Quarter Catching--

Justin doing his thing

Immediately when I heard what our next assignment was going to be, I thought of my good friend that actually attends BYU with me. Justin Egbert is a master of circus tricks and random, "useless" trades that might look weird but end up being really cool. Things like juggling, origami, and making large structures out of K-nex all are right down his alley.

When I texted him about teaching me one of these tricks that he's mastered, he said that he'd be glad to teach me something called "quarter catching". You can find a rather humorous video that shows the basic concept here.

So that little kid apparently thinks he's taking quarter flipping to a professional level. Justin didn't have me stop anywhere near there. He took out fifteen quarters and lined them up from his elbow all the way to the tip of his pinky finger. In one swift motion, he jerked his elbow up and then swung his arm around and, walla!, was holding fifteen shiny Georges in his hand. That's a lot more than the two shown in that video...

Starting small...

Impressed (and a little scared/wary), I started with a modest one quarter. Getting the timing and swing took a small bit of practice, but I caught on pretty quickly and soon was proficient at catching one quarter off the tip of my elbow. Justin wouldn't let me stop there though, as he slowly kept adding quarters to the end of my elbow. As the numbers got higher, so too did my frustration levels and the amount of quarters that had to be picked up each time I failed. Learning was easier though with a master at my side to give me all of the inside tips of quarter catching: "It's a little easier if you pop your elbow up a bit before you bring your hand down." "Make sure you're steady - if you wobble even a little they won't pop up in a straight line." "You're doing great! *sarcasm*". He also gave me a lot of demonstrations. Watching and observing the way he did it probably helped me the most in finally catching on.

Finishing strong!

Soon, with all the support and tips, I was able to start quickly adding quarters without much hassle. While I didn't get all the way to the end of my pinky finger successfully, I did at one point go all the way from my elbow to my wrist! I at last felt accomplished enough to call myself an amateur rather than a loser. I started to understand why it might be worth the time in all of our busy days to pick up a little knack for something, a tiny ditty of a talent and just develop it no matter how useless it might be in the long run. Doing things like this must have been the way people passed their time before our age of endless internet and video games, ha. As I think about it, oftentimes it is these aptitudes that open up opportunities for fun ways to meet and connect with people. It's these inventive activities that Napoleon Dynamite sees so much worth in having - "Girls only want boyfriends with great skills."

The skills that are valued by the casual society of the day really seem to appreciate the talents that can be developed only through inventive creativeness and generally interaction with other people. These "useless" abilities often fall under the category of folk knowledge. While they might not have a great amount of worth in the workforce, I've found that folk knowledge greatly supplements your ability to flourish in the social sector. Exposing yourself to a plethora of activities gives a sense of balance to yourself that can only be obtained through the transfer of this folk knowledge.