# Do you have a gift?  Maybe just a minor talent for doing something better than others?



## Ralphy1 (Feb 24, 2016)

Don't be modest, tell us!  I have been told that I make the best martini ever, but I try to tell people that it is not a gift but the result of years of hard work getting the right gin and vermouth mix perfected...


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## Warrigal (Feb 24, 2016)

We all have gifts, Ralphy.
I think you might be talking about skills.


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## Ruthanne (Feb 24, 2016)

I used to be good at drawing, I was in an art show and sold some of my drawings.  I, however, have been procrastinating to get back into it.  I think I need to take an art refresher course first.  I may do that when I turn 60 and can get free classes at the colleges here.


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 24, 2016)

One can develop a skill thru study and experience, but a gift is there from the beginning, and very few have one, and rarely more than one.  The lucky ones are those who discover their gift at an early age so that they can enjoy it and perhaps build a highly rewarding life around it...


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## Ameriscot (Feb 24, 2016)

Photography.


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 24, 2016)

Tell us when and how you discovered this gift, and why you are judged to be better than others at it...


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## Ameriscot (Feb 24, 2016)

I discovered it about 5 or 6 years ago.  I've had 5 of my photos on the cover of a journal.


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## Ken N Tx (Feb 24, 2016)

Ruthanne said:


> I used to be good at drawing, I was in an art show and sold some of my drawings.  I, however, have been procrastinating to get back into it.  I think I need to take an art refresher course first.  I may do that when I turn 60 and can get free classes at the colleges here.



Someone told me that Ralphy can draw flies....


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## Ameriscot (Feb 24, 2016)

Ken N Tx said:


> Someone told me that Ralphy can draw flies....



:lofl:


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 24, 2016)

Flies don't come near me because they don't like the smell of my gin laden breath, ladies on the other hand, find my breath to be an aphrodisiac...


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## IKE (Feb 24, 2016)

Ralphy1 said:


> Flies don't come near me because they don't like the smell of my gin laden breath, ladies on the other hand, find my breath to be an aphrodisiac...



I've been striking out lately Ralphy maybe I need to try gin......I'll get back to you on my findings.


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 24, 2016)

It worked well for George Burns, he was my hero...


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## SifuPhil (Feb 24, 2016)

My gift is myself - to humanity. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 24, 2016)

Surely you must play a mean flute or something...


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## SifuPhil (Feb 24, 2016)

Ralphy1 said:


> Surely you must play a mean flute or something...



What do I look like - Jethro Tull?!?

Of course, I'd be flattered by the comparison. But no - no gifts, no talents, no skills. I am but a simple man making his lowly way through life ...


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 24, 2016)

OK, Forrest...


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## SifuPhil (Feb 24, 2016)

Me and Jenny goes together like peas and carrots.


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## Falcon (Feb 24, 2016)

I was a medical photographer.  One of my pictures  appeared on the front page of all 3 city newspapers.

It showed the patient's incision from the newly developed heart-lung machine.


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## BlunderWoman (Feb 24, 2016)

Well.. on 2 different occasions I have screamed an ear piercing scream that has killed the mouse that made me scream. My father loves to tell everyone about that. I seem to have given the mice a heart attack or something & they just dropped dead in their tracks.


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## jujube (Feb 24, 2016)

People tell me I have "magical hands".  I've never had any massage training, but folks say I can make something stop hurting quickly.   My specialty is headaches.


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## FazeFour (Feb 24, 2016)

Ruthanne said:


> I used to be good at drawing, I was in an art show and sold some of my drawings.  I, however, have been procrastinating to get back into it.  I think I need to take an art refresher course first.  I may do that when I turn 60 and can get free classes at the colleges here.



If it's something you love, you really should! I'm very good with pen and ink, but quite mediocre with water colors, and I totally suck with oils and acrylics. I found my forte with scrimshaw. I stopped practicing many years ago, and gave all my tools to an uncle who has since died. I have no idea what was done with my tools. Today, decent scrimshaw tools are pretty expensive. But way back when I started scrimming, it was with an exacto knife, a bottle of ink, and some old antlers. I could do that again. I've been reticent because of my back problems. While I have found good treatment for that, hours of sitting hunched over a bit of bone or micarta or whatever, straining my fingers, arms, and neck, would still cause pain.

That said, you've just lit a fire under my cu. After my next back treatment I'm going to get some basic tools, find a "canvas", and give it a go!

I'm also a good singer. My voice is untrained, and has lost the range it used to have, but it still impresses my grandchildren, and my son loves to take me karaoke-ing with him.


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## SifuPhil (Feb 24, 2016)

Okay, I've gotten over my natural modesty and shyness ...

I'm a very good martial arts teacher. In fact, I made it my career for over 30 years. I still have a private student I've been teaching for 15 years.

Also, and this will sound wacky, I had a certain talent for making large, complicated dollhouses from scratch. It started when my wife said she had never had a dollhouse as a child. For our next anniversary I planned on giving her one.

But instead of doing what a normal, sane person would do - going to the store and buying one already made, or at least a kit - I decided to make this one by hand. I cut scale 2"x4"s and 2"x6"s, cut the flooring out of sheets of exotic woods and marble, installed working electricity and plumbing ... the project just ran away with me.

It ended up finished one day before our anniversary - a 4'x4'x3' monster, built so that it could hinge open in three pieces and mounted on its own table. 

After a few people saw it they started asking if I could make one for them. I eventually started a lucrative side-business building dollhouses and ended up exhibiting at a few major shows up and down the East coast.


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## FazeFour (Feb 24, 2016)

SifuPhil said:


> Okay, I've gotten over my natural modesty and shyness ...
> 
> I'm a very good martial arts teacher. In fact, I made it my career for over 30 years. I still have a private student I've been teaching for 15 years.
> 
> ...



Oh man, that's so cool! I love to _watch_ martial arts competitions. Used to sit up and watch Kung-Fu theater from midnight til 3am when I was a kid. I have 2 nephews who competed in mixed martial arts (in a fighting ring) when they were in their 20s, and I've got a massive collection of Jacki Chan (and others) DVDs.

I envy your wife for the doll house. I made one once, from a kit - mainly so I could collect miniature furniture and stuff.


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## Lon (Feb 24, 2016)

I play the harmonica exceptionally well. Not on the professional level, but close. Classical/Jazz/Pop.


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## Linda (Feb 24, 2016)

Phil, I love doll houses, wish you had a pic of one of yours to show us.  I had a tin 2 story house in the 50s and I'd have thought I'd died and gone to heaven if I'd had one like you made.  Do you not have the desire to make another one?  Seems like it'd be a lot of fun.


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## Karen99 (Feb 24, 2016)

SifuPhil said:


> Okay, I've gotten over my natural modesty and shyness ...
> 
> I'm a very good martial arts teacher. In fact, I made it my career for over 30 years. I still have a private student I've been teaching for 15 years.
> 
> ...



Well, I am impressed Phillip.. You can Kung Fu but also create a working dollhouse,  ok, I don't know from martial arts..except that old tv show, Grasshopper...lol. I'm so glad you aren't normal or sane and went out and built a better dollhouse . Yay!


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## SifuPhil (Feb 24, 2016)

Linda said:


> Phil, I love doll houses, wish you had a pic of one of yours to show us.  I had a tin 2 story house in the 50s and I'd have thought I'd died and gone to heaven if I'd had one like you made.  Do you not have the desire to make another one?  Seems like it'd be a lot of fun.



Maybe someday ... when I'm retired ... and have the tools again ... and the nice workshop ... and plenty of time ... LOL!

I think perhaps it evolved from my love of building tiny little houses for my train layout as a kid, as well as creating wooden toys for my son later on. 



Karen99 said:


> Well, I am impressed Phillip.. You can Kung Fu but also create a working dollhouse,  ok, I don't know from martial arts..except that old tv show, Grasshopper...lol. I'm so glad you aren't normal or sane and went out and built a better dollhouse . Yay!



LOL - yeah, that's me - I'm just one big, furry bundle of contradictions!  Like an egg - hard on the outside, soft on the inside ...


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## Shalimar (Feb 24, 2016)

I too love dollhouses Philly. Always wanted one, specially one of those Queen Anne Painted Ladies, with the fish scale stuff, and turrets etc.


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## fureverywhere (Feb 24, 2016)

But instead of doing what a normal, sane person would do - going to the store and buying one already made, or at least a kit - I decided to make this one by hand. I cut scale 2"x4"s and 2"x6"s, cut the flooring out of sheets of exotic woods and marble, installed working electricity and plumbing ... the project just ran away with me.

 It ended up finished one day before our anniversary - a 4'x4'x3' monster, built so that it could hinge open in three pieces and mounted on its own table. 

That's really impressive son. My aunt had such a dollhouse. Every few years she change wallpaper and décor, ongoing project for many, many years. Quite a hobby for many people.

I can build things really well but I suck at math. So everything is made with a great deal of estimating. I admire people who can do real live carpentry. I can draw and paint, not like "real" drawing like shading and perspective but still rather imaginative. In the Spring I'm going to approach the townships about repainting park benches in fanciful themes. Maybe find some storefronts interested in something colorful. Large scale is fun...one of the kids rooms has an eight foot tabbie cat on the wall.


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## SifuPhil (Feb 24, 2016)

Shalimar said:


> I too love dollhouses Philly. Always wanted one, specially one of those Queen Anne Painted Ladies, with the fish scale stuff, and turrets etc.



Now that's weird - that's exactly the style I built, from original blueprints ... you're scaring me, Witch Lady ...


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## SifuPhil (Feb 24, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> That's really impressive son. My aunt had such a dollhouse. Every few years she change wallpaper and décor, ongoing project for many, many years. Quite a hobby for many people.
> 
> I can build things really well but I suck at math. So everything is made with a great deal of estimating. I admire people who can do real live carpentry. I can draw and paint, not like "real" drawing like shading and perspective but still rather imaginative. In the Spring I'm going to approach the townships about repainting park benches in fanciful themes. Maybe find some storefronts interested in something colorful. Large scale is fun...one of the kids rooms has an eight foot tabbie cat on the wall.



Thank you.

Our downtown has a mural painted by local artisans - it's on the side of a building, about 100' long and 2 stories high. Took them all of a summer to do, and it was a daily event to grab lunch, sit down on the ground and watch them work.


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## Cookie (Feb 24, 2016)

I have exceptional hand-eye coordination and can do things simultaneously with both hands -- needless to say, I'm a high speed typist/keyboarder.


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## BlunderWoman (Feb 24, 2016)

I'm not gifted , but I paint & write poetry. My entire life's collection of paintings and poetry burned up in my house fire. I had put things on flash drives. It never occurred to me that they would melt lol. I haven't done anything in a year because I keep being shuffled by workers from room to room. These two pictures my daughter had on her cell phone & just sent me. The first hangs in my Dad's living room. I gave it to him years ago. The second beach picture was unfinished. It was the one I was working on when my house burned down. The colors look off to me on my computer, but oh well..

P.S. Phil I think the thoughtfulness that went into that dollhouse gift idea is so touching.


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## SifuPhil (Feb 24, 2016)

BlunderWoman said:


> P.S. Phil I think the thoughtfulness that went into that dollhouse gift idea is so touching.



Thank you!

Beautiful paintings ...


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## RadishRose (Feb 24, 2016)

I was good at dancing and took lessons. I was always one of the two "leaders" in the classes. I also won a few little dance contests at the local dances as a teen. Good grief, even I can hardly believe it!

Drawing was also something I was pretty good at.


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## RadishRose (Feb 24, 2016)

BlunderWoman, your paintings are lovely. I'm so sorry about the fire.


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## Ameriscot (Feb 24, 2016)

Linda said:


> Phil, I love doll houses, wish you had a pic of one of yours to show us.  I had a tin 2 story house in the 50s and I'd have thought I'd died and gone to heaven if I'd had one like you made.  Do you not have the desire to make another one?  Seems like it'd be a lot of fun.



My doll house was my favourite toy.  It was a big wooden one my grandmother bought used.


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## Ameriscot (Feb 24, 2016)

Blunder, lovely paintings.


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## vickyNightowl (Feb 24, 2016)

So many talented people!

Ralhy,I would love a taste. 

I'm good with tools,manual labor.crafts.
My latest pass time is mosaics.I finally finished a huge piece with multiple medims used and now I started a glass on glass.I am in the process of cliping glass in small bits.


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## Lon (Feb 24, 2016)

I forgot to mention-----In addition to being a outstanding harmonica player I am utterly fantastic  on BONGOS. Play me something with a Latin Beat and away I go. Arriba!!!!


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## Karen99 (Feb 24, 2016)

Piano, writing.  I'm not real artsy craftsy..but I used to embroider when I was a teenager.  I did a whole set of tea towels and pillow slips when I got bronchitis..lol. I have done decoupage and my art thing is chalk (pastels) or pencil.  I tried oil painting and that was a huge fail...but fun.


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## fureverywhere (Feb 24, 2016)

I forgot to mention-----In addition to being a outstanding harmonica player I am utterly fantastic  on BONGOS. Play me something with a Latin Beat and away I go. Arriba!!!! 

Hey is Ray Barretto still alive? No I googled it he passed in 2006...hey you could take over his place...he was amazing.


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## Ameriscot (Feb 24, 2016)

Karen99 said:


> Piano, writing.  I'm not real artsy craftsy..but I used to embroider when I was a teenager.  I did a whole set of tea towels and pillow slips when I got bronchitis..lol. I have done decoupage and my art thing is chalk (pastels) or pencil.  I tried oil painting and that was a huge fail...but fun.



I did a lot of crewel embroidery in my 20's - pictures, pillows, etc. Still have some of them.  I gave away a lot as gifts.


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## fureverywhere (Feb 24, 2016)

I did needlework in high school. A denim jacket with Lynyrd Skynyrd across the back. I read about something called trapunto and made a shady lady on the sleeve, felt and 3D. I don't follow directions good but I can look at something and create it anyways.


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## Karen99 (Feb 24, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> I did a lot of crewel embroidery in my 20's - pictures, pillows, etc. Still have some of them.  I gave away a lot as gifts.



Very cool..I lovd doing gifts with embroidery..baby bibs and such..or later remember how embroidery on denim was popular?  I did a few personalized shirts...forgot about that.


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## Ameriscot (Feb 24, 2016)

Karen99 said:


> Very cool..I lovd doing gifts with embroidery..baby bibs and such..or later remember how embroidery on denim was popular?  I did a few personalized shirts...forgot about that.



My grandmother taught me how to embroider.  She did excellent work.  All our pillowcases had embrodery on the ends.  Some tablecloths as well.  

I don't like doing crossstitch and I can't seem to find any crewel embroidery kits.  I'd love to do it again.


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## oldman (Feb 25, 2016)

I am a pretty good fiddle and harmonica player. I play the banjo (to some degree) and also the piano (to some degree).


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## Ralphy1 (Feb 25, 2016)

You could be a one man band.  Have you thought of recording a clip for YouTube?  it might go viral...


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## SifuPhil (Feb 25, 2016)

oldman said:


> I am a pretty good fiddle and harmonica player. I play the banjo (to some degree) and also the piano (to some degree).



All while piloting a 747, no doubt ...


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## IKE (Feb 25, 2016)

I have been reading this thread for awhile trying to figure out my hidden talent or gift and I'm tired of racking my brain......I've finally come to the conclusion that I'm not good at diddly squat.


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## Karen99 (Feb 25, 2016)

IKE said:


> I have been reading this thread for awhile trying to figure out my hidden talent or gift and I'm tired of racking my brain......I've finally come to the conclusion that I'm not good at diddly squat.



Well, you're using a computer, Ike...you're way ahead of lots of folks


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## Debby (Feb 25, 2016)

SifuPhil said:


> Okay, I've gotten over my natural modesty and shyness ...
> 
> I'm a very good martial arts teacher. In fact, I made it my career for over 30 years. I still have a private student I've been teaching for 15 years.
> 
> ...




You sound like you've led an interesting life Phil.  Lots of variety in your interests.

I did a dollhouse once.  I didn't have lots of tools so it was pretty basic but I thought it was cute and I had fun building and decorating it.  I can't remember what I did with it because my girls weren't interested in it at all.  But you obviously went a lot further than I did.  Do you have any photos of your work?  I'd love to see one.


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## fureverywhere (Feb 25, 2016)

I don't know if it's a gift or just my personality...but babies and small children, dogs, cats, small furry creatures, feeble seniors. Somehow they're drawn to me. Guess it's being a petite, soft spoken, multipurpose grandma. A screaming toddler or big scary dog, I can smile and they smile back. If I could have passed the math in nursing school I would have specialized in dementia patients.


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## Debby (Feb 25, 2016)

IKE said:


> I have been reading this thread for awhile trying to figure out my hidden talent or gift and I'm tired of racking my brain......I've finally come to the conclusion that I'm not good at diddly squat.




Sometimes things you take for granted are sort of a hidden talent.  I had a friend who was great at remembering our relationship and that was special.  I'm not good at that like she was.  For example, her husband and her and my husband and I shared an anniversary date.  So in the four years that we knew her, we used to go out for dinner together.  

Well the year that she was dying, our anniversary date arrived and she was in the hospital during an 'episode', and I totally forgot about our anniversaries, but she remembered and she called and wished us a Happy Anniversary!  That's when I sort of woke up to a realization that I tend to take relationships for granted or at least I think I do.  But she had a gift for remembering to share her love even when she had the best excuse in the world to forget.  Maybe you have a hidden gift like that?





fureverywhere said:


> I don't know if it's a gift or just my personality...but babies and small children, dogs, cats, small furry creatures, feeble seniors. Somehow they're drawn to me. Guess it's being a petite, soft spoken, multipurpose grandma. A screaming toddler or big scary dog, I can smile and they smile back. If I could have passed the math in nursing school I would have specialized in dementia patients.



Anytime you can influence people like that, it's a gift I think.


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## FazeFour (Feb 25, 2016)

fureverywhere said:


> I don't know if it's a gift or just my personality...but babies and small children, dogs, cats, small furry creatures, feeble seniors. Somehow they're drawn to me. Guess it's being a petite, soft spoken, multipurpose grandma. A screaming toddler or big scary dog, I can smile and they smile back. If I could have passed the math in nursing school I would have specialized in dementia patients.



Whoever created the nursing test must have put too much emphasis on the math. The math part of nursing is something anyone can easily pick up in practice. You were ROBBED, Fur!

Like you, babies and small children seem drawn to me. I can calm them or make them smile or get a hug without even trying. Here's a strange incident: about 15 years ago, I was sitting on the stoop of my apartment and within 15 minutes half-a-dozen neighborhood kids were sitting with me. We quietly chatted until I said "Well, I'd better get inside." And this little boy said, "Ok, but first, why do you have clowns all around you?" and his older sister said, "Those aren't clowns, stupid, those are angels." 

I didn't ask Joshy what the heck he was talking about. I just told the girl that calling her brother 'stupid' probably made him feel bad, and my goosebumps and I went inside.


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## GeorgiaXplant (Feb 25, 2016)

After giving this subject a good bit of thought...no. I don't have any gifts. I don't have any talents, either.

I used to edit my husband's articles for technical and trade journals and submissions to other kinds of magazines. I edited both of his books but don't think it counts because, after all, English is my mother tongue.

*Fur...the job with your name on it could very well be as an activities director in a nursing/rehab facility.*


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## oldman (Feb 26, 2016)

Ralphy1 said:


> You could be a one man band.  Have you thought of recording a clip for YouTube?  it might go viral...



I have done two videos, but only share them with family and a few friends. I like keeping a low profile, which at 6'4" is sometimes hard to do.


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## Shalimar (Feb 26, 2016)

Georgia, you have the talent for seeing life as it really is, that is rare. You also make people laugh, you are funny!


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## Manatee (Feb 26, 2016)

I am extremely competent at holding my recliner down so that it doesn't blow away.  Of course the only wind in our living room is from the ceiling fan which runs at low speed when it is on.


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## Ameriscot (Feb 26, 2016)

GeorgiaXplant said:


> After giving this subject a good bit of thought...no. I don't have any gifts. I don't have any talents, either.
> 
> I used to edit my husband's articles for technical and trade journals and submissions to other kinds of magazines. I edited both of his books but don't think it counts because, after all, English is my mother tongue.
> 
> *Fur...the job with your name on it could very well be as an activities director in a nursing/rehab facility.*



You're an excellent virtual travel companion!


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