It did not take me long at all to figure out what the alphabet was like on the Steno machine, how to form words, and given that I do have a strong vocabulary background, I managed to pass my theory class in less than three months.

This is not to brag.  Well… maybe a little.  But the fact is that I have unknowingly prepared to use this Steno machine for a good portion of my life, really before I even knew that this was a career.

New Year’s rolled around and I wanted a new talent.  Something that has dazzled me since I was seven, stirred the imagination whenever I’d read about it, and bring so much jealousy when I see it on TV.  This year, I resolved that I was going to pick up this skill no matter what.

Turns out that juggling three balls is harder than learning shorthand ever could be.  Heck, just throwing two balls around is more of a pain than I’d expected.

It’s not catching the balls that’s difficult.  Anybody can do that part.  The trouble is the throwing.  The key to good juggling is controlling how the ball is thrown from one hand to the other.  You have to make sure that it goes in a perfect arc and the only way you know you’ve succeeded is when you don’t have to move your hand to catch the ball.  It just falls into your palm as easily as ice cream touches the tongue.

I have not one gotten mad at the machine.  Exasperated, but never mad.  I have cussed at those bright multi-colored bean bags.

We’ll see how dedicated I am after another month of this.