Paul & I idled away some time watching "Voyager" last night. Neelix is leaving to become a Starfleet ambassador and Mr Tuvok gives him the traditional Vulcan farewell "Live Long & Prosper".
"I rather like that," I said to Paul "It's a very graceful thing to say. We should adopt it" "Ah!" he replied "but can you do the gesture?" "Of course!" I said, demonstrating.
It's astonishing just how much time we spend, as children, practising a whole range of actions for no real reason. If you have older brothers, as I did, you have some catching up to do, but I expect most children are the same.
I used to practise turning round and round as fast as I could to see at which point falling over became inevitable. I practised hopping, standing on one leg, and whistling. (I am now unable to whistle, having originally learnt how at about six years of age). I'm not talking about the things that you have to learn, like reading & writing, nor about those things that come naturally such as walking & talking, but completely unnecessary things just to prove you can. How many times you can repeat some foolish rhyme on a single intake of breath. Rubbing your stomach and patting your head simultaneously. Juggling two or more tennis balls. Trying to imitate the silly smile that Daddy used to do (I can still do that too, much to Paul's annoyance).
And practising all sorts of things with your fingers "Church and Steeple" which I practised and practised until my fingers were nimble. And I used to practise splaying my fingers. Just why it's very easy to splay them out unevenly (and it doesn't seem to matter whether it's the little or index that's splayed), while splaying them two-by-two is so hard and takes so much practice and concentration I really don't know.
And I don't know why I worked so hard to achieve it, but I did and can still do it.
Although it does make my elderly joints ache a bit!
No comments:
Post a Comment