I came across a blogger who wrote about things she wished she were better at. (Please read it here) I found it funny and enlightening (mostly funny) and joked in the comments that I was going to steal the idea.  After thinking about it, I realized that it was no joke.

I wish I were better at ignoring the noise of other people’s music on the bus. It isn’t as if my hearing is fantastic, but just something about those low bass squelches (I can’t really call it music) that I hear bleeding out of their ears really bothers me and ruins most of my commutes.

I wish I were better at meeting women in bars. I know, a hello is better than a pickup line, but it just doesn’t seem to feel like that.  Maybe I am going to the wrong bars.  That’s probably not true either.  Last week I went to a bar and saw at least 6 women that I found very attractive and others who were attractive.  I should probably go back there.

I wish I were better at marking my student’s writing. Maybe better isn’t the word.  Maybe more diligent is a more appropriate word.  If there is one thing I am good at, it is procrastinating.  Once the number of papers gets beyond ten, I just don’t want to look at them.

I wish I were better at climbing hills on my bicycle. Though the remedy for this seems obvious (practice) there is a psychological part of this that is much more difficult.  I am better at following people than I am soloing it.  With someone in front, I have something to concentrate on.  With nobody around, I start to get  in my head that I can’t do it and I should just give up.  Again, the solution seems obvious, (follow someone) but it isn’t that obvious.  I’ve got to find someone who matches my pace exactly (ebbs and flows) and that is not easy.  Having someone go too slow is a momentum killer (even if you pass them and feel heroic for a second or two) and having them roar off in the distance is a bit disheartening.

I wish I were better at cooking. I won’t starve and I won’t have to feast on cereal for the rest of my life, but I can’t make all the food that I want.  I also can’t seem to summon up the motivation to learn to cook what I want, or even attempt to cook what I want.  I guess that is why we are blessed with pizza parlours and Chipotle.

I wish I were better at drawing. While I feel (immodestly) that I have some talent for words, I really can’t sketch anything into a likeable image.  Even my stick figures confound my students.  If I were better at drawing, I could probably work in the comics industry.  This has been a dream of mine for a long time, and despite my age, it hasn’t abated one bit.

I wish I were better at reading my cat’s mind. Maybe then I would know what he thinks of me and why he does some of the frustrating things he does–like scratch up my couch.

I wish I were better at resisting appetite for pizza and chocolate. This is pretty much self explanatory.

What do you wish you were better at?