What do they say about the one eyed man being a king in the land of the blind? Are these things called "aphorisms?" There's a board game, Buzzword, where you have to match up a word with some common idioms. I was terrible at the game because there were just so many of them I'd never heard of. James and I were similarly bad at it and we thought it had to do with our being from another country. I need to retire that excuse actually: "I'm wasn't born here."
I was reading the other day about a blind man who uses echolocation to see. Basically he's a human bat. The article says that he's been teaching other blind people to see using this technique and some of his pupils are so good at it that they can go mountain bike riding down steep hills and other such crazy things. Even though this sounds impossible, I guess the limits of human capability are unimaginable to most people. I mean, I was watching a video earlier today with a Tetris player who was so amazingly good and fast that he was clearing lines even when the blocks turned invisible.
I've been tongue clicking all week in order to see if I can develop some sort of echolocation. Check back with me in a few years I guess. Between sign language, reading lips, and echolocation, I could totally non verbal communicate soon.
YouTube and the Internet may have given us a lot but it's also pretty much ruined any esteem you might have had in a skill. Unless you're the absolute best of the best, you can take to the web and find someone who does it better than you. Most of the time that someone is also under the age of ten. It used to mean something to be the best video game player in your neighborhood. Now you're only the best if you actually are the best.
I wonder what this does for one's self image growing up. It's impressive people can still continue to be wowed. I guess seeing something in person and in front of you will always be awe inspiring, even if they're not the absolute best.
In this article about Dallas Mavericks' guard J.J. Barea, I can't decide if the following quote is offensive or not: "[His girlfriend] Zuleyka Rivera is hotter than the sun, but what she knew about basketball when they started dating last year (he asked her out in a text) you could fit in a small taquito." I'm gonna go with a "yes" because I'm pretty sure a taquito is Mexican, and the writer is a white guy who probably doesn't say stuff like "a small taquito" or "fits in an egg roll" unless the person in question is ethnic.
There's also this idea here that a guy like J.J. is "excelling in the game of life" because he is dating Miss Universe. I guess it's hard to fault this thinking, but really, J.J. is winning because he dynamited the Lakers and continues to fearlessly rush the lane. The hot girlfriend is the cherry on top. What if he were just dating her and not a basketball star? Would he still be excelling at the game of life?
I guess to most parents that answer would be "yes" wouldn't it? Success! You're dating someone other people would love to date! Here's your medal.
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