Passive Listening

I'm pretty sure we've all had those moments in class
Where you're listening to someone, and find it difficult to actually listen to them.

Most of the time, when this happens, I tend to zone out. Day dream. Work on plot ideas or scenes for stories.
But there are times when I know I need to listen because something important is being said.

While I was in school, this would be done by a) taking notes or b) doodling.
But in Institute or Church...I've found a different method.

You see, I find it easier to listen when my hands are busy. Then my mind is partly focused on whatever task my hands are doing, but it's also listening to what is being said by the person I'm finding hard to listen to.
And one of those ways, is to pull out my Itouch (which is usually already out because my scriptures are on that.) and I'll play a quick game. Usually Sudoku or Mahjong.

It's a way to entertain my brain...give it a brief recess from actively listening.
And once I'm done with the game, I put it away, and usually I can focus again.

With Sudoku it's a quick recess. And the reason why I go to this game more often.
Because with Mahjong...I'm not content with a game where I don't get all the pieces off the board.
And with Mahjong, depending on the setup I pick, I can't always 'finish' the game until I 'win' the game. Meaning get all the pieces off the screen.
Sometimes it takes me three our four or six times to get a board clear.
Grrr.

So, the other day.
Was one of those days where I found it extremely hard to focus on what was being said.
I'd already played a game of Sudoku.
So I went to Mahjong, and encountered my difficulties. I couldn't win the game! Gah!
That's always frustrating, because I actually don't like to spend more then five or so minutes on a game while I'm in class. As I recognize it can be distracting to others.

and what do you know?
I was on like the third round of Mahjong,
when a ward buddy of mine, who also was in my class,
leaned over with his Ipad with a note on it saying "Playing games in class, Sarnic? tsk tsk."
I took the pad from him and wrote back something along the lines of "It helps me listen to the teacher if my hands are busy."
(haha Kikay tells me I should have written back "Writing notes in class? Tsk Tsk)
he wrote back. "Okay, what was said 5 minutes and 30 seconds ago?"
Obviously, he thought I hadn't been listening, but instead just focused on the game.
Haha. Wrongo.
So I told him. "He spoke about this, this, and that."
And he wrote back something like "Classy Sarnic."
^^ Heh.

Honestly, I'm not sure if what I wrote back was actually said 5 minutes and 30 seconds ago. but it had been said during the time frame I'd been playing the game. so no longer then 10 minutes.
I'm just glad I had been listening. ^^;;

Because...sometimes when I pull out the game, it's not so I can listen better, it's so I can ignore conversations I don't want to hear. Luckily, this time wasn't one of those times. :)
>.>
<.<  :)

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Dream

I was with my brother and sister, we were on a journey, with a Dumbledore like wizard figure taking us with him. We were heading up the mountains to a mountain lake, but we had to go all away around it to the bottom portion as that's where a secret school was. It was hidden from the rest of the village, and the fields to keep invaders from finding it. We journeyed through the forest, under the cover of moonlight darkness. And as we were working to descend into the secret entrance, I discovered a bunch of my stuffed animals that had been left there last time. Some people were taking them for themselves, but I'd already had two stuffed animals that I'd brought with me on our journey, and I couldn't take all of them, even though I wanted to, I took none, just because I recognized I would be stuck there for a long time if I tried to take them all because I couldn't possibly carry them all at once. So I rearranged them a bit, before moving on and meeting up with a lego-ized Dumbledore and Harry Potter figure. Where we stood in a spotlight of moonlight and were about to be lifted to freedom...

When the unholy tones of daylight pulled me away....
and I became myself again. :)

-S.N.D