What are you bloody brilliant at?

[JustASmidgen]

Inspired by another post about what people can’t do.. what CAN you do?

I can:
Whistle through my tongue when it’s rolled up
Play the piano and guitar by ear (not at same time)
Remember birthdays
Balance on one foot for a VERY long time without wobbling

All useful life skills, as you can imagine.

Remembering things
Asking questions
Time keeping
Organising - especially time wise
Being ‘on’ socially for about 10 minutes
knowing what works style wise (got a good eye)
My judgements in other people are excellent
Anticipating problems 😳

😂 it is not

If you don’t mind me asking - what’s your career? Sounds like something I would really enjoy!

In the broadest sense it's process / product development and improvement. I have a really niche, specific job title so I won't say that, but it's a mix of Product Management and Business Analysis.

I kinda fell into it, and was very lucky to have a great manager recognise what I could do and "push" me towards it.

I pick up languages super fast
Good at writing - I am responsible for creating and reviewing a lot of documentation at my workplace
Make great scones
Calm and authoritative in an emergency
Cat whisperer
Good at recognising people even after years

I can conjure up a meal from a few basic ingredients and rarely use a recipe. I’m currently emptying my freezer of all the stuff I’ve frozen because it had reached its use by date.

My stew is legendary, friends often ask for my recipe but I cook with my imagination and ability to work out what I need to add to achieve the flavour I want, so tell them it’s a secret family recipe.
If I do follow a recipe I rarely stick to it and have no problem substituting if I don’t have all the ingredients. DH and I rarely eat out because DH prefers my cooking. He is going through a curry phase at the moment which I’m loving because I get to try out recipes my Indian boss gives me.

I’m also a pretty good baker. My DS used to tell me that I ought to enter GBBO but I don’t consider my baking is anywhere near the standard of my late DM. We don’t tend to eat a lot of sweet stuff at home so when I get the urge to bake it is usually for my colleagues at work ( I’m almost retired but still do a day a week).

We have had some really interesting meals this week.
I am currently defrosting chicken breasts and some home made sweet potato and red pepper soup. I’m going to add some tomato puree and spices to make a curry tomorrow. Or use it to make a sauce to go with whatever pasta is in the cupboard.
I found some sourdough dough so will make garlic bread as well.

I bought some cold press coffee ( new to Tescos) which will be great for making affogatos with the last of the vanilla ice-cream.

Then it’s off to Waitrose to stock up on interesting food for the summer. Also to our local butcher to stock up on barbecue food.

Since retiring and DS leaving for uni I have found a new enthusiasm for batch freezing.
When I was working full time I never really had the energy or time to organise a freezer properly. Particularly because our local Tescos is on the way home.

Taking complex information and explaining it in relatable layman's terms. Our comms department have me on speed dial. I love an analogy!
I'm also a really good judge of character.

Belong to two choirs and two choral societies and I'm one of very few who can sight read music. Faultless spelling, punctuation and grammar. But can't change a wheel or wire a plug

I’m also incredibly calm in an emergency. I’m able to control any panic and organise what needs to be done. Years working under high levels of stress in healthcare means I can think really clearly.
When my DH had a stroke, I had my coat on, had got DS to help him into the living room and was on the phone to emergency services in less than a minute. I then sent my DS outside to wait for the ambulance. DH was having a CT scan within an hour of his symptoms starting.
If it had been the other way round DH would have been flapping like a headless chicken for 30mins. He is not someone you would want around in a crisis.
I also found out that DS is like me and is really good at dealing with emergencies. We have a community defibrillator in the phonebox at the end of our road (20metres away).After a few seconds of assessing what was going on with his dad, he asked if I wanted him to run down and fetch it, he was 17 at the time. He used to come with me to our CPR training every year at work until he started school and obviously took it all in. He had no problem when they did CPR courses at school. He has always said that he would have no problem having a go if he needed to.
When our dog injured her spine last year, after the initial shock he ran inside for his car keys. Scooped up the dog and me and we were at the vets in minutes. He was very upset but his quick action meant that she has made a really good recovery. His friend who was frozen to the spot couldn’t believe how quickly he went into action mode.

I have a 100% track record in talking anyone out of hiccups!

Drive old and new cars, vans, and "utes" (utility vans).

Get on well/ look after/ naturally bring out the best in 7- 12 year olds.

Maybe not exactly brilliant, but I'd say I'm rather good at removing eye bags from my photos. I mean, everyone could be good at that, there are guides and makeup tips, but I'd like to believe I'm amazing at doing that. At least I don't look this tired in my pictures as opposed to me in the mirror.

Wordle, and word games/spelling in general. Spelling's been large focus of my career over 30 years so it's no surprise, but I've always been excellent at it.
And being organised. Took me a long time to realise not everyone has this skill naturally or learnt.

My hero 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

(I'm also a dab hand at APA ref thanks to my doctorate )

I’m good at picking from a menu - my choice of dish is always nicer than DH’s.

Excellent bechamel sauce maker, never lumpy. Also a good baker, have never really had a fail, even with things like choux / meringue / soufflés.

I’m good at learning musical instruments, seem to just pick it up naturally.

I have a sixth sense that tells me I’m forgetting something. I can’t always figure out what it is but I always know that realisation is coming.

I wish I was better at falling asleep, social situations and finding lost things.

I think I’ve been quite fortunate in that often I’ve made a lot of friends through work - many of whom I’m still friends with to this day even after leaving those jobs . And also more recently friends from my online writing circles who happen to live close.

Now that I work remotely it’s been a bit more tricky this time than any other time I’ve moved. But I’ve started to be friendly with my neighbour - we go for lunches and coffees etc and I’ve made some friends through joining some clubs (eg. Creative writing group) and doing one off activities like Pilates workshops, painting workshops etc

I’m also only 2 hours from the city I lived in before so I do see my old friends too! I have a lot of close friends worldwide, so I was never necessarily looking to build a whole new social circle here but it’s been nice to make a few local friends which is enough for me.

I’m actually looking to relocate abroad yet again by the end of this year - it’ll just be for 3 months initially to see how it goes! But hopefully I’ll make a whole new bunch of friends out there.

I can be a bit of a hermit but I intend to be particularly sociable out there as I’m wanting to immerse myself in learning the language.

Organising things
mental arithmetic
matching colours (managed to pick the perfect colour for curtains without something to match them to)
Home/garden design - making things look really nice and be comfortable without slavishly following design trends/fashions
being able to find a song/jingle for most comments/conversations (whether I'm trying to or not. For instance: DH asks what we're eating tonight... I say meatballs... Tom Jones singing 'Sex Bomb' comes into my head, but he's singing 'Meatballs, meatballs, we're having meat balls' instead of 'Sex bomb, sex bomb, you're my sex bomb'.

Oh - and I am really excellent at taking a complex situation/information and simplifying them by using cookery/home life examples.

All right, mate, keep it light

I used to be good at this too, @NameChangedOfc, but I have worked hard on being a bit nicer to myself. It's still a bit of a habit, but I'm doing better.

I am sure that there are many things you are good at, and many reasons why the people around you love you and value you.

And the same goes to @Green357.

Untangling wool
Remembering faces and dates
Knowing when the oven timer is about to go off
Choosing presents - I pay a lot of attention to what people like and don’t like and I have a very good memory

None of there are any use in getting paid employment!

@DilemmaDelilah you should form a duo with my DH for some kind of niche 'sing tonight's dinner' improv. I think I lost it with "Yooooouuuu...only eat rice" (Nancy Sinatra style, 'You only live twice'). I even think he threw in parts of the 2nd line like "One bowl for yourself, and one with green beans" as this would also be entirely his wheelhouse.

I just love the life skill combinations people are coming up with, and want some of them - never, ever likely to develop 'doing hair' and 'making the perfect cheese sauce' although possibly, that's for the best.

I'm the same - I have horrendous, life-altering anxiety day-to-day, but I go icy calm in a genuine emergency.

Ooh, my husband hates this about me.

It genuinely doesn't help our relationship that I can remember a lot of things in very fine detail.

I am also very good at finding things. I don't look for them, I just sit down for 2m, go into a zen mode, then go directly to where the item is.