Attention Span

Speaking of short attention span, it was always a difficulty for me at school, listening to people speak who weren't that interesting, even if they knew a lot.  I have always been able to focus on my own stuff for long periods, even endlessly.  I once drove to a conference in Bangor, five hours each way, without playing the radio or any tapes.  I like the radio in my own head just fine.  I could always read for hours as a child, but there needed to be a certain interest level. Even if I told myself This is really important. Focus! Focus! I would wander off into daydream world, or start up interesting conversations with my neighbor.  The first grade teacher conference for my family is consistent over generations: S/he reads very well and is polite and happy. But s/he talks to her/his neighbor too much. For males, there would also be a poor penmanship comment.

I felt bad about it then.  I knew it was the center of me never "working up to my potential" as they used to say.  They also used to say about folks like me "well he's not being challenged," but we tested that theory too.  When I went to an advanced studies program after my junior year of high school I took Concepts of Mathematics.  They pushed us. 20 hours of class and an estimated 20 hours of homework every week.  There were three grades: Superior, Satisfactory, and Unsatisfactory.  At the halfway point I still clung to a Superior ranking but was dropping. I then had one more Satisfactory week and two Unsatisfactories, the last week bad enough that I was in danger of not passing.  I had gotten distracted into writing a computer program that wrote poetry, playing Cinesias in Aristophanes' "Lysistrata," (great role, BTW.  Comic lead), mapping out new plays for the intramural flag football team, and spending every other moment with my new girlfriend. So much for the "not challenged" theory. Partly true. The "wants to be entertained" theory is a closer fit.

Update:  Yeah, and I had frequent requests for "Alice's Restaurant" that summer, tried to work out music with other folksingers. It was a busy six weeks at St Paul's.

My high school yearbook lists more extracurriculars for me than anyone else.  In college I was everyone's study break.  I played in a band and was in a lot of plays, graduated near the bottom of the class. It is in no way accidental that I married a librarian.  Even with her, I sometimes think "Get on with it" when she is downloading information.  It's a disease. Feed me, feed me.

This is still true.  I pace the back of the sanctuary during church even during singing, and when the pastor is no longer that interesting, I start saying to myself  You're done!  Done! Wrap it up! You're just muddying the waters now!  Done! even with people I like very much.  It is not surprising that I ended up in a denomination with a very strong tradition of good preaching. At work I get the morning assignments done in 1-2 hours, including conversation and entertainment on the way, then wander and entertain the troops or drain information from whatever experts are nearby.  Afternoon the same. If no one will have me, I surf the net, and sometimes waste taxpayer dollars by writing drafts for the blog.  I get more done anyway, and we have a lot of fun besides.

But that's why you come here.  This is a conversation, ranging widely, and I try to keep the troops entertained as well as plunking down information that interests me and opinions you should agree with.  If you could take the archives of one blogsite with you to a desert island, it would be mind, wouldn't it?  Even though you can find better people for each individual subject I've carried here. It's a regular Ted Mack's Amateur Hour.



Granite Dad, the first Snookette looks like Sarah. She'll love them.