When your client becomes your teacher
Michelle shows up for what I thought was going to be a quick training review before her certification exam next week. Turns out she's been using this color-coded study system that…
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39 entries tagged #learning.
Tamale tutorial gone wrong
Michelle texted this morning asking if I could teach her how to make Abuela Rosa's tamales. 'How hard can it be?' she said. Famous last words. Two hours later, my kitchen looks li…
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Tool school
Margaret came over this afternoon with a mission: to save my pottery tools from my complete lack of organization system. Apparently, tossing everything into a canvas bag after cla…
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Kitchen table pottery school
Margaret offered to bring her portable wheel over after I mentioned wanting to practice between classes. "The kitchen counter will work fine," she said. Famous last words. Kitchen…
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Home kiln dreams
Margaret mentioned firing techniques at class Tuesday and somehow I convinced myself I could figure out a home setup. Spent the afternoon with three library books, YouTube tutoria…
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Portrait mode breakthrough
Carmen showed up with her new iPhone 13 this afternoon, completely baffled by all the camera options. 'There are like seventeen different settings and I don't know what any of the…
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Twisted logic
YouTube made it look so easy. Three strands, over-under-over, how hard could it be? Twisted logic Turns out bread dough has opinions about being manipulated by amateur hands. What…
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Clay and concentration
Never thought I'd be sitting on my yoga mat with a ball of clay at 2pm on a Saturday, but here we are. Sarah's been talking up this pottery class for months, and apparently it's f…
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The great bread experiment continues
Flour in my hair, on my shirt, somehow on the floor three feet from the counter. This is attempt number three at the same sourdough recipe, and I'm starting to think the starter h…
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Digital native meets digital immigrant
Carmen showed up today with her phone already out, declaring it was time I joined "the streaming revolution." Apparently my collection of burned CDs and iTunes purchases makes me…
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Chord progressions and ego checks
Jake came home from work to find me surrounded by chord charts and what can only be described as the musical equivalent of a crime scene. Chord progressions and ego checks Two wee…
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Clay therapy session
Brought home my pottery homework yesterday - just a simple bowl we're supposed to practice centering techniques on. Left it on the kitchen counter while I grabbed a shower. Came b…
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The line in the sand
Been sitting here for an hour with leftover Thai food, trying to put words to what happened with Alex at the gym yesterday. You know that moment when someone pushes just a little…
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Portrait mode converts
Michelle came over to test out her new iPhone 7 Plus and somehow I became the unofficial photography instructor. We spent two hours on my couch figuring out Portrait mode, which i…
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Lost in translation
Abuela Rosa's recipe cards arrived yesterday in a manila envelope with my name written in her careful cursive. I spread them across the kitchen counter this afternoon, expecting t…
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Down the research rabbit hole
Started reviewing a chapter on physical therapy interventions around 2pm. Somehow ended up reading about the evolution of artificial limbs from ancient Egypt to modern prosthetics…
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Drawing lines in permanent ink
The Alex situation from last month keeps circling back in my head, and I finally figured out why. It wasn't just about him pushing too hard during workouts or steamrolling convers…
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Finding my voice
Turns out there's a difference between knowing you should say something and actually saying it. Yesterday's conversation with Alex at the gym keeps replaying in my head, and I'm s…
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Two left feet and counting
Carmen signed us up for beginner salsa at the community center without asking. 'Trust me,' she said. 'It'll be fun,' she said. What she didn't mention is that salsa requires actua…
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Learning curve
Apparently there's a reason Italian grandmothers make this look effortless. I've been at this for two hours and my kitchen looks like a flour bomb went off. Learning curve The dou…
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Recipe for disaster (or triumph)
Three hours ago, I decided I was going to make Thanksgiving dinner from scratch. Not just the turkey, everything. Stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole,…
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Brush strokes and bad technique
Alex stopped by this afternoon with a small watercolor set and announced he was going to teach me the "therapeutic art of painting." I was skeptical, but Sunday seemed like the pe…
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Planning languages
Jake spreads everything out like a military operation - maps, printed hotel reviews, restaurant menus, all organized by category and cross-referenced. I make lists in my head and…
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Flying solo
Survived my first shift running the front desk completely on my own today. Flying solo No supervisor hovering over my shoulder, no one to ask when the computer system decided to f…
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Flour power
Alex knocked on our door this afternoon with a bag of groceries and big plans. "We're making fettuccine from scratch," he announced, like this was something normal people just dec…
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Theory meets reality
Alex knocked on our door around 2pm with his anatomy textbook and what he called "a breakthrough understanding of muscle fiber composition." Twenty minutes later, I'm sitting on m…
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Spice lesson
Carmen knocked on the door at noon with a canvas bag full of mysterious ingredients and way too much confidence in my ability to follow directions. "We're making café de olla," sh…
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Flour everywhere
Carmen showed up this morning with a bag of flour and way too much confidence about teaching me to make bread from scratch. "It's therapeutic," she said. "You just need to feel th…
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Finding my feet
Kicked off my sneakers twenty minutes ago and my feet are still thanking me. Third official shift at the campus rec center is done, and for the first time since I started, I didn'…
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Strings attached
Jake's been trying to teach me guitar for exactly forty-three minutes and I think I've successfully mastered making it sound like a dying cat. He keeps saying things like "press h…
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Natural curiosity
Walked past the Museum of Natural Sciences on my way back from the library and realized I've never actually been inside. Not for a class, not with friends, just... because I wante…
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Equipment expert in training
First week of actually being on the payroll instead of just shadowing, and I think I might survive this job after all. Turns out there's a huge difference between knowing where th…
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Learning the ropes
Week one of actually being responsible for keeping this place running and I'm discovering there's a lot more to the campus rec center than just swiping student IDs. Learning the r…
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Customer service comedy
Two weeks of solo shifts and I'm discovering that working at the rec center is less "inspiring people to fitness" and more "explaining that no, the treadmill doesn't have an 'easy…
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Baptism by fire
Turns out there's a big difference between helping out during my interview and actually being responsible for the front desk during peak hours. Three separate people asked me abou…
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F-stop what now?
Sarah met me at Java Joe's this afternoon with her fancy digital camera and infinite patience. Turns out there's actually science behind taking pictures that don't look like they…
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Midnight strings and sore fingertips
Bought this acoustic guitar three weeks ago from some guy on campus for forty bucks and I'm pretty sure he saw me coming from a mile away. The thing's probably older than I am and…
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Trial by textbook
Finally made it to that nursing study group I've been psyching myself up to join. Three other girls who've been meeting for months - they had this whole system down with color-cod…
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The Tuskegee files
Started reading this book for my medical ethics class about the Tuskegee experiments and three hours later I'm deep in a Wikipedia spiral about informed consent and medical resear…
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