Does anyone else have difficulty

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giving directions (sometimes to your own house) and/or answering a question requiring a summary of your opinion or feelings about a given topic when asked?

I have no trouble giving directions.

Others have trouble following them.

Well said.

...Yeh , I tend to be uncertain - and forget place names , or at least be unsure of them - and be shy about giving an opinion

LOL, exactly, that's what I mean

I can't give directions. I have to draw a map. Same goes for listening to directions. If it isn't REALLY simple, like, "Third door on the left," I'll lose track. On the other hand, give me a map and a compass, dump me anywhere on the map, and I can find my way to anywhere else on it with little or no error. (Actually, make it daytime or a cloudless night and I'll do it without the compass.) It's the time-ordered directions that really mess me up. Put a path on a map, and I'm all set.

I'm not good at giving or following directions.

I can be good at giving a summary of my opinions, but it depends on the topic. If it's a very complicated topic, I might not be. If someone asked, "What do you think about the Israel/Palestine conflict?" I might have trouble. If someone asked, "Do you like chocolate?" that would be an easier thing to give an opinion on.

I'm okay with the former but I can't do the latter.

For a question as open-ended as "what's your feelings about this" I need a bit of time to think before formulating a reply.

I notice a lot of people do give an answer straight away but their answers usually seem a bit shallow, like they're simply answering to show approval or disapproval, e.g. "Oh, I think that's wonderful" or "Sorry, that isn't really my thing". I never have such black and white opinions about topics unless they're in one of my areas of interest.

Oh. By the way.

Has anyone else here ever been asked something like "where do you see yourself 8 years from now"? I think I'd nominate that as the worst question ever invented. Someone asked me this once and I felt like...

"umm... damn... I don't know... how the heck should I know?".

Instant headache. Honestly, I just don't ever think like that. Am I the only one?

I have the answer to that. It's a killer question, but really, it only takes a bit of logic.

I don't see myself in 8 years time. Not yet, anyway. Remind me to look in a mirror in 8 years time, and I'll tell you where I see myself.

This gives you control over the conversation, as the other party is forced to rephrase. Ultimately, you've already made your point, though, so all attempts at continuing are futile. Nobody is able to accurately predict the future.

The asker wants you to extrapolate a possible outcome of the next 8 years, while *somehow* taking into account untold millions of variables that may or may not happen. The closest a far advanced (possibly 24th century) computer could do is work out every possible scenario, which realistically may take days. It couldn't accurately select the right one. How do they expect a mere human being to do it?

Therefore the appropriate answer could be absolutely anything you want. Last time I was asked, I answered with:

'Walking down a corridor aboard the starship Nuthaven, with a bottle of rum in one hand, and a smoke in the other. Also a plasma pistol tucked away somewhere'

((((hugs))))

~LL~

...Dead ?????

Yes to both things, but I'm really bad at giving directions and I get anxious about it. I would rather walk 1 or 2 hours to my house than get a lift with someone and give directions.
It hard for me to give my opinion for two reasons: reason one is thinking of a response in time, and two is my speech difficulties (stuttering, screwing up the order of words).

Directions = yes, once it gets past three turns I can no longer describe the way. I could walk you there but not tell you in most cases. But then I can get lost leaving a restroom at a fast food place or similar because I don't know where I came from.

The giving a summary of opinions = Yes - If it is a topic that is coming from me at the time I can talk about my thoughts not so bad - if it is brought up by someone else when I wasn't thinking of it myself, even if it's something I know well I find it difficult. If it's not on my mind it's just not. But mostly if the conversation just comes natural and just happens that's not so bad but if my thoughts are expected then that's really hard and almost impossible.

Last edited by Stray-Ana on 11 Mar 2009, 10:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yes to the first, no to the second. It's easy to give directions to my house since we live 1) not far from a subway station 2) because we're smack dab along a park. ;P

If it is spontaneous, then yes, very much so. I will usually just stand there with a blank look on my face.

Give me a few hours of time and I can give you a long, detailed answer... but I think that kind of defeats the point of just asking for an opinion.

/shrug

I don't know. I don't understand have the time why anyone would want my opinion, or anyone's opinion over plan, cold, honest facts.

I am terrible at giving or receiving directions. I don't like being prompted to give opinions or share my feelings.