Complex Numbers

Like Riding A Bike

PROMPT November 27th

Write about a time when you surprised yourself with your abilities. Is there a specific time you can remember when you were convinced that you could not do something, and then you did it? Tell us!

No, but I can think of thousands of times when:

a) I was convinced that I could not do something and then I couldn't do it, or
b) I was convinced that I could do something and then I couldn't do it.

A bit rarer is the case where I was pretty sure I could so something and then I did it, but that's called "my career."

In fact, it is so rare that I'm wrong about being unable to do something or right about being able to do something that the only example I can think of comes from when I was, maybe, 5 or 6 years old. The training wheels were off my bike but my dad still helped me mount the thing, and I was certain that he had to help in order for me to get on. One day I begged him to help me onto the bike, yelling, screaming, pleading, hollering, wailing, etc. (there are many reasons I never wanted children but a big one is they might be like me), but he sat there like a lump and ignored me. Finally, in frustration, I hopped onto the bike all by myself and wobbled off.

Smart guy, my dad. If that had been my kid there would have been a disassembled bike and a kid with something real to cry about.

So yeah, that was probably the first and last time that I was convinced I couldn't do something and then proceeded to do it. Part of the reason is that if I don't think I can do something, I don't bother to try, because why make an even bigger idiot out of myself than I already am? If, you know, that's even possible.