As a side note, for the first time I've written posts and moderated comments for several days now entirely typing in Colemak on the Kinesis Advantage 2 I bought in 2021. After practicing daily for three months I'm not really ready to make the switch permanently, although it seems to be more efficient to practice while getting actual work done. Except in fits and starts within the practicing programs, muscle memory has certainly not kicked in yet; I've come to believe I have an unusually low natural aptitude for touch-typing. I have accepted that progress is likely to continue to be slow.
But all I have to do is keep after it. Learning new things, especially difficult new things, is believed to be good for aging brains—and this is more fun than practicing the dulcimer or learning Mandarin!
Mike
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I semi-retired two years ago and have been consulting for a few clients since then. As I wind that down toward full retirement, I will need stimulation for my older but not quite well aged brain.
Touch typing is a breeze for me, but my mental block is learning another languange. I've wanted to learn Spanish for years, so now is the time to get serious about it. That should keep those neurons firing for a while.
Posted by: Doug Vaughn | Friday, 31 May 2024 at 12:00 PM
That's progress! Which is all that matters. My TOP-inspired flirtation with split keyboards exposed a bug in my touch-typing algorithm, namely that I type the "6" key with my right index finger instead of my left index finger, which it turns out is a big deal when key and finger are separated by an additional few inches. (This quirk was probably an adaptation to RSI in my right hand, years ago, along with assigning all modifier key duties, the space bar and the mouse to my left hand.) The good news is that I no longer seem to need to do this. The bad news is that I now have a bit of reprogramming to do. I'm finding even this little task to be not the easiest thing that I've ever attempted, so you have my respect and empathy for getting this far with a whole new keyboard layout. Switching "6" fingers is far less ambitious than learning Colemak, but that's my personal touch-typing project... for now.
[Well, you see, I never touch-typed before. So it's really not reprogramming that I'm doing, but learning the skill for the first time. Although, as I said before, when I type with three fingers (as I have been doing for many years), I can do it without looking. --Mike]
Posted by: robert e | Friday, 31 May 2024 at 03:48 PM
I'm older than you and just bought a drone (technical term: UAV -- Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). This requires learning many new things that are expressed through fingers and hands. Bad results are typically worse than confusing "d" and "k".
I'll let you know how it works out.
Let's see. Pull back to go up ... No! No! Gently.
Look OUT!
Posted by: Speed | Friday, 31 May 2024 at 04:33 PM
"Well, you see, I never touch-typed before. So it's really not reprogramming that I'm doing, but learning the skill for the first time. Although, as I said before, when I type with three fingers (as I have been doing for many years), I can do it without looking." --Mike
I propose that if you can do it without looking, and at a pretty good clip if I recall, you're "touch-typing", just in an unorthodox way. So there's certainly some programming there to deal with, even if it's "just" a mental map of the keyboard, and certainly if there's "muscle memory" involved. It's like walking: many (most?) of us don't walk in the most efficient or healthy way because we're more or less self-taught, and it takes considerable effort and persistence to correct our technique.
[Yes, it's curious that children at one time were taught posture, and now never are.
Learning to type Colemak has been an interesting journey. It's very frustrating if I allow it to be. I've come to think that my age makes it a little more difficult, but also that I lack some of the mental aptitude that makes it easier for some people at any age--an aptitude my friend Carl has in spades; he learned to type well above 100 WPM in a jiffy when he was very young, using only the basic manual that came with his typewriter as a guide, and he can adapt to any keyboard in a matter of minutes. I, on the other hand, never could learn dance steps, for instance. I can't perform complicated sequences of actions in any context.
I'm having particular problems with the ring finger of my right hand (I'm left-handed). Apparently I've never used that finger separately and singularly for anything. It hangs in uselessly in the air in my old way of typing. My confusions with "i" and "e" in Colemak have been persistent. Sometimes I will pause, deliberately think "ring finger," and move my middle finger! I've tried to devise various exercises to strengthen the "circuit" if you will.
It's frustrating, but it's interesting. --Mike]
Posted by: robert e | Sunday, 02 June 2024 at 08:38 AM