raise your hand if you have funny goals for the summer!

[ltgmars]

Me? I'm raising my left hand, because this summer, as the case has been many random summers in the past, I've decided to try to be left-handed. Or, well, ambidextrous enough to be able to write with my left hand. Ambidexterity seems so handy (ahoihoi!), after all.

I think we all have certain skills attributed to our non-dominant hand, right? For me, I can move individual fingers on my left hand pretty well since I'm a violinist, but I'm much more clumsy when moving the hand or arm or entire left side as a whole. So in order to facilitate true ambidexterity, I'm going to spend the entire summer left-handed. I'll make a concerted effort to write with my left hand and do most of the things I usually have to do with my right hand with my left hand.

In the hour or so I've been doing this, I've found that wearing my watch on my right wrist feels funny and using the touchpad on my laptop is incredibly difficult. But! I will persevere! I got to write my "a"s, "g"s, and "z"s the way I do because I was consistent and deliberate, so maybe by the end of the summer, I'll be ambidextrous!

I haven't installed my tablet software on Harrison yet (and the UCLA computer store shipped me the wrong version of CS5 (because apparently I can afford the freaking Master Collection) so I'm waiting for Photoshop anyway), so a picture this week:


South Paw Summer 2010: 2010.06.21



So, fine folks, what are your summer goals?

Comments

[decolorize.livejournal.com]

...how are you so good at writing in your non-dominant hand omg. :O I wanted to try that one time, but got too lazy after it taking forever just to write out a single sentence aha. and then my wrist started hurting, so. :( good luck to you, though! /o/

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, I wrote slowly. And it's still really awkward now (especially compared to my right hand), so it'll be a work in progress.

[miquilis.livejournal.com]

You're getting CS5? Me and my already out of date CS4 are jealous. I want content aware fill!

Goals for the summer... learn divs. I'm horrible at teaching myself new skills but I need to find the patience and determination to sit myself down and get better at programming - though that's a kind of boring goal. Okay, I'll design a typeface.

how do you write your g's?

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

d00d, I'm so excited for CS5. For all of college, I had CS3, so the upgrade's going to be lovely~

Design a typeface! Awesome. Show me when you're done! (This divs stuff I know nothing about, but good luck with that one, too.)

I write my "g"s like in Times New Roman -- there's a circle at the top with a tail that tucks in before curling back out. It's in there a couple of times in the picture I took of my handwriting. It's really just an extra pinch inward before finishing the tail, but it makes it look so cool. Heh, I like my own handwriting too much, I think.

[miquilis.livejournal.com]

Oh that should be nice. When I went from CS3 to CS4 I didn't notice much of an upgrade but skipping 4 should make 5 extra lovely.

cool like Times New Roman? Okay, I need to leave now. Where's the door? I can't be around people that think Times New Roman is cool.

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

Nono, I didn't say Times New Roman is cool. I said that the style that the g is written in -- with the extra tuck in the tail -- is cool.

DON'T MISUNDERSTAND ME (WEEPING)

[miquilis.livejournal.com]

Nono, you don't need to hide it, we're all allowed have our secret type shames. You think Times New Roman is cool, I have a weakness for Courier New, as long as you never use Verdana for print it's okay.

[wildhunter.livejournal.com]

My scrawl has actually declined no matter what hand I use (in part because I used a system of short-hand I learned whilst pursuing my useless degree)...so, the fact that your writing still manages to be aesthetically pleasing is rather amazing.
My goals for the summer are not all that unique--simply to avoid starvation, preferably by finding employment that allows me to use my brain, catching up with old friends and people who would otherwise simply disappear, learning Latin and Greek, and seeing various concerts and such.

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

I find that in this technological age, I still prefer to write by hand. There's something so charming about the immediacy of the paper and pen to me. Plus, my handwriting is consistently pretty fuckin' awesome, so there's that.

Latin and Greek? Both of them? To fluency or to literacy or what? And goodness, good luck on the job search front.

[wildhunter.livejournal.com]

Anything I can get, hopefully fluency--I'll need it when I apply for Medieval Studies programs in...well, a year or so.
I think I'll start with Latin, but I probably should pick up Greek as well...Byzantine Studies is where the money is when it comes to Medieval-related things.

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

I wrote slowly. Hopefully I'll get to the point where I can write quickly and still have it look nice.

OMG great summer goals, those are.

I'm going to be at UCLA in the fall for grad school. If you're still around then, let's totes meet up.

[eternitat.livejournal.com]

I do not know if these are funny- but they are certainly fun.

I am learning Italian.

And I hope to travel to a new country- already asked for the days off.

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

Ahh, those are excellent summer goals! Good luck with both!

[jadeswallow.livejournal.com]

uwe left handed all summer? gud luck with that!
i have plan to make portfolio and cvs and send application letters for jobs or looking for scholarship, i haven't decide...and also perhaps try to write some fics, make a matsujun semi pimp post and nino fan art, make some scrapbooks and cards...tidy up my house, and hang out with my sis who is coming home from china this july! uwe...so much to do~~

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, you have so much to do! Good luck with all of that!

[clipsie.livejournal.com]

Best. Goal. Ever. This was my New Years Resolution last year that I sort of worked on. Sort of meaning, when ever I remembered, which ended up being work because I'm to lazy to reach across to write figures with my right hand. Numbers, yay! Letters, I fail. Hard. Ah, I did learn to play billiards with my left hand dominate though, and ended up better left handed, so it's a surprising turnout sometimes (though that might be vision related in my case).

You're right hand is so legible T.T, and pretty. Much better than my scribbles. *writes in typical "male" fashion most of the time*

I do wish you luck though, the challenge is so worth it.

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

Ahh, it's so fun, but I'm going to have to remember to really go at it all summer to make it work. Brushing my teeth with my left hand is so strange, haha. It's a shame that we're in a world that caters to right-handed folks. I had a left-handed geometry teacher in high school who used to complain about it constantly, heh, but it's so true.

[clipsie.livejournal.com]

It is a shame indeed. So hard to find left handed scissors (I tried looking once), almost like we need Flanders' shop. *sigh*

Strangly enough though, left handed sports equipment, especially hockey sticks, is easy to find when compared to everything else.

[yuuki-7.livejournal.com]

wow! you're ambidextrous!!! (is that the right spelling?)xDDDD

Plans for the upcoming summer? LOL summer already ended for me 'coz school already started last June 7 ; _ ; To spend it wisely by staring/stalking/drooling at JE boys especially at arashi LOL. Ok serious answer..I'll study for college 'coz I'll be graduating this year ^_^

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

Haha, I'm not ambidextrous yet, but that's what I'm hoping will happen by the end of the summer. I guess we'll see, though.

Ahh, you're graduating this year! That's so exciting. Good luck with your studies~

[yuuki-7.livejournal.com]

Thanks ^_^

[orangerobots.livejournal.com]

Looks like it wont not be impossibly difficult for you to be ambidextrous. Your left handwriting is already quite straight and neat! And cute too. :)

My summer goal? Mmm.. I don't have one. Perhaps it's to live every day to the best of my ability. lol /end cheesy

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

Ah, hopefully it'll get easier to write with, though. And unfortunately, as about three hours at work has shown me this morning, I don't do a lot of hand writing. I'll have to write in a journal or something.

Ahaha, I love your summer goal. It's nice. ♥

[kanesu.livejournal.com]

Yay, good luck with being ambidexterious! I used to do that with my old mouse and it helped with the wrist aches I hadn't realised I had.. X'D Then I bought a new mouse and it's sort of curved and all to fit the right hand only, so I haven't done that lately either. Perhaps I should try that writing thing too..

I kinda wanna see report at the end of this summer how your leftie writing has improved! ^^

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

The world we live in is so righty-centric. Haha, left-handed people must feel like a marginalized group. D:

Hopefully I'll be able to report something good! Perhaps with my left hand, even. :3

[meissa.livejournal.com]

This is a fine goal! I'm ambidextrous myself (I can even bowl and play volleyball and badminton using both hands).

Anyway, that's not a bad start. Your handwriting is at least legible :D

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, awesome. I'm so jealous. Hahaha, sometimes when my family goes bowling, we have a "family challenge round", where we all bowl with the opposite hand. I usually do about the same, if only because I'm absolutely awful at bowling, whatever hand I use.

Thanks! Hopefully it'll get smoother over time.

[meissa.livejournal.com]

I think it's only because I'm really left-handed but was educated to use my right.

But here's a fun thing you might like to try: my friends and I used to write messages in script backward (you have to hold it up to a mirror to read it). It's really easy to do with the left hand :D But quite useless unless you just want to show off, LOL.

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

LIKE NINO ♥

Ahh, I've done that before. I used to do a lot of goofy writing things when I was younger. I think my best was backwards-upside-down, but that took a long time to figure out, haha.

[goshenite.livejournal.com]

Ah, lefthandedness. It's a fun goal! Go for it!

What kind of tablet did you get/do you have, by the by?

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

I'll do my best!

I have a Wacom Bamboo. I've had it for a few years, but I don't use it that often. But since I got Harrison, I have to install the drivers again. I'm kind of waiting for Photoshop, though, because I enjoy the pressure sensitivity thing a little too much. XD

[tartaruga139.livejournal.com]

You are a freaking genius! I think I might steal this goal actually. For the longest time I've always wanted to be left handed. I don't even know why but I've always thought people looked cooler writing with their left hand. XD Your writing is really good though. Very nice and straight. Mine always becomes so crooked. orz

A month back in school, when I still had a printing quota I could use, I was thinking I should find some printable worksheets online like those that they give to little kids so they learn how to write, with traceable letters and whatnot, but sadly never got around to it.

My goal for the summer is learn how to drive, which at 21 is pretty pathetic. XD;

[ltgmars.livejournal.com]

I told a friend of mine that I'm learning to be left-handed, and he was like, "Oh? I thought you were left-handed." Apparently I'm one of those "left-handed, creative types", whatever that means. So yes, I can definitely agree with lefties being cool.

I totally made my own sheets like that. They're pretty crappy, because all I did was write a few letters in a word processor and strike-through and underline each line, but they kind of work...?

Ahaha, good luck with driving! My friend who's 22 just learned, so don't feel bad. But I guess he has to, now that my class has all graduated and are hitting the real world. D: