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Top 3 Pet Peeves of Being a Left-Handed Artist

Now don't get me wrong... I am quite proud of my left-handedness; however, being unique isn't always as glamorous as some of you might think...

My kind make up only about 10% of the world's population, which makes me quite unique. Research studies that have shown that left-handed people have some advantages over right-handed people, like scoring higher on IQ tests, are better at divergent thinking, and are naturally drawn to the arts. I can't argue with the research... I think they have it right. The negative ones are only myths..

 We even have our own international holiday!!! Who knew?? Mark your calendars for August 13th and make sure to  honor your left-handed students and/or friends and family...
Aside from my own awesomeness, I have not really experienced any direct advantages from being left-handed. In fact, I have a few select annoyances that I would like to share with all of you who might have left-handed envy.... (bwahaha)...

#1.  Eating Next to My Right-Handed Husband and/or Kids

 There are a few things I do dominantly with my right hand, which baffles many people who notice (like I bat and cut right-handed), but I eat with my left hand. When I eat next to my husband I risk getting a sharp elbow bump on my left arm as I am trying to take a bite. Because of this, I prefer to sit on the ride side of a booth and on the outside edge when we eat at a restaurant.

#2 The Graphite Covered Drawing Hand

   Whenever I draw, I end up with black pencil or charcoal all over the edge of my drawing hand. It does not matter where I begin my sketch, I always end up with a smudgy black hand once I am finished. This is such a popular annoyance among left-handed artists that a company has even created a product to help prevent the smudgy black hand called, the Smudge Guard. This problem "apparently" occurs to right-handed artists as well, but I have friends who are right-handed artists who do not end up with nearly even close to the amount of graphite on their hand as I do on mine.

#3 Scrolling Blindly to Locate a File or Option!!!

This might not seem like a big deal to most of you... and you might not even really know what I am talking about. Let me expand on this for a moment to help you all to understand my frustrations.

 There are times (or programs) that do not allow you to use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll down a page (which is what I typically do to prevent the blind frustration from happening most times). I spend close to 14 hours a day doing design work on my Wacom Cintiq 24HD Monitor or my Cintiq Companion  (more about my Cintiq Companion in a later post).

I do have a wireless mouse at my desk, but I prefer to use my digital pen for nearly everything, because  using the pen saves me a great deal of time. I also prefer the silence of my pen over the annoying clicking sound of my mouse...

I bought a cheapy one -  because it was pretty -  and now I have to live with a clicking sound that echos loud enough for my neighbors to hear. I will show you which one I have at the end of this post, so you all don't make the same mistake.

Back to the blind scrolling annoyance...

When I am forced to use my digital pen, instead of my mouse or my keyboard) for scrolling, I am unable to actually SEE what it is that I am trying to find without having to arch my wrist uncomfortably and, at the same time, tilt my head down and to the right just to be able to see the items in a list or folders in a file.

I believe the best way for me to explain what I mean is to give you a visual....



The first image is an example of what I experience while trying to locate a file and having to use a right scroll bar with my pen.... my hand is always in the way and I must contort my hand into the Yoga, down-dog position in order to see what I am looking for.

The second photo shows you what I experience while trying to find a font in my Adobe Photoshop program. This problem is even worse with a touch screen, because my hand will naturally rest on the screen in certain positions causing me to click on options or links I didn't want...

Both of my Cintiq's allow me to set up my screen for a lefty, however the scroll bars are located on the right side. It would be nice if the scroll bars switched to the left side with ease, so that us lefties could see what we're doing when we are working.. haha

Now that you know my top 3 left-handed annoyances, what are yours? If you are a lefty, I would love to read what funny annoyances you experience..

I would also love to know how many of  my followers are lefties!! We will have to go big for our international holiday - it is right around the corner!!


Why, YES... I think I WILL love a Left-Hander (other than myself)...

P.S. Here is the  wireless mouse I recently purchased that is annoyingly noisy....
I am posting the pic, so you don't make the same mistake I did...


20 comments:

  1. My son is left handed...and while he is NOT drawn to the arts, he is very athletic....even bats right handed. He has flown through life pretty well so far. (He's almost 30.) I only heard him talk about getting pencill all over his hand! Now we are watching his two year old daughter to see which hand she favors! I kinda like that you lefties get to be a little unique in your own way!
    Patty

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    1. That's great!! I loved dancing and volleyball, but my true passion has always been in the arts... I wonder if your grand-baby will be a lefty!! I am a lefty with naturally curly hair, so I have some fun conversations with strangers in the store. I always get older ladies asking me if they can touch my hair... haha....

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  2. Not a lefty. I snowboard and play tennis lefty strange I know! I do love me some Hugh!

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    1. That is interesting!! Were you "trained" to write right handed as a child, maybe?? And yes.. I love me some Hugh as well. When people told me that Les Miserable was too long, I responded that it was not long enough.. haha

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  3. I am a lefty and one of my biggest pet peeves were the desks in HS and college that were attached to the chairs. In HS we didn't have the left handed desks so I had to contort myself awkwardly in order to write or use the teacher's table (at the front of the classroom). College had the coveted lefty desks but it was usually only one and then there was a stare-down fight if there were any other lefties in the class. The next biggest would be spiral notebooks...don't even get me started on those, lol

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    1. I hated those desks, but I learned to rotate the desk a little bit and turn my body in order to write.. It was always so uncomfortable... Ha!! I actually purchased a huge drawing book and had to flip it in order to draw in it. I open it backwards now..haha

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  4. Oy! I totally get that. #1 for SURE! haha Thankfully my sweet hubby is always reminding me which side to sit on ;)

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    1. I take it you're the one with longer arms.. haha.. or you just have a sweet hubby!

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  5. Married a lefty...extremely creative and very athletic! Can play tennis and golf as righty or lefty, but when it comes to sitting at a table . . . . he's gotta be on the "lefty" side!
    Fabulous Fifth Grade Fun 

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  6. Here's the the lefties of the world!!!! My husband and I are both left handed, so we don't have to worry about bumping each other while we eat :) (BUT our girls are both right handed!) I always end a day of teaching with marker on my hand, I also bat and cut right handed (but I am equally good at cutting with both hands). I'm PROUD to be a left hander :)

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    1. That is pretty cool!! It's a good thing that you use your right hand for common tasks, like cutting (me too) or else your kids would have no resources at home they could use..haha!!

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  7. Another lefty here! I learned to do a lot of things right handed like cutting and using the computer mouse. My mom says she even tried to get me to write with my right hand but it wouldn't stick. It now looks like my 2 year old is favoring her left hand. :-) At least I'll be able to teach her how to tie her shoes! I think one of my biggest pet peeves in this right handed world is the pens at banks and stores that are attached on cords. I have to lift them up and stretch them over so I can sign with my left hand. UGH!

    Sara
    Sara J Creations

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    1. I can completely relate to the pens at the checkout... those are a pain for sure... I have even encountered one that did not have a long enough chord for me to sign my name with my left hand, so I opted to sign with my right...

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  8. I write left handed but do everything else right handed. Those darn spiral notebooks drive me nuts! The notebooks with the spiral at the top were more difficult to find and of course more expensive!! I wear the mark of the graphite down the side of my hand proudly:)

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    1. I hear ya!! I just bought a notebook with the spiral binding at the top from Target and it cost me about $12.99!! For a pad of paper!! Right next to the one I bought were a stack of normal spiral bound notebooks for $1.99... go figure.. haha.. We should get special discounts or coupons.. haha

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  9. My daughter and I are both left handed! This helps when we go out to eat with others so we don't have the elbow bumping issue, but I always come home with a colorful hand!

    Brandi
    Swinging for Success
    Follow me on Facebook!

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  10. I'm a lefty for everything but golf. My husband is a righty so we are constantly moving the mouse. Finally got a cordless one which makes a huge difference. I don't change the buttons though, it would just be too annoying. I do make 'backward' checkmarks, my kids don't even notice after a few weeks. Every teacher knows what computer I've been at because of where I leave the mouse.

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