I am an idiot.

[bruin]

I'm a 17-year old high school senior, and I am an idiot. I do very well in school, am a National Merit Scholar, a winning poker player, but I am an idiot.

I lose things all the time. I can't find anything, ever. I'm completely unorganized and at times unmotivated. I can't eat food without spilling it on myself (although I've improved drastically in this area in the last year). When my parents ask me to do a simple chore or task, I nod mindlessly but never get what they ask done. I don't speak clearly although I attribute this to the braces I wear. I can't tie knots, even if someone shows me how to. My mind simply can't do it. I occasionally make attempts to reform myself, but I subsequently revert back to my old ways.

If I consciously make an effort to reform myself, can I change? Or am I destined for idiocy?

[HopeydaFish]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a 17-year old high school senior, and I am an idiot. I do very well in school, am a National Merit Scholar, a winning poker player, but I am an idiot.

I lose things all the time. I can't find anything, ever. I'm completely unorganized and at times unmotivated. I can't eat food without spilling it on myself (although I've improved drastically in this area in the last year). When my parents ask me to do a simple chore or task, I nod mindlessly but never get what they ask done. I don't speak clearly although I attribute this to the braces I wear. I can't tie knots, even if someone shows me how to. My mind simply can't do it. I occasionally make attempts to reform myself, but I subsequently revert back to my old ways.

If I consciously make an effort to reform myself, can I change? Or am I destined for idiocy?

[/ QUOTE ]

1) Most of what you're describing is typical behaviour for a teenager.
2) You're too self-conscious (see #1).

[bholdr]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a 17-year old high school senior, and I am an idiot. I do very well in school, am a National Merit Scholar, a winning poker player, but I am an idiot.

I lose things all the time. I can't find anything, ever. I'm completely unorganized and at times unmotivated. I can't eat food without spilling it on myself (although I've improved drastically in this area in the last year). When my parents ask me to do a simple chore or task, I nod mindlessly but never get what they ask done. I don't speak clearly although I attribute this to the braces I wear. I can't tie knots, even if someone shows me how to. My mind simply can't do it. I occasionally make attempts to reform myself, but I subsequently revert back to my old ways.

If I consciously make an effort to reform myself, can I change? Or am I destined for idiocy?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a 17-year old high school senior

there's your problem. give it time.

[[censored]]

you sound like an A-typical nerd/geek/dork. Sucks right now but take heart. In a few years you will have a great job in a challenging career full of opportunities. Your life will be filled with success and achievement, men will respect and fear you. The world will be your oyster.

Start working out regularly now.

My wife and I raised 3 kids. Our grandkids are around your age. You sound pretty normal to me.

You may have a medical problem, but probably not. ADD? I know that's a controversial subject. Inner ear problem could be contributing to sense of balance being off, if that's what you're describing.

You've expressed yourself well. Good luck to you.

/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[JihadOnTheRiver]

[ QUOTE ]
Start working out regularly now.

[/ QUOTE ]
Its funny cause its true.

Everyone's an idiot when they're seventeen. It will pass.

[bruin]

[ QUOTE ]
Start working out regularly now.

[/ QUOTE ]

I see where you're coming from but I'm in good shape and have been an athlete all my life. I work out around three times a week and bench around 120 (stand at 6'1, 160) and have an ok/average social life.

Thanks for the comments though. I'm probably just in a depressed mood or somethimg, and like some have said, I'm 17.

[imported_anacardo]

Listen to [censored] in all things.

[Brain]

You'll be okay. It's quite common to be a little uncoordinated and inept until you get through high school and some time into college. Don't worry about it too much. Make lots of notes for yourself, start putting your keys in the same place if that's what you lose and start wearing a bib.

[MEbenhoe]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Start working out regularly now.

[/ QUOTE ]

I see where you're coming from but I'm in good shape and have been an athlete all my life. I work out around three times a week and bench around 120 (stand at 6'1, 160) and have an ok/average social life.

Thanks for the comments though. I'm probably just in a depressed mood or somethimg, and like some have said, I'm 17.

[/ QUOTE ]

lift more, at 17 you should be able to at least bench your weight.

[orange]

Yep, 120 is kindve lame. You will improve fast if you work out 3-4x a week.

[Exitonly]

working out won't help him at all.. not that it'd hurt, but what does benching your weight have to being more self confident?

[MEbenhoe]

[ QUOTE ]
working out won't help him at all.. not that it'd hurt, but what does benching your weight have to being more self confident?

[/ QUOTE ]

lifting and working out helps coordination, helps one feel less awkward physically, which in turn gives a person a better mental attitude along with the release of endorphins from exercising. good enough?

[Exitonly]

better, but i'm not convinced it's the best route for him to take. Emphasizing physical strength to him might just make him depressed.

[bholdr]

[ QUOTE ]
I work out around three times a week and bench around 120 (stand at 6'1, 160) and have an ok/average social life.

[/ QUOTE ]

If i saw you at the beach, i would be kicking sand in your face. j/k...

I was/am also a 'natural athlete'... though i smoked cigs and did drugs and never worked out i could still out run/play/lift/etc all my athlete freinds... until i started getting injured. now i work out like a madman- not to get strong or impress chicks or feel good (which are all nice) but because it keeps the body less prone to injury.

[tonypaladino]

you think life sucks now, wait till college

[utmt40]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a 17-year old high school senior, and I am an idiot.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is your problem...

[teamdonkey]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm a 17-year old high school senior, and I am an idiot.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is your problem...

[/ QUOTE ]

yes. why aren't you older? you need to do this soon.

the older i get, the better i am at hiding my idiocy.

[Stuey]

[ QUOTE ]
I can't tie knots, even if someone shows me how to. My mind simply can't do it.

[/ QUOTE ]

First let me say I don't think there is anything wrong with you at all. But these are just ideas I want to add to the discussion.

Can you juggle 3 or 4 objects?

Most people will say no to this question but here is a secret. Anyone can juggle up to 4 balls if they want to learn how. The trick is it is a different method of learning than we normally use.

You are a smart guy so you probably are using the gather information and use it the way they tell you method and are assuming you should get instant success. There is another way to learn and it is fun once you see it work.

Go gather information on juggling and learn how it is done. Then try and do it. You won't be able to do it I bet. Most people just quit at this point. The trick is to keep trying you are going to feel like you are not getting better but hang in there.

It could only take an hour or it could take a month maybe more. But then one day you will suddenly juggle! Now the crazy part is you won't know why or how you are able to do it now. What happens is you brain learns how to do it kind of unconsciously. It is like riding a bike once you learn you can't forget.

You know those pictures you can only see if you focus your eyes the right way. That is the same thing sometimes you just need time and you have to relax part of your brain so the other parts that we normally don't even know are there can take over and figure stuff out for us. But that part of the brain never tells the other part the trick. So you have to relax and turn off the main part to let it kick in.

I'm pretty sure none of this made sense to anyone but me but I have had this happen in several situations. It is kind of like finding the zone in sports. You don't know what it is like till you get there. And then you like it so much you want to stay. But you when you try to stay or go there you get kicked out immediately and it seems impossible to ever reach that feeling again. You have to let it come to you.

Yah I'm mostly crazy huh? Here is an example.

Once when I was playing hockey when I was around 18 I got a breakaway! I don't really know why but I shot the puck from outside the blue line. Not a slap shot either just a quick release on the ice wrist shot. It was like a hard pass really. I scored! The goalie was not standing in the middle of his net and half the goal was open.

I did not think before I shot, something in my brain overrode my reasoning and I shot before I could think how dumb it was. I was on a clear-cut breakaway I could have skated right in. And I was more startled than some of the other players when I did it as it really felt like I didn't have a choice and something other than my brain made me shoot. It was an important game and even my teammates said I was an idiot as if I would not have scored they would have killed me for shooting from there.

I have also found learning to swim to be the same way. You feel like you are drowning for weeks as you try to learn to swim. Then one day you stop thinking about what each part of your body needs to be doing and relax and dam if your body does not take over you swim like a fish. It is Zen like and the best feeling ever when it kicks in at times when you don't expect it.

Being smart allows you to force lots of learning into your brain as you have easier access to it than most people. But when one path is so easy to use most people don't go looking for an alternative route. And there are an infinite number of ways for us to learn, grow, and experience things imo. Try the harder ones and when you succeed the results are startling and very rewarding.

I'm betting tl;dr oh well probably for the best I'm already considered a freak around here anyways. /images/graemlins/blush.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Read stuey's post!

It's not too long. Ignore the part about his being a freak. He's a lot of things, but freak is not one of them.

p.s. dammit. I need to go to bed!
dammit. 2 edits! I AM AN IDIOT

[Rootabager]

You should get prescribed to Aderol. It can help you play poker and when you get to college you can make a ton of money selling them. They can also help you stay awake to drink liquor. You can be black out drunk but continue to function for many more hours.

[RJT]

Bruin,

I have to disagree with the general consensus. Not that you are an idiot - you are not. But, that things will change. People are either organized or not. I have yet to meet someone who changes. I happen to be the opposite - totally organized (and always was).

Both are curses. Both make life more complicated than need be. Being organized saves me a lot of time - not looking for car keys for 10 extra minutes and things like that. But, by the same token 1) so what if I saved time - to do what else? 2) usually if I am on time I have to wait for folk like you who are always late - so I don’t ever really save any time after all.

Either way, don’t worry about it. That is what makes life so interesting - different folk like you and those of us who are organized.

Best of luck to you,

RJT

[-Skeme-]

lmao @ 120 and claiming to be in shape. I'm 5'6 or so, hadn't benched in 4+ years, and put up 145. Come on, dude.

[bruin]

[ QUOTE ]
lmao @ 120 and claiming to be in shape. I'm 5'6 or so, hadn't benched in 4+ years, and put up 145. Come on, dude.

[/ QUOTE ]

I understand that 120 isn't great or anything, I was just trying to illustrate that I'm not a complete nerd, because I am not and was a Varsity Basketball player last year (obviously I could bench more back then).

[imported_anacardo]

This is very wise and very true.

[Stuey]

[ QUOTE ]
But, that things will change. People are either organized or not. I have yet to meet someone who changes.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am not looking to argue but I am interested what other things do you think you cannot change about yourself?

I was a wild spender I never saved my money. I though I could not change. Some people just can't manage their money I thought. Then one day I read and article that said anyone can learn to manage their spending. It is a learned skill a tough one but it can be done.

I tried really hard and now I believe I have changed what I thought was a personality trait. In the process I have also found out the reasons I was doing it. I'm not proud of them either. I was buying stuff for emotional fulfillment. Problem is it does not last very long and you have to go buy more stuff. Then you have all this stuff but the feeling still comes back.

Once I saw that ugly truth the change was much easier for me. Now if I get the urge to buy stuff I don't need I try to think of a positive way to get the emotional enjoyment I am craving. Like maybe try and make the item for myself. Then the item holds some meaning to me after I "get" it. And the process of making it gives you a much longer high than buying it plus you are learning new things.

I think we can change anything we want about ourselves we just have to want to do it enough to make it happen. And the change is instantaneous when it happens from my experience.

Hope this does not sound like I am telling others what is what. My intention is to give hope and encouragement, as sometimes you have to try a million times before you change but when you do it still happens in an instant.

Edit: I'm not stoned and never do drugs. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

This topic just means a lot to me as I have fought many demons and I have been winning so I have a positive outlook atm. It was not always so.

[vexvelour]

This screams autistic.

[imported_anacardo]

Whatever, dude.

ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US...


/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[-Skeme-]

How much do you weigh?

[bruin]

I weigh 160. And no, I am not autistic.

[Exitonly]

[ QUOTE ]
I weigh 160. And no, I am not autistic.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not saying you're wrong, but autism doesn't necesarily mean what you're thinking, Asperger's (botched spelling) Syndrome isn't the typical Autism you think of and has similar symptoms to waht you described.

but i'm not qualified to talk about it, just know a little about what my girlfriend has told me about it. (Her shrink apparently diagnosed me with it, through her talking about me)

[Eurotrash]

[ QUOTE ]
lmao @ 120 and claiming to be in shape. I'm 5'6 or so, hadn't benched in 4+ years, and put up 145. Come on, dude.

[/ QUOTE ]



this is BS. unless you're talking about putting it up once, possibly with one or more of your equally small friends guiding the bar up.

[ QUOTE ]

Start working out regularly now.

[/ QUOTE ]

[smurfitup]

[ QUOTE ]
Start working out regularly now.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is awesome advice. take it. now.

[roxtar]

Inability to tie knots? You mean like unable to tie your shoes? If that's the case, then you may want to go to a doctor .

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
lmao @ 120 and claiming to be in shape. I'm 5'6 or so, hadn't benched in 4+ years, and put up 145. Come on, dude.

[/ QUOTE ]



this is BS. unless you're talking about putting it up once, possibly with one or more of your equally small friends guiding the bar up.

[/ QUOTE ]

145 isn't exactly a lot of weight. I'm 5'8, been a few months since I've worked out, and I'd give you 10:1 odds on 10k that I could put up 160 more than once.

[spamuell]

These people talking about asperger's/autism are talking crap.

You might be dyspraxic though, it would explain the lack of very fine motor control (food, knots etc).

The ignoring your parents is clearly just laziness.

[lem45216]

Really? I'm 18, i never work out. I'm a year behind.
I'm off to do some situps. You've scared me OOT. Well done.

[-Skeme-]

[ QUOTE ]
this is BS. unless you're talking about putting it up once, possibly with one or more of your equally small friends guiding the bar up.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am talking about putting it up once, that's usually what "putting it up" means, unless I'm stating I did several reps of a certain amount of weight. My max was 145 after not benching for over 4+ years. And no, nobody had to touch the bar for 145. I couldn't do 150, though, although I'm kinda sure I could now.

I really don't see how this is hard to believe.. 145 is not very much weight, even for not benching in a long time.

[WDC]

It will get better but work on the folllowing through on your parent's requests and the speaking thing.

[RJT]

Well, I was generalizing of course. Sure, people can change. Alcoholics stop drinking - some never ever touch another drop. Some people who cheated on a spouse might not ever do it again. Some who don’t want to work become responsible when they get married.

But, organized vs. all discombobulated - never, ever. Just joking. Really, I am not joking all that much. For some reason I think people just never change this trait. Probably because it really isn’t such an important thing in life (ironic because it really is a way of life).

I’ll give you an example. Like I say, I am organized. I like to know where things are. I think I have only missed place my car keys one time in my life. I have only lost anything (not counting gambling losses) like one (well maybe less than 5) time in my life. At work, my desk is neat. I can’t concentrate on what I have to do until things are organized. I make lists or I forget (some people never have to right things down and remember everything). Anyway, my wife, although not a slob, is not organized – she thinks she is though. When the mail comes to the house, I sort it and leave it for my wife to look through. We get tons of catalogues (she buys a lot of stuff). She loves to look though the catalogues. So, she lets them pile up on the kitchen counter. (If it were only up to me – I’d throw all but maybe a few in the trash right then and there.) Then every so often she will decide to “get neat” and sort the catalogs. Throws most away and keeps a few. So after this happens, say I go to get a pen out of the drawer where I think the pens and pencils are. (Most of the time, the pens aren’t there – she took one to write something down to order from the catalog or something – now none are there.) But, what do you think is in the pen/pencil drawer? You got it, the drawer is stuffed with the catalogs she “organized”. Many times, I can’t even open the drawer because it is filled to the top.

Anyway, she thinks she is getting organized. But, in reality she is only moving the disorder to a different place. I noticed this with everyone. Never met a person who changes this trait. Not saying it is impossible, just doesn’t happen is all. I stand by my original post, Stuey. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[arod15]

Do you do drugs? Stop that. Also you can change yourself. If your as if you describe its just lack of effort...

[swede123]

Haven't read the responses, but for whatever it's worth I spill on myself every time I eat. I'm 30.

Swede

[MonkeeMan]

Go out and get laid.