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Topic #59: What’s your hidden talent? What is the skill or ability you have people are always surprised to learn you posses? What hidden talent do you wish you had?

I wouldn’t consider myself to have any hidden talents, but I have a handful of skills and abilities that most people are surprised to learn that I have.

The most frequent but interesting thing that a lot of people find out on their own is the speed at which I type. My overall average is about 130 words per minute; if I’m typing basic English text (with no num­bers, special characters, or complex proper nouns), my average speed increases significantly. I have had instances where people have heard me type and believed that it was hailing outside. Although my typing speed isn’t something I’m particularly proud of other than it being a useful skill, I have never met someone in person that was able to type faster than me.

Something that gets occasionally brought up is the fact that I play guitar and sing, and that I have performed on a stage before. I’m not sure why, but most people don’t see me as someone who performs musically, most likely because I’m introverted in peer settings and only become extroverted when I’m the center of attention (such as when I’m on a stage). I have played piano, cello, clarinet, saxophone, guitar, and drums on a regular basis during various past periods of my life. The musical skill I acquired playing all these instruments essentially made me able to pick up any instrument and play a basic tune on it without having any prior knowledge.

Finally, I find it odd that people are surprised that I have done martial arts in the past, and am still able to use it as needed. I thought this would be something that people think is obvious because I’m Asian and many Asians do martial arts, but most people think otherwise. This is most likely because I portray myself as a calm and collected person who doesn’t seem to fight or have conflicts much.

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Topic #60: What can’t you say no to? What things are impossible for you to turn down, at work, at home, at play?

There actually really isn’t anything that I literally cannot say no to. I’m relatively good at making decisions regarding things of strong desirability, and am extremely good at rejecting things even if it is not necessarily the approved thing to do in a social setting.

On the other hand, to take this question more generally, I can’t really say no to anything that will be beneficial to me and has little to no negative consequences. For example, if I was offered a multivitamin tablet, I wouldn’t say no to it because the vitamins would only help my body meet its daily nutritional needs. However, if I was offered five multivitamin tablets, I would say no to it because the risks of negative consequences resulting from overdosing on vitamins is too high.

So Far in 2011…

Number of Taco Bell tacos eaten: 18

Number of times I did my own laundry: 2