Wow, that's quite a list! I'll have to check them out! As for having a knack.... I dunno about that. I'm just very VERY stubborn, and when I really want to do something, or learn something, I'm like a gator clamped down on it; I refuse to let it go! I feel that a day where I haven't learned SOMETHING new is a wasted day. My motto is, Life is growth, Learning is growth, without learning and growing there is no life. What I learn could be something as simple as a new technique to remove stains, or as complicated as, say, vectors in Photoshop lol. Sometimes, the new thing takes me by surprise - a reference said on a tv show that I look up, or an "old-timer" telling me some folk wisdom (like spring thunderstorms wake up the snakes - dunno how true that one is, but sounds good to me!). Other times I seek out the knowledge. My family calls me the queen of useless trivia... But they're quick to ask me questions on just about any subject matter. The problem for me is I cannot seem to stay focused on any one thing for long - the exception being computer graphics & art. I "hop" from one project or learning experience to the next, usually with little rhyme or reason behind it. It's frustrating at times, but on this path of self-learning, I've picked up quite a few "unusual" skills or bits of knowledge. I also have the tendency to take a kid, find out what they're interested in, and then we learn whatever it is together. Right now, my housemate's daughter visits twice a week, and we spend time exploring and learning local plants. I'm working on compiling a picture "book" for kids of local plants (with pics we take together) as we discover them and learn what they are. I've a feeling that even long after she's tired of this project, I'll continue on. I have a hundred different projects I work on at any given time, in various stages of completion. Again, that focus thing.... Lol. It used to drive hubby nuts, as he's one of those who starts & finishes something in somewhat of a timely manner, but he's learned - this is just the way I am, and no amount of complaining about it is going to change that fact! As of right now, I have 4 windchimes I'm in the process of making, two sets of "fairy wings", two bulletin board systems I'm decorating, a shadow box I need to paint & create artwork for, 4 picture frames I need to repaint & fill with my artwork, a bunch of dried herbs in paper bags I still have to put in glass jars (I make incenses and potpourris, too)... And that's just what i can think of off the top of my head. Yes, I am bipolar, with I believe a bit of ADD thrown in. Combine a manic episode with the ADD and I'm like a bee hopping from flower to flower.... Right now, as I type this, my mind is going over the next step in all those projects and then some, as well as staring out at the clouds, wondering how to recreate them in Vue, watching the birds flitting around, wishing I knew what kinds they were... And a bunch more. Any wonder I'm an insomniac? I can't get my mind to slow down... Lol! I had to be one of the most frustrating people to teach in school.... Unfortunately, darling daughter has inherited all of this; it's one reason she's homeschooled. The school system had no idea how to handle a kid with both brains & a high creativity quotient. Add in the fact that she's a kinetic learner, super-sensitive emotionally, and learns really fast - she'd end up bored to tears, and daydreamed so much she'd lose track of time & place. She does a full day's schoolwork now in two or three hours, tops - and makes straight A's. All because at home, we work WITH her "proclivities" instead of fighting them. Once I have custody of her again full-time (hopefully this fall, but my mom keeps fighting me on it with some lame excuse or another), I'm adding in another "class" - poser. :). I want her to learn anything and everything she needs to know, and things she WANTS to know. Erk, I'm rambling again lol. Sorry!!! Ok, maybe not terribly sorry... ;). But, will shush for now, and boot up lappy and go back to watching videos of Vue :). By the time it arrives and computer arrives, I want to be able to have at least a basic knowledge of what's changed between versions and how not only to access them, but USE them. I am so excited!!!!! And hubby has convinced me that when I'm able to, to post one of our wedding pics. He knows how I hate having my pic taken and viewed by others, but as he said, no matter what goes on that day, I will still be the most beautiful bride he's ever seen... Lol! I'm NOT all that! But, he does give me confidence.... And I love him, so I can get past my own self-image and let others see what the camera happens to capture.... Besides, it'll be one of the very few times I let a pic of myself be posted anywhere online! Ok, off to watch vue videos and tutorials :). A million thanks to geek@play for their totally awesome video tuts! Right now, they're keeping me semi-sane while I wait....

Rarer than a hairy egg and madder than a box of frogs....

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