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What was the last skill you learned and how? (programming.dev)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

70 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It can be a small skill.

The last thing I learned to do was whistle. Never could whistle my whole life, and tutorials and friends never could help me.

So, for the last month or two, I just sort of made the blow shape then spam-tried different "tongue configurations" so to speak -- whenever I had free time. Monkey-at-a-typewriter type shit. It was more an absentminded thing than a practice investment.

Probably looked dumb as hell making blow noises. Felt dumb too ("what? you can't whistle? just watch"), but I kept at it like a really really low-investment... dare I attract self-help gurus... habit.

Eventually I made a pitch, then I could shift the pitch up a little, then five pitches, then Liebestraum, then the range of a tenth or so. Skadoosh. Still doing it now lol.

(Make of this what you will: If I went the musician route my brain told me to, then I would've gotten bored after 1 minute of major scales. When I was stuck at only having five pitches, I had way more longevity whistle-blowing cartoonish Tom-and-Jerry-running-around chromaticisms than failing the "fa" in "do re mi fa".)

So, Lemmings: What was the last skill you learned? And further, what was the context/way in which you learned it?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I got into photography during the pandemic as a way to go outside and stay active. I find it makes you pay attention to the environment around you a lot more closely. Things you normally wouldn't notice become interesting.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

In a similar way, I'd learnt an eeny bit about visual composition at one point, and it's helped me understand how something pretty can be uninteresting and something ugly can be interesting. (Maybe it was more obvious to everyone else, especially with the whole image gen sitch (ー﹏一))

Oddly it's made me respect internet-ugly MS Paint stuff more. Like this ancient shitpost.

And nature too of course. The way a red sky refracts in cirrus clouds. Ladybugs on leaves. Elk.

All stuff I normally wouldn't have noticed :p

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yup, we tend to take our world for granted, but there's so much to see even in things that normally seem mundane. Learning to stop and appreciate things has been a really eye opening experience for me as well.