Ten on Tuesday
Ten Things I Wish I Knew How To Do
- Cure poverty, disease, and humanity's inhumanity. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, starting with my son. This one goes without saying. I wish I could do it; I wish anyone or everyone could do it. Since I know no one can, I do a little here and there, and I usually keep my mind on more mundane things...
- Sew. On a sewing machine. Make it go whirrrrrr and purrrrrr and tacktacktacktacktack and, ten minutes later, have a high-fashion wedding gown. I know it's just a matter of practice, it's like any other motor skill — well, maybe not to wedding-gown level — but whenever I sit down at a sewing machine it makes a fool of me.
- Sing. I totally love to sing, and I can barely carry a simple melody.
- Dance. Or any other athletic endeavor, for that matter. I was born a klutz, and if I practice an athletic skill a lot, I can advance to beginner level.
- Speak in public, without my words in front of me, and without having rehearsed them 50 times. I'm a professional writer because I'm too slow verbally ever to get the words right.
- Fly. All right, so this one's not so mundane. I used to dream I could fly all the time.
- Keep my house clean. Well, I could, but it would involve getting rid of stuff, and I'm a born pack rat. So are my husband and my daughter.
- Travel. China, India, Australia, every country in Europe, a million tiny islands.
- Learn every language there is or ever was. At least all the ones we know enough about.
- Travel back in time. Really far back. Meet Mohammed, Caesar, Hatshepsut, the First Knitter. (The languages would come in handy.)
posted by Lucia at
4:34 PM
4 Comments:
Your one more is everything at the top of the list. Yes, I want to fly too. And travel everywhere. Without airplanes preferably, and without scrambling my molecules in a transporter.
By
Laurie, at 6:34 AM
OK, you already know how to clothe the naked - one stitch at a time. Oh, you wanted to clothe ALL the naked? At once? But some people LIKE to swing that way. Is it ok if I'm naked in the bathtub? When romantically involved? What do you have against nudity anyway?
And if you had all those languages and went back in time, you would probably TEACH the first knitter, committing an untenable paradox, so isn't a great that we don't have to deal with yet?
Singing improves with practice. Enjoy yourself.
Sewing improves with practice, but you have to walk before you win marathons. It's ok to start with an apron or something. And it's ok to do a crappy job until you get the kinesthetic skills down.
Yeah, I also wish I could fly. No ammount of practice has helped yet.
By
roxie, at 8:52 AM
Wonderful list!
By
Cookie, at 8:55 PM
A couple years ago I had a dream that I could fly. I felt wonderful when I woke up -- the feeling lasted for a couple of days. ::sigh::
Great list!
By
Anonymous, at 9:39 PM
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