5661

Oh, you mean the day I go deaf?

5662

I think what Kurdel meant was: “If you see yourself in here, then there is a chance that many of your problems aren’t your fault, and that with the proper diagnosis by a trained medical professional there are treatments that can change the course of your life for the better.”

I don’t think he was promoting self-diagnosis, just “Consider this possibility/alternative.”

5663

This forum is very sensitive towards diagnosis outside of your proscribed fields :P

5664

Wow, I’m sure there is a real problem there somewhere, but most of those symptoms are just called “slacking off” or “being lazy”.

[ul]
[li]Often does not give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities.[/li]> [li]Often has trouble keeping attention on tasks or play activities.[/li]> [li]Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly.[/li]> [li]Often does not follow instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (not due to oppositional behavior or failure to understand instructions).[/li]> [li]Often has trouble organizing activities.[/li]> [li]Often avoids, dislikes, or doesn’t want to do things that take a lot of mental effort for a long period (such as schoolwork or homework).[/li]> [li]Often loses things needed for tasks and activities (e.g. toys, school assignments, pencils, books, or tools).[/li]> [li]Is often easily distracted.[/li]> [li]Is often forgetful in daily activities.[/li]> [/ul]

I mean, doesn’t like to do homework? Fails to finish chores? Easily distracted? Does not pay close attention to detail? Loses things? That’s like 90% of American kids.

Here is the list for adults:

Often making careless mistakes when having to work on uninteresting or difficult projects
Often having difficulty keeping attention during work, or holding down a job for a significant amount of time
Often having difficulty concentrating on conversations
Having trouble finishing projects that have already been started
Often having difficulty organizing for the completion of tasks
Avoiding or delaying in starting projects that require a lot of thought
Often misplacing or having difficulty finding things at home or at work
Disorganized personal items (sometimes old and useless to the individual) causing excessive “clutter” (in the home, car, etc.)
Often distracted by activity or noise
Often having problems remembering appointments or obligations, or inconveniently changing plans on a regular basis

I think I do every single one of these things. I’m not ADHD. Who doesn’t make mistakes when doing something difficult and boring? Who doesn’t lose interest in projects? Who doesn’t procrastinate? Who is not distracted by “noise and activities”?

5665

Well, it worked for me. I knew about ADD, but I had never actually read the symptoms and signs. Seeing that I had many of them, I consulted medical professionals and after 4 months of consultations and tests I am officially diagnosed.

I never encouraged self-diagnosis, I only invited people to check it out so see if they recognized themselves in the symptoms. If they do, they can go and consult like normal people do to see if they actually have ADD or ADHD. As adults, we must inform ourselves about such things, and can’t expect a medical professional to come out of the woodwork to test you.

5666

Didn’t you try to convince us once that Lennon & McCartney were terrible singers? I’m pretty sure you’re already deaf.

5667

You want to hear a good singer? THIS is a good singer.

Anyway… I’m pretty sure you’ve gotten things the other way around. The fact that I hear flaws that you can’t does not make me the one with poor hearing. ;)

But hey… more power to you. You get to enjoy more things that way. You don’t have to deal with autonomic cringes every time a New Order comes on the radio. You don’t shudder when Duran Duran plays live and Simon LeBon sings without the benefit of studio post-processing. Lucky you, y’know.

5668

I can understand how you feel. Trust me, my family doesn’t understand it either and it is hard to explain. That is why proper diagnosis by a healthcare professional is key in this matter.

You probably don’t have ADD or ADHD if these symptoms aren’t ruining your life and you feel powerless against them. Now I know it wasn’t laziness or slacking off, because I can feel the difference the medication makes. It doesn’t miraculously make me a homework machine and an over productive android, it only makes me “normal”. Instead of my brain whizzing all the time, I can concentrate on one thing and get it done. Before it wasn’t a case of me not wanting to do things in time, it was me ignoring them to the last minute by distracting myself.

I saw an incredible change since my diagnosis, and knowing that there are other people like me out there that didn’t have the chance I had and are suffering sucks.

5669

A fair comparison, because Lennon & McCartney were famous for their operas.

5670

Heh, you’re missing his point. While they weren’t bad singers, the Beatles were merely competent with their voices. Brilliant composers and songwriters, great harmonizers, but the pipes weren’t much.

This is the age-old bias of letting perceived ability in one field creep into other fields, it’s a kind of subconscious hero worship. See also: Lady Gaga, who has managed to turn incredible visual and marketing talent into a rabid fanbase that actually thinks her music is good.

H.

5671

Yes, but now they have drugs that will fix your laziness =P

5672

No, I get his point. (Although it’s amusing that he doesn’t seem to want to apply that same level of quality to, say, webcomics, because I’m pretty sure Silent Kimby isn’t as good as Picasso.)

But opera isn’t rock. Having a technically great singing ability isn’t the most important quality of a rock singer - I’d argue it isn’t even in the top five. Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lydon, David Gedge, John Lennon, Ian Curtis, Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins… these are not great singers, but they have great voices. That’s what’s important, not whether or not they can hit a five-octave range or whatever.

So when Rimbo trots out the old canard about rock singers not being as good as opera singers, all he’s doing is proving to me he’s deaf to what rock music is.

5673

It is a fair comparison, because the best popular musicians are capable of doing classical styles. (Or at the very least, singing in tune.) Geoff Tate, for example, has had offers from opera companies to perform with them. Some guys leave pop music altogether for classical. Others only did pop music because there was no money in classical. ;)

Also, “What Houngan said;” every great thing the Beatles did doesn’t make them great in every way.

Besides, it’s not like being able to hear the difference is entirely a good thing. On the one hand, I can appreciate a guy like Charles Castronovo not just in comparison to the Beatles, but in comparison with other top-shelf professional opera singers.* But on the other hand, I have no hope of ever enjoying New Order. And even most of the bands I do enjoy, I occasionally have to grit my teeth to get through it. It doesn’t make me better than you, it doesn’t make you better than me; everyone hears differently.

I’m sorry if the fact I can’t tolerate your favorite bands bugs you so much that you have to bring it up every goddamned chance you get. Big deal. I have a friend who can’t bear to listen to my best friend’s voice at all; that’s just how her hearing differs from mine, and it doesn’t mean diddly-shit. It doesn’t make her, me or Marc any lesser as a result.

  • (Seriously, if you at all like opera, even a little bit, you owe it to yourself to give this kid a listen. He is off-the-charts phenomenal. I believe that if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’ll be one of the all-time legends, up there with Pavarotti – or better.)
5674

Then say “They weren’t great singers, but they have great voices.” And we’ll all agree. You did broach the subject referring specifically to singing, you know.

“KISS are great musicians!”

“No they aren’t, they just play power chords.”

“Well, maybe they aren’t great musicians, but I really like their songs.”

!=

H.

5675

Just like the guy who draws Questionable Content can paint like Matisse, right?

I’m sorry if the fact I can’t tolerate your favorite bands bugs you so much that you have to bring it up every goddamned chance you get.

Yeah, it’s weird that I would be irritated when you come into a thread I start specifically to threadshit on it.

  • (Seriously, if you at all like opera, even a little bit, you owe it to yourself to give this kid a listen. He is off-the-charts phenomenal. I believe that if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’ll be one of the all-time legends, up there with Pavarotti – or better.)

Dude, I’m Italian. I grew up with opera. Much like Catholicism, it didn’t take.

5676

Not all of us, it seems.

5677

Actually, madkevin’s right on that point; I don’t think they have great voices, either. I think their voices are merely adequate. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know what rock’n’roll is or any stupid shit like that. And saying, “Hey, that guy’s out of tune” doesn’t mean I don’t “get” rock’n’roll either. I get that rock ‘n’ roll means sometimes not giving a shit if you’re in tune. But not giving a shit is very different from saying something is in tune when it very clearly ain’t.

It doesn’t have to. Nobody has the right to think better or worse of another person simply because of their opinion of opera. Even among classical music fans, there are plenty of folks who don’t like it and think the whole thing is ridiculous, and that’s fine; even among those who DO like it, many of us think it’s ridiculous. Thus the very vital and necessary word “if” in that sentence.

5678

Tell us what’s happened to you recently (that’s interesting).

5679

…I derailed a thread on EE?

5680

Easy disconnect to fix: by “great voices” what is really meant is “interesting, unique voices.” The art and ability of singing are different from what just sounds good sometimes.

H.