[geeks] RE: [rescue] OT: ADD - MOVING to geeks

[Geek]

Ok, I will quote your message because I need to disseminate this clearly
and accurately.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Hebel" <nimitz at owc.net>
To: <geeks at sunhelp.org>
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 2:28 PM
Subject: Re: [geeks] RE: [rescue] OT: ADD - MOVING to geeks


> Please forgive the follwing vulgarity:
>
> Bullshit.
If that is the worst I see this year, I'll be lucky.

> If you're bright enough to post here and not constantly get flamed -
> then you're bright enough to learn things.  Hell, you learned how to
> post simple text e-mail - and in lower-case no less.  You're far
better
> than most online users right there. '-)

Have you not been reading this list? Or are most of the flames I get in
private? I do get flamed, but not as much as I used to. I learnt early
on in my net life that it is wise to watch and learn, before making an
ass out of ones self. That's why I watched this list for nearly  a month
before a friend I recommended outed me. I don't see posting here as a
necessary sign of intelligence.

> I went through more years than I could count listening to people tell
me
> I was dumb.  I'd never amount to anything.

I still hear and feel this constantly

> It took me years to _fail_ to accept that answer.  It took me several
> independant intelligence tests to prove that to myself - IQ 153. (Not
> that that buys me a cup of coffee anywhere but you get the idea.)
> Had I listened to those people I would have stopped trying long ago.
> Even now I'm climbing out of the personal hole I made for myself
because
> of them.

The last test of intelligence I took was one that told me I had ADD.
That was in Grade 7, more then a decade ago. I have never taken an IQ
test, nor any other form of test that qualitatively says I am or am not
smart, intelligent or bright. I don't plan to. I know me, I know my
limitations. I read the post  that led to my reply and checked off many
things that had always been problems. For instance, I lie in bed, trying
to get to sleep, for an average of 3 hours. Trying to stay up until dead
tired doesn't help, as it still takes hours to fall asleep. The
descriptions of mind racing when the head hits the pillow are entirely
accurate.

I thought it was insomnia, as I have only noticed this a lot as of the
last year or so, but my a couple ex's told me recently that this was a
problem back then(2 and 4 years respectively) so I assume this was
always happening. I try not to listen to the people who tell me that I
cannot do what I want, which is to work with computers. I hear so many
people tell me that the only thing I can do is menial shit that bores me
and I quickly end up missing work and losing the job. I have gone
through this pattern a dozen times before.

> That's why I'm so vehemently responding to you about it.  I won't let
> anyone utter words to the effect "I'm not smart." in my presence
because
> short of major brain damage it's never true.

Ok, I will rephrase. I am not as intelligent and as knowledgeable as 95%
of this list. Better?

> I would put these thought to you:
>
> 1) You have a hard time learning anything because:
>
>     a) You were never taught to learn properly.
>     b) You have a problem that you have overlooked over the years.
>     c) You haven't found anything interesting enough to you to learn.
>     d) You're attempting to learn things for other people, not
yourself.

A: Very likely, or never given the time to learn the right way for me.
B: I have tried to overcome my ADD without medication or outside
assistance(indeed I was ashamed of it for a long time) and admit now
that I have failed miserably.
C: I find computers and the web fascinating, I like trying to figure out
how to get computers to do what I want, but get easily frustrated when
things do not work out.
D: That is possible, but I would apply that to trying to learn other
jobs other then those in my field of interest, though in school I was
trying to learn something(Windows admin) that I did not want to learn.

> 2) You have no special aptitude for anything because you haven't found
> something "special" to you.

I am rather fond of computers....

> 3) You _are_ smarter than most people - you just don't know it yet.

Interesting theory, but I have yet to see it proven. I mean I guess it
depends on the most people to which you refer. If you took a sampling of
this list, then no. If you took a sampling of Windows users, then yeah,
no doubt about it. Perspective is everything in that, I think.

> Don't put yourself down or you'll end up stuck there.

I try not to, but it has grown to become a habit, one I wish it were as
easy to break, as it is to diagnose.

> [/minor_rant]
>
> Mike Hebel

Dwight Wallbridge,

Geek's World http://www.geeksworld.net
Geek Blog http://www.geekblog.net/