.: I done lernt good :.

As previously mentioned, I've been feeling quite the idiot as of late. (Especially as I've rewritten the previous sentence atleast six times.) But I'll soldier through this feeling to write this blog about the way that I learn.

For the past month, I've been taking dance classes at Big City Swing. Two hours every Wednesday night. The first hour concerns teaching a Swing I class or a Wedding Dance class or private. This class really stimulates me because it makes me use my assesment and problem-solving skills. At the same time, I have to learn some rote scripted stuff that I am able to improvise and use with my best style of communication - humor. I've spent alot of time during social dances lately just watching and observing how I might teach or re-teach certain dances moves. This might explain part of my lack of inspiration to accept offers to dance. Or perhaps I want to do more than just dance. Its kinda like my choosing to practice a more clinical, analytical style of massage as opposed to just settling for vanilla scented candled spa massage.

The second hour is a performance group class. This class kicks my butt physically and mentally. Wrapping my brain around what's to become muscle memory has been pretty satisfiying so far. Until tonight. What dance steps I thought I had down became crap. I was singled out on more than one occasion for a mistake or a reminder. I've been so very frustrated with not understanding things or feeling an imbecile lately yet I was more determined tonight to get the goddamn steps right. By the end of the session tonight, the group merited several compliments. However, before we all left the studio, J suggested we get together to work on it before next week. She told me, "You have it. You know it. Its linking everything together. The jazz steps are right. You aren't confident in the transitions."

This immediately reminded me of Trap's post on facts, knowledge, and wisdom.

The idea is that people excel differently in each of the three areas. For instance some people are great with minutia (facts), other people are good with classification (knowledge) and other people are all about relationships (wisdom). Knowing what type of person you are and working to build proficiency in the other areas can be helpful in increasing the scope of your intellectual abilities... at least that is my end game.

I'm very confident on facts. And its kinda creepy what kinda of trivial factual knowledge I have. Yet when it comes to linking these ideas into a larger more complex concept, I'm not very confident. This is why some people doubt me when I bring up a point in a discussion. I may know that there is a valid fact to be heard but I don't communicate that clearly. Other times I may self edit, out of self-doubt, what is still a valid point to be made in a discussion. I gotta stop doing that and just power through and KNOW that I am making a point that contributes to someone else learning something.

Interesting point should be made that I'm probably learning the same routine Trapper learned years ago...