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Are there some things that you cannot learn?

104 replies

Frequency · Yesterday 21:35

I don't mean things like how to be a morning person, or to change your life, or think like a rich person, or any other such bollocks. I mean skills that should be learnable, things that have a right way and a wrong way, like, for example, Blender.

I'm WFH now, so I have more spare time in the evening. I decided it would be fun to learn how to make animations - nothing serious, just funny little animated people doing silly things.

After two hours of trying to turn blobs into something that vaguely resembled a human, I realised you can download free people-shaped blobs. Three hours into trying to get my people-shaped blob to move like a person, I realised you can download special control rigs. Another hour later, my people-shaped blob was no longer people-shaped. Poor Blob was a distorted smudge across the screen.

It then occurred to me that Blender was not going to be one of the things I could learn while doing and by reading online tutorials, and I should probably start from the basics.

I've spent two and a half hours tonight trying to flatten a cube. In spite of spending two and a half hours on this, I am only 20 minutes into the course because I have to keep going back. The lady from the video course is making me feel stabby, and it is no longer fun; it is the opposite of fun, but I will not be beaten by a software that a primary-aged child could master.

Is it me? Is it Blender? Are there just some things that some people will never be able to master no matter how determined they are?

OP posts:
SereneReader · Yesterday 22:59

Flat pack furniture assembly.

Gengha · Yesterday 22:49

I also can’t do crochet. I’m convinced I need an extra hand to master it

Gengha · Yesterday 22:47

TheIncredibleBookEatingManchot · Yesterday 22:38

Chess.

I understand the rules but I don't know how to play strategically. I can only play one move at a time and just try not to have too many pieces taken. I don't know how people can look at the board and think, "if I move that pawn there, then take the bishop, then move the queen to the side, then after a couple of moves of the knight it'll be checkmate."

How can you see that, and not just a jumble of pieces?

Ah, I have got better at this. It’s about recognising moves, patterns etc. I’m still fairly shit at chess but I did lessons and games on an app and I’m way better than I was a year ago.

MurunBuchstansangursCousinRossiter · Yesterday 22:47

Anything computer related. I can just about do emails and the internet but that’s it. I get hopelessly confused by the difference between iCloud and Gmail and why sometimes it won’t let me send an email or I can’t see my sent emails… I just can’t learn it. I can try and try and it just doesn’t lodge in my brain. If I ever have a problem I ask ChatGPT and it starts going on and I end up typing STOP I DON’T UNDERSTAND ANY OF WHAT YOU JUST SAID SPEAK TO ME AS IF YOU ARE EXPLAINING TO A SMALL CHILD and sometimes I get there in the end but everything immediately disappears from my brain the instant I stop.

I’ve got a real blockage.

maggiesleapp · Yesterday 22:46

@ShakaWhenTheWallsFell I am exactly the same! Friends are amazed but not as much as I am of them that it comes as natural as breathing 🤷🏻‍♀️

Gengha · Yesterday 22:45

Eyesopenwideawake · Yesterday 21:39

Knitting. Never did. Never will.

This

Also sewing

My gran was amazing at both. The gene passed me by.

RedFatball · Yesterday 22:44

Ice skating. So many people have tried to teach me and my brain simply will not understand. Also roller skating.

LambriniBobInIsleworthISeesYa · Yesterday 22:43

Languages. Five long years of French and I can basically only say hello and goodbye. Tried Dualingo several times for several languages and just can’t do it. Have made my peace with it now. All the more irritating because my mother has a degree in French and German and started her working life as a bilingual secretary. My sister is dreadful at languages too. My 12yr old has had an excellent first year of Spanish and came top of her class in the end of year exams, so I’m hoping that it’s skipped a generation.

TheyGrewUp · Yesterday 22:38

Singing/recognising notes/clapping a beat

Ball sports (catching, hotting, throwing) I can't do it and find it pointless.

I couldn't give a toss about chatgpt or ai. I like to know my sources.

TheIncredibleBookEatingManchot · Yesterday 22:38

Chess.

I understand the rules but I don't know how to play strategically. I can only play one move at a time and just try not to have too many pieces taken. I don't know how people can look at the board and think, "if I move that pawn there, then take the bishop, then move the queen to the side, then after a couple of moves of the knight it'll be checkmate."

How can you see that, and not just a jumble of pieces?

SereneGoose · Yesterday 22:38

WorkCleanRepeat · Yesterday 22:19

I came to say this. 43 years and I still struggle with it.

I use the 'L' my thumb and fore finger make to remind me...HTH...

GreenEyesMillennial · Yesterday 22:35

ScottBakula · Yesterday 21:54

Maths
It just doesn't make sense to me at all , even very basic maths.

Same

backformoreofthesame · Yesterday 22:35

Most people can learn most things given enough time and motivation but some things are very very hard and so take lots of time and effort and it’s usually a mismatch between desire to do something and time you are willing to spend it

Minasama · Yesterday 22:34

RaraRachael · Yesterday 22:27

I can't crochet. I tried doing squares for a blanket but for some reason I couldn't get them to be flat- they rose up in the middle like some sort of woollen willie warmer.

I have never been able to figure out how to crochet. I’ve tried following tons of YouTube videos.

Justaboutawake · Yesterday 22:34

Cartwheels and forward rolls

Backward roll? Easy….

43 and given up trying to master the above after 38 years of trying

unabashedopossum · Yesterday 22:33

Cantonese- it just would not stick and I found even basic tourist phrases really hard.

Minasama · Yesterday 22:33

I never mastered wiring a plug, and struggle with flat pack furniture. Learning to drive was a long and arduous process.

Openmouthinsertfood · Yesterday 22:32

Twitter. I just don't get how to reply to a post, to see others replies to posts...?

OwMyBackandKneesAndHips · Yesterday 22:31

I'm famous for my ability to break excel spreadsheets.
Just can't work it!

Also crochet.

XenoBitch · Yesterday 22:30

Oh, and learning a language. My brain wont let me do anything apart from translating word for word in order.
I managed to get a D in GCSE French, but I was just mimicking. There was no way I really understood it. Like a parrot 😂

Sunnybeachday · Yesterday 22:28

Knitting, crocheting and sewing (basically any needlework stuff). My brain just Nopes
I’m quite crafty otherwise, but I prefer crafts with more instant gratification, so maybe that’s it :)

RaraRachael · Yesterday 22:27

I can't crochet. I tried doing squares for a blanket but for some reason I couldn't get them to be flat- they rose up in the middle like some sort of woollen willie warmer.

XenoBitch · Yesterday 22:26

dizzydizzydizzy · Yesterday 22:22

The meaning of bodg language and facial expressions.

Poetry

And sport with ‘complicated’ rules (tennis OK, netball not OK)

I’m autistic.

I can relate about the sports thing. Team stuff makes my head spin with all the different positions, and how each player has their own strengths an attributes. Then there is the strategy... I just do not get it at all
At school, I was always goal defence because it was pretty much stopping the ball going in the net (and jumping whilst waving your arms about).

BoogieVoogieAllNightLong · Yesterday 22:25

YES! Another one for crochet. Just can't do it. I can knit and follow reasonably complicated patterns but crochet defeats me every time. Every time I try I just end up thinking how much faster I could knit whatever it is anyway.

Someone once told me that, if they were music, knitting would be Mozart and crochet would be jazz!

dizzydizzydizzy · Yesterday 22:22

The meaning of bodg language and facial expressions.

Poetry

And sport with ‘complicated’ rules (tennis OK, netball not OK)

I’m autistic.

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