Quote of the Day: Socrates

“True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.”


Here's an actual conversation I had this weekend:

Anonymous Friend: "I can't believe you just said that. You have so much to learn about women it's not even funny."
Me: "Trust me, I'm well aware of that fact."
AF: "You're lucky it was me because another girl probably would have punched you."

The best part was that after we left the cafe and went our separate ways, I had to ask her to come help me find my car because I couldn't remember where I'd parked it. I only swallowed my pride and called her after wandering around Capitol Hill for a half-hour. I dropped out of Boy Scouts when I was eleven, and I can genuinely say that that was the only time I ever regretted that decision. Yeah, my sense of manhood took a pretty big hit that day. I obviously don't have the direction gene that men are supposed to. Luckily, my iPhone (aka my best friend and lover) is making this less and less of a problem everyday.

Continuing with our theme of me not knowing anything, my roommate came downstairs the other day and told me the plumber had come and gone.

Me: "Does the faucet drip any more?"
Roommate: "No, but he said you have to release the valve after you take a shower every time or it will keep doing it."
Me: "How do you release the valve?"
Roommate: "Just turn the handle up."
Me: "Which one?"
Roommate: "The middle one?"
Me: "What?"
Roommate: "The one you use to turn on the shower."
Me: "How the hell do you release that one? Can't you just turn it off?"
Roommate: "No, because water is still in it. Just do that opposite of what you do when you start taking your shower."
I laughed. "What is wrong with me? Why can't I visualize this process? I guess I've never paid attention before. Wow."

So this weekend I learned that I don't have the understanding women gene, the directional gene, or the mechanical/paying attention gene. I'm still a pretty smart guy, just not as smart as I like to think sometime.

This whole thing reminds me of a conversation I had a few weeks ago with somebody about the different types of intelligence. Apparently, some people think there are seven. That could explain why smart people do really dumb things sometimes. Check it out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_intelligences

Isn't it weird how seven seems to be the magic number for everything? God created the earth in seven days. Some people argue that all literature can be explained by seven basic plots. And, of course, there are seven dwarfs.

I wonder if it's better to be slightly better than average at all seven types of intelligence or really superior at one or two things? I wonder who's happier? I guess both those options are better than being horrible in all seven categories.