What? No ambi's have ever tried to use your computers before?

I tend to adapt quickly to using whatever hand is more appropriate to the current task at the present moment, in the present circumstances. People used to give me funny looks at work whenever I'd switch completely over from either leftie behavior to rightie, or vice versa. They seem to have gotten used to it. Why do I swap back and forth? You try doing the same exact thing for hours on end without switching back and forth and without taking breaks constantly. Ain't happenin.

Interesting fact though - my left is stronger, but less dextrous, while my right is weaker but has really really fine dexterity. What does this mean? It means that in conventional daily activity, when the circumstances don't require switching back and forth, I'll tend to choose to do activities that require greater arm and hand strength but don't really require much precision using my left, and activities that require extreme precision but not much raw strength with my right. Anything that falls between, I'll just use either whatever it leans more towards, or whatever's more convenient. I use forks leftie, since I prefer cutting with my right - dextrous activity means right hand better - and since the fork has to be in the left hand when cutting with the right hand, why waste time to switch them, when you can just use the fork leftie?

Or, in volleyball, I'll play most of the game right-handed, up until just that right moment when the game is in the balance, and if I throw the monkey wrench into the game, we might win. When I serve with a leftie underhand, boy howdy, you better have some awful strong sunglasses, because you're gunna be staring that direction for a while, and by the time it comes back to earth, no one has a clue where it is. I have just enough control over my left-handed serve to make sure it lands SOMEWHERE inside the lines, and on the opponents side.

I always save this trick until the right moment, because it's one of those "fooled ya!" type tricks, you can only pull it off once, after that, anytime they see you go up to serve, and you position yourself for a leftie underhand, they'll be ready, and instead of staring straight up and watching for it, they'll just spread over their side of the net in the ready stance and wait for it to come down, then quickly move to just make sure they get it in the air, then try to control it.

The first time I did such a serve was back in middle school, and one of the girls on the other side of the net happened to be lucky enough - or is that unlucky enough - to be able to get a clean bump on it. The gravitational force by the time it came back down was enough that we all heard her arms crack slightly. I have since learned that I need to try to aim it away from anyone at all likely to attempt to bump it clean - this is one serve that you absolutely have to hit with a chop before any attempt at regaining control can be made.

I knew then that was one trick I was going to be very cautious about using... She was fine btw, the first victim of my leftie underhand, her arms were wicked sore, her muscles cramped, and there was a slight sprain at her elbow, but nothing too serious. Needless to say, that particular game was cut a bit short and my team mates were effusive in their praise of the serve, while her team mates were glaring needles into me. I was about as shamefaced about it as could be. I hate hurting people. I couldn't understand why anyone would praise me for such an accident.

After the first time, I never did a leftie underhand with other people around again for a few years, all the while, I practiced til the cows came home on trying to gain some measure of reasonable control over the output of my leftie underhand. Power, aim, trajectory, everything. I worked on it and worked on it and worked on it until everyone was sick of hearing me bumping balls up and down the stairs all the time. When next I used it, there were no accidental injuries, even though it was with a completely different group of kids.

Abigail Drew.