Hand Talking

I purchased a set of buckyballs on woot.com and they have since arrived in the mail. If you do not know, Bucky Balls are a bunch of tiny magnetic balls that serve no particular purpose but are advertised as stress relief. You hold the mass of magnets in your hand and can squeeze them like a stress ball or form them into shapes like playdough. It makes for way more entertainment then a bunch of magnets should and I have found myself constantly playing with them, forming them into shapes and setting them up to reverse polarities and whatnot.

My staff and friends and even Tenshi have also taken great pleasure in my investment (they are a bit expensive) because I can tear a pile of magnets out and hand them to several people at once to play with. In short, I am constantly fidgeting with the magnets and this has had some interesting results.

I've known for years that I am a kinesthetic learner. For those of you not familiar, there are studies that say people have three different learning styles, audial, meaning they learn best from hearing things, visual, which means they learn best by seeing things, and kinesthetic which means they learn best by touching things. In the academic word, this is why a professor has powerpoint slides (visual) says things out loud (audial) and encourages you to take notes (kinesthetic). Since everyone has all three types (though some stronger than others) lessons like this address all learners.

I am very kinesthetic. I process information better if I have something in my hands that doesn't really require my mental attention but still gives me something to do. People say my hands have a mind of their own because I gesture wildly when I'm speaking and am known to usually talk with my hands. In interviews, this can be distracting, so I have to actively curb my descriptive motions. Otherwise, I can come off as flailing even if I think it helps make more points clearer. I think I've mentioned how my staff refers to my James Claws and it has become a type of meme for my team these days. The point being, buckyballs have given me something to do with my hands and I have seen direct improvement in my concentration on conversations and meetings, where sometimes my mind would wander because I'm not a very audial learner. I think its great and a wonderful self study, I just hope that buckyballs look professional and not rude when I make magnetic dinosaurs on my table during staff meetings ;) I promise I'm listening!!

I do have a quote from you that I heard today from Clark. To give you some context, Alejandro is back to staying with us for a bit, and he, Brock, Clark and I were catching up and swapping amusing stories. I brought up how sometimes Brock has secret lovers over for brief periods of passionate exchange. Often Brock will text us innocently asking when we would come home. In this specific occasion he had not texted me, only Clark. I began my story:

"I come home and stop in the entrance and go, 'Something in this apartment has changed'"

Without skipping a beat Clark whispers, "It's his sin sensor"

We all laugh. I go on to describe how I'll notice that the blinds have been closed or the coffee table has shifted or our giant stuffed bear looks particularly disheveled or some other specific addition. I can't help but make assumptions when I notice these changes, but I'm trying not to assume there are frequent unions in my living room. Sometimes, I just happen to be right. Keeps us on our toes I guess.

I don't think I have much in other news. I'm currently in the process of choosing a graduate school, which will determine my living location for this summer, so I guess the sad news is that by this years end I probably won't be living with Clark and Brock any more. The blog updates will keep coming, but I feel like I won't have as many funny stories for you. I'm going to have to find some other quirkies in my life that are comfortable with my sharing their business publicly. I also hope I never cross that line with Clark or especially Brock and Naysayer P Smith, whom I talk the most about. Imagine what I'm not telling you if I'm holding stuff back though :)

Goodnight for now!

Currently reading: Rediscovering Catholicism- all Lent long

Currently listening to: Alejandro play Dragon Age in the other room. On an unrelated note, should I buy a guitar? I am strongly considering it though I have absolutely zero musical talent.

Currently playing: Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West which is a simpler Team Fortress 2 with cowboys. Actually very very fun!