What is one of your hidden talents?

I take attendance by asking the students a question.

What is one of your hidden talents? (previously: 2017 2016)

A surprising number listed sleep-related talents. We are mid-semester, so perhaps students' minds are a bit focused on this now.

• sleeping through anything
• I can sleep
• I am good at stealing mattresses
• I nap very well
• I can sleep through 5 alarms
• Not sure if it's hidden but I can sleep all day long.

Others had performance skills:

• I am a great singer in the shower
• juggling
• I can sing??
• I can spin a book.
• oboe
• I play a mean kazoo
• I can climb trees real good
• playing guitar behind the back
• marching
• I can do a split
• bending my thumb backwards
• I am quite flexible
• I can write with both my hands
• I'm somewhat ambidexterous
• I can't get dizzy
• getting injured
• burping on command
• eating a lot
• drinking copious amounts of coffee
• procrastination
• 
  

Some were unusual:

• smelling fire
• hair!
• naming English monarchs
• crying silently

And others took the "hidden" quite strongly:

• wouldn't be hidden if I told
• N/A
• couldn't tell you

The phrase "a mean kazoo" will stick with me.

This post's theme word is trombenik / trombenick (n), "a lazy or boastful person." The trombenick never practiced trombone, but claimed to be a virtuoso.

If you had to organize a parade, the theme would be

I take attendance by asking the students a question.

If you had to organize a parade, the theme would be: ________. (previously)

Some sort of traditional or otherwise straightforward suggestions:

• floats
• pirates
• latinidad --- with lots of latinx artists
• sharks
• fantasy
• clouds
• candy
• happy
• guava
• turkey
• seasonal I guess?
• puppets
• [assorted suggestions of trademarked characters, by name]

Suggestions became increasingly wacky:

• astronaut penguins
• baby shark
• cheddar popcorn
• running (so it'd be a marathon)
• guava
• ME.
• apocalypse
• parade-themed parade
• weather
• awkwardness
• Turing Machine

Frankly these parades seem aggressively impossible:

• food allergies
• algorithms
• topological sort
• Agoraphobia Awareness

That last one... wow. I guess we might be able to schedule a parade indoors, like in an enclosed mall space? Agoraphobia does seem to be inherently at odds with parades, which take up a lot of space and are usually held outdoors.

The "most reasonable impromptu declared parade" award goes to the "People who are reasonably competent at walking" Parade, which ... could be happening right now! It's low-key, so you'd never know.


This post's theme word is bathophobia (n), "a fear of depths or falling from a great height." We should not have hired the bathophobia support group to steer the parade floats from the in-cockpit controls...