5 Skills to Gain Immediately
 

Cliffs Notes At Bottom

This was mentioned in another thread and actually caused me to give it some serious thought. If you could gain 5 specialized skills immediately, what would they be and why? These should not be supernatural and preferably not utterly absurd. I think the exercise is most interesting if you answer with real stuff.

My list, which I will almost certainly have to revise - in no particular order:

Virtuouso Piano Playing
I studied music in college, among other things, and play bass guitar very well. I am an above-average guitar player also. But if I were to pick one instrument to be brilliant on, it would be piano. First, because a good pianist is ALWAYS needed. Second, because piano is the most useful instrument for composition, and being able to play things and transcribe them at such a high level would elevate my songwriting abilities. And third, because I really like music for piano - jazz piano, nocturnes, all sorts of stuff.

Interrogation
In some ways I think it would be a curse to be able to easily tell every time you're being lied to. People lie to me constantly at my job, both the kids I work with and the staff I supervise. It's irritating, and I know it's happening, but a lot of times it's better not to call people on it. But being curious, and being extremely competitive, I don't think I could resist this possibility.

Field Medicine
I don't want to be a doctor, but if the sh.it really hits the fan, it would be cool to know a lot about diseases, internal injuries, surgery with rudimentary instruments, etc. I guess you could just say surgical skills, but there's a particular reason for it. I really think the world is going to get ridiculous in my lifetime and I'd like to be capable in hairy situations.

Fluency in Many Languages
Let's just say the ability to pick up languages extremely quickly. This is another cool skill that I see having both practical uses and also just being fun. I'd like to read a lot of classic literature in its original form. Imagine reading the Tao Te Ching or the Old Testament as they were written. Plus picking up chicks in other countries and stuff.

Top Level Poker Play
The more time I spend at 2+2, the more I realize I'm unlikely to move beyond a certain level of poker skill. I won't spend enough time or study hard enough, and I just like to gambool a little too much. I don't see myself being better than a moderately +EV player in, say, your average 5/10 NL B&M. But being a great poker player encompasses so many skills - logic, observation, math, people - that I'd really like to be super-skilled in this area.

Honorable Mention:
Dunking a basketball - Hand to Hand combat - Espionage & Spying - Breakdancing - Marathon Running - Racecar Driving - Bowling

NT

Cliff Notes: What 5 actual real world skills would you choose to have given the opportunity? Mine are virtuouso piano playing, field medicine, interrogation, multilinguistic capabilities and top-level poker play.

Re: 5 Skills to Gain Immediately
 

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Virtuouso Piano Playing

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This is something I would also love to be great at. Even moderately decent (I have no musical background beyond 5th grader recorder). Impressing friends would be cool enough for me.

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Interrogation

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This would be fantastic. If I could spot when people were lying to me I would be much happier. I feel like I deal with enough idiots already in my life. Being ableto use this knowledge of lying to my advantage...I would feel powerful [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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Field Medicine

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I actually had interest in this after playing the game America's Army and they had some medical thing. I think this sort of knowledge woudl be great to have just on the off chance you can save someones life or something. I need to take a few classes about it maybe.

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Top Level Poker Play

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Playing low level play well would be an upgrade for me. But I figure I'm still young and have plenty of time to dabble around a bit.

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Honorable Mention:
Dunking a basketball

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This made me laugh. Is this something possible to 'gain' as a skill without like years of developing your muscles and stuff? (assuming you're incapable to start)....I can't see how I would be able to dunk a basketball anytime soon (5'10" and no vert right now)...


Great post, I will perhaps reply with some I'd like as well, beyond just commenting on how awesome your choices are....

-Solo

Re: 5 Skills to Gain Immediately
 

Great thread idea.

Racing/evasive driving Both high speed manuvering, and the security personnel skills on how to lose a tail or pursuer.

Languages What nothumb said.

Hacker fluency I mean like bisonbison good.

World class cooking Bam!

Negotiation/Persuasion Basically mad Dale Carnegie skillz.

Re: 5 Skills to Gain Immediately
 

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This made me laugh. Is this something possible to 'gain' as a skill without like years of developing your muscles and stuff? (assuming you're incapable to start)....I can't see how I would be able to dunk a basketball anytime soon (5'10" and no vert right now)...

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I dunno... I'm 6' with decent leaping ability and I think I could learn to dunk faster than I could do any of the stuff on my real list. Most skills have a mixture of physical and mental elements, I think it's fair to assume if you're gaining the skills instantly that your physique could be altered in some way.

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Great post, I will perhaps reply with some I'd like as well, beyond just commenting on how awesome your choices are....


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Thanks,

NT

Re: 5 Skills to Gain Immediately
 

1. evasive driving
2. hand to hand combat
3. negotiation skills
4. fluency in multiple languages
5. cooking skills

Re: 5 Skills to Gain Immediately
 

1. Hand to hand combat
2. Ability to charm everyone I meet
3. Virtuosic guitar/piano/etc. playing
4. Freestyle rapping
5. Poker

Re: 5 Skills to Gain Immediately
 

Crazy martial arts/self-defense skills Its just a good idea
Be really COOL! Okay not high-school cool, I mean to be really cool in any situation. I could think rationally without being overly scared or nervous, and be really sharp at adapting to problems.
Interrogation As said before
Ability to persuade people or fool people with ease Basically I can sell anything.
c-walking No reason needed.

Basically I want to be a spy.

Re: 5 Skills to Gain Immediately
 

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Crazy martial arts/self-defense skills Its just a good idea
Be really COOL! Okay not high-school cool, I mean to be really cool in any situation. I could think rationally without being overly scared or nervous, and be really sharp at adapting to problems.
Interrogation As said before
Ability to persuade people or fool people with ease Basically I can sell anything.
c-walking No reason needed.

Basically I want to be a spy.

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So if you had just used my overall 'spy' item you could c-walk and still have three items left over for making chicks nut in their panties and stuff. Although come to think of it, a good spy can really do this too. Hell, he could probably c-walk, pop, lock, spin on his head and tango too.

[censored] it, just make me James Bond.

NT

Re: 5 Skills to Gain Immediately
 

Oh and I might have to trade c-walking for world class pool/billiard playing skills. I don't really enjoy pool at all, but I think it would be cool to be one of the best.

The obvious answers to this are top-level skills in various sports where you can make tons of money, but I didn't want to include those.

Re: 5 Skills to Gain Immediately
 

Well I already have two of your goals accomplished:

hand to hand combat and dunking a basketball. But I guess I'd like to learn the rest as well.