Unheralded Skills.
My friend Sluggo wrote a terrific post about how being the guy who knew how to paint a flat surface to look like a brick wall turned out for him to be a bit of a life-altering event. That got me to thinking about things we learn along the way that seem unremarkable when we learn them, but later turn out to be a big farookin’ deal.
For me, the long ball was taking one lousy semester of “Non-Commercial Typing†in my freshman year of high school. I have often said that Mrs. McGrath’s typing course, complete with the brain numbing drills “J…U…J…space…J…U…G…space…J…A…J…space…EYES OFF THE KEYBOARD…†etc. was the single most important course I ever took. In terms of its usefulness to me, it trumped every other course I took in high school, college, graduate school and law school.
I never had to stress over finding someone to type my term papers, and I could blast out a letter (when we wrote those things on paper) while others lumbered along with a ballpoint pen. I believe, although I can never be certain, that my ability to type “thirty-‘fie’ mutha f***in’ words a minute†played some small part in the “black box†of decision making that resulted in my not toting a rifle and getting my ass shot off in Vietnam.
Years later, when I was a Law Clerk, I scrounged around the courthouse to get my hands on a Royal manual typewriter, which enabled me to do the initial drafts of long bench memos infinitely faster than doing them in longhand. Much to the delight of the judge’s secretaries (who had the then state-of-the-art Wang word processors and would have to transcribe our memos) my typed drafts were more readable than my chicken scratch. I learned then the value of not pissing off secretaries.
Nowadays when doing virtually everything from writing a letter to ordering socks online requires use of a keyboard, I am golden. I can type faster than most people who are hired to be typists.
I may be a techno-knucklehead, but I can type my ass off.
The guys I hung around with in high school back then all opted to take mechanical drawing and were not shy about busting my horns over taking a typing course. I figure that the joke’s on them, because I have gone through life thus far without ever having to use a T-Square or having to draw an orthographic projection of damned widget.
Thank you, Mrs. McGrath. Oh, and my bullet-free ass thanks you too.
Thanks, Jim. Reading Sgt. Steele made me think of Cliff.
Comment by Sluggo — April 4, 2005 @ 11:42 pm
Learning to type–every word you wrote is the farookin’ truth !!
Comment by MommaBear — April 5, 2005 @ 5:54 am
Ah…I remember this well. When you can type, and carry on a conversation at the same time, you know you have arrived. Drives my husband nuts. Great post!
Comment by Moogie — April 5, 2005 @ 7:14 am
Life is just so much easier when you can touch type, especially these days. Strangely enough, the other 2 most important classes I’ve taken were my high school biology/physiology classes. Not so much for the science, but my teacher made us learn huge lists of Latin prefixes, suffixes & roots. Though I sure cussed him at the time, I use that knowledge almost every day.
Comment by rita — April 5, 2005 @ 8:25 am
My brother also took a typing class. He can type incredibly fast. I think he was only 1 of 3 guys in the class. Heh – he’s a smart guy.
Comment by Kate — April 5, 2005 @ 8:45 am
My typing teacher asked for a show of hands on the first day of class, of those going on to college. I and two others raised our hands, and she called us forward after class and told us that we’d never get a grade lower than a “B.” That was the last time I went to that class (stupid and shortsighted of me), and more’s the pity, since I type all day long. I can motor along pretty well, but I still have to check the keyboard now and again.
Comment by uncle juju — April 5, 2005 @ 10:54 am
Ah yes, the old high school typing class. Definetly glad I took some form of typing every year of my high school days. We didn’t have to worry about looking at the keyboard, because the keys weren’t marked with any letters. I now love using the ‘ergo split keyboard’ because I use each hand independently, but Kevin hates it,,,he’s ‘a hunt-n-pecker’ when it comes to typing!
Comment by Michele — April 5, 2005 @ 11:49 am
Ditto on the value of typing. Plane geometry was useful also, but i use it a lot less often. Least valuable class? Steno. By far. But I’m giving away my age on that one . . .
Comment by Shamrock — April 5, 2005 @ 3:54 pm