Can you swim? Can you whistle? Can you ride a bike?

[NoJo]

Have you ever felt that burning shame when the entire world seems to manage with consummate ease something that you just can't do?

I never learned to ride a bike until I was in my 30's. I spent my teenage years and my 20's in constant fear of being invited for a bike ride.

 

[SensualCealy]

I can Swim, I can Whistle, and I can ride a Bike- I have yet to accomplish the task of doing all at once! lol

My Phobia is Spelling! I was never good at it in school, it never just came to me. I was proud of myself until my kids got to about grade 5, then I had to use a dictionary when they would ask, "how do you spell ..."

Just found out on Tuesday that in Business Language, there will be spelling tests- How frigging lovely!
C

 

[cantdog]

I recently taught a high school age person how to snap her fingers. Was it an empty life before this, full of anxieties and feelings of inadequacy?

 

[carsonshepherd]

I couldn't whistle with braces on my teeth, but I got them off in April and now I can whistle again.

I can't change a tire.

 

[TxRad]

At age eight, i tried to fly.......

Fifty something years later.... I still can't fly.....

Actually, I quit trying after the age of ten......

 

[Honey123]

I can't swim...hell, I can't even float...I sink like a lead balloon...It is embarassing. I only recently got enough nerve to go into a pool and play volley ball...

 

[R. Richard]

Can you swim? Can you whistle? Can you ride a bike?

Hey! Wait a minute! Are we talking here a friendly one at a time, or am I supposed to do it all at once? That last is really tough!

 

[McKenna]

I cannot snap with my left hand. I am snap-challenged. I fake it well, though, by covering with my right hand. Sort of like ventriloquism for snapping.





Whoa. I spelled ventriloquism right on the very first try!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I too, am spelling challenged and too some this would be an embarrassment but it just one of the flaws of life. We all have them. Grow up.

 

[Hooper_X]

I never managed to do a no-hands backward flip, despite the fact that almost all of my friends could. I rationalized that my height was to blame.

 

[Liar]

Except for having never learned to play a musical instrument, I'm god damn perfect.

Helluva handicap for a wannabe musician though.

 

[English Lady]

I can't swim.

I learnt once, embarassingly I managed 10 m un floated when I was 14 and I know they say you never forget.

But I think I forgot.

 

[oggbashan]

One yes and two maybe but ouch.

I can whistle, with or without my false teeth.

I used to be able to ride a bike. I used to tour the UK with camping equipment on the bike. Now I can ride about half a mile before the pain in my back becomes intolerable.

I qualified as a lifesaver in the UK, then as a surf lifesaver in Australia. Now I can't raise my head out of the water when swimming on my front, nor turn my head to the side to breathe. I can swim on my back for about 400 yards but that hurts.

A damaged spine is limiting.

Og

 

[SilencedNeeds]

 

[Elsie Grey]

I can swim and ride a bike but not whistle. I can't do long division in me head either (a vact that drives my numerically minded family to despair!) but hey, isn't that why they invented calculators and whistles?!

Elsie

xxx

 

[Aurora Black]

I didn't learn how to swim until I was 22.
Yes, I can whistle.
I can't ride a bike, and...

I'm musically illiterate. I can't read notes despite many attempts to learn. On the job, when the musicians I work with ask me what pitch I sing in, I can't tell them which note it is. Instead, I have to sing the note that I remember by ear.

I'm going to cry into my pillow now.

 

[Trombonus]

I didn't learn how to swim until I was 22.
Yes, I can whistle.
I can't ride a bike, and...

I'm musically illiterate. I can't read notes despite many attempts to learn. On the job, when the musicians I work with ask me what pitch I sing in, I can't tell them which note it is. Instead, I have to sing the note that I remember by ear.

I'm going to cry into my pillow now.

lol, you would be great practice for me as I'm going to be a music teacher! I wouldn't mind teaching you how to read music at all. It's just like any language, you have your individual words (notes), phrases (measures), and sentences (Phrases). Once you figure how they go together it's easy.

As for things I can't do, I can whistle, ride bikes (although I haven't been on one after my traumatic 30 mile bike ride with the scouts 12 to 14 years ago. And I can swim ok. One thing I cannot do is burp. Strange I know, but I rarely burp at all, and I certainly can't do it on cue. My friends tried to teach me, but it just wasn't happening.

 

[cloudy]

I've been Water Safety Instructor certified since I was 17, and I can ride a bike just fine, but the only way I can whistle is one of those loud, ear-piercing things with my thumb and forefinger in my mouth.

 

[AppleBiter]

One thing I cannot do is burp. Strange I know, but I rarely burp at all, and I certainly can't do it on cue. My friends tried to teach me, but it just wasn't happening.

You and my SO are in the exact same boat.

I can swim, whistle, and ride a bike. I cannot, however, make an edible pancake, correctly apply eye-liner, or (apparently) graph a parabola.

 

[Trombonus]

You and my SO are in the exact same boat.

I can swim, whistle, and ride a bike. I cannot, however, make an edible pancake, correctly apply eye-liner, or (apparently) graph a parabola.

lol, that makes me feel a bit better...I think...

As for cooking, I have problems making a ham and cheese sandwich, let alone making anything as complex as pancakes, unless they're the frozen kind. Pouring a bowl of cereal also creates problems for me.

 

[AppleBiter]

Pouring a bowl of cereal also creates problems for me.

Me too, on occasion.

 

[shereads]

Is this research for a story or are you hiring an assistant?

 

[moonlight elf]

I can swim. I grew up in a county of rivers and lived by the bay. Swimming is one of my joys.

Whistle? Nopppers, not one bit! I tried to learn several times but I think this is one thing I'll never be able to do.


Ride a bike? Nope again. There were never any bikes around when I was small and when I grew older I was too embarassed to ask to learn.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I can ride a bike, and swim, but I can't whistle very well... (only in, not out... if that makes sense?)

 

[Guest]

I'm not much of a finger-snapper.