Many of you who know me can attest to the fact that there are times when I am geographically challenged. I blame this on my mother, of course. Mostly for not breast feeding me long enough (4 months) but also because she is very spacially/geographically challenged....no, geographically 'retarded' is a better word for it.
Today I added to "Revealing my Intellectual Achilles" list when I arrived at the gym. The woman who works the desk is very pleasant and we usually have a little banter before I head inside. Today she said to me, "Oh! what did you get up to today in this gorgeous sunshine?"
"Oh, my friend and I took her dog out to some lake and just had a nice picnic while the doggy played in the water...it was a beautiful spot!" I replied.
"Which lake did you go to?"
"You know, the one down the road that has the kayak rental place on it...not much of a beach but a few campsites..."
"Umm...that is the ocean, not a lake...this is an island remember??"
"Heh...right...island" as I think to myself--THAT is why the water level changed so much in the time we were there!!
She was very polite and proceeded to listed a bunch of lakes that are, in fact, in the area...
Yup. Another one to add to the list.
Washington DC, not in Washington...check.
Don't have to drive through downtown to get to Whistler from Vancouver...check.
When the water level of a 'lake' goes down dramatically in a few hours and you are on an island--you are probably staring at the ocean not a lake...check.
7 comments:
That is something I just cannot relate to. I work with a bunch of people less than half my age, who never learned how to read a map. They use the GPS to go everywhere. When the GPS does not work they are lost. Yet it is their business to not be lost.
It is like the speaker who cannot give a presentation if the projector malfunctions. They cannot read their Powerpoint to the audience.
Yup, the weird thing is I actually have good spatial skills when it comes to visualizing things that aren't visible--like chem reactions and stuff but where I am in space? No idea half the time. Unless I am in a city that I know really well like Edmonton or something...
Even a few days ago we were driving and I told my friend to go south east (I was reading from my GPS) and she did--I was dumbfounded--HOW DID YOU KNOW WHICH DIRECTION THAT WAS? She just laughed and said, um...I just knew!
I am also geographically challenged. I read an article about this, and apparently there is a brain structure that is responsible for this, but unless you develop it, it just doesn't work. Hence, googlemaps, GPS, and the end of humanities ability to detect thier relative locations.
Thank god for my iPhone.
LOL
Keet,
So I could stand on your left side, tap you on your right shoulder, and you would never figure it out?
This is better than telling the same joke over and over to the same Alzheimer's patient.
Is it getting hot in here? :-)
Just wait until neuroanatomy...I'm convinced that 50% of what I learned was just a cruel joke.
Rogue--if it was a Saturday night and you tapped Keet on the forehead he wouldn't know where you were standing!!! ;)
Couldn't resist...
BINY--it can't be as bad as the kidney...can it??? *gasp*
I have a mental block against renal physiology for some reason...it just never sticks and so I tend to get frustrated easily with the 5 different types of cells and their 2-3 unique functions...when things are going right. Never mind figuring out RTA 1, 2 and 4 (it really bothers me that 3 doesn't exist).
Neuroanatomy on the otherhand is a mass-hallucination of a 3D tangle of tracts with pseudo-latin/greek names going into and out of vague locations with non-specific functions. You'll see...it's very interesting, just STUPIDLY complex because of the non-sensical names. Then they make you name these things on pictures and on cut up brain slices...in 3D. It's not lake vs. ocean confusing, but kind of tough the first 3 times around.
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