v8.2 - Finger This

Morning folks,

{slurp}

This morning''s musing may have a few added typos in it as I sliced my finger over the weekend and this damn bandage is getting in the way. If it wasn''t for the fact I''d get blood all over my keyboard, I''d rip the thing off and be done with it. :)

{slurp}



My weekend was filled with lots and lots of packing and cleaning. Looks like this upcoming weekend will be the big move and we''re getting pretty excited about it. I would have to say we are more prepared (and looking forward) to this move than we have for any of our previous moves. We hope to have the
keys to the new place on Friday and we will begin by moving boxes to the new place all day Saturday.
Sunday we will get a big moving truck and load it up with the big stuff my little Camry won''t take (which won''t be much). Almost everything has been boxed and placed somewhere on the main floor of our already too small townhouse. The kids enjoy running around the little maze of boxes we''ve created all over the house. :)

{slurp}

Katie and I were talking this weekend (after I sliced my finger) about how our fingers are not very independant. I would like to perform a quick experiment with you all to prove my theory on this.

The Fingered Experiement

What you need:

2 Hands
At least 7 fingers
A few minutes of your time

First off, make a fist. Now, if you haven''t had any serious injuries to your hands in the past, the result of this first exercise should create a solid ball of bone and flesh. Great for punching with.
This was a fairly easy thing to accomplish as your fingers are used to making this "shape". Now, if you had been a left handed person, chances are you''re holding a fist in your right hand. Vice versa if you''re a right handed person. Now, while maintaining the fist, extend the opposing thumb all the way out. We do this because some people require their thumb to extend individual fingers out giving the
illusion of independance. Now that you have your thumb sticking out, raise your index finger paying special attention to what happens to the remaining fingers on that hand. If you do not happen to have
an index finger due to an accident or something, I''m sorry.

{slurp}

If things went well, you should now be making an L shape (or backwards L shape) with your thumb and index finger. Chances are, your remaining fingers didn''t move at all, but I''ve seen some cases where a
middle finger will move a little bit when performing this. Ok, so your index fingers have a little bit of independance from the rest of your fingers. Now, replace your index finger down leaving your thumb sticking out and raise your middle finger. If you''re lucky, you may be able to raise your middle finger half way. Replace the middle finger and raise the ring finger (keeping thumb sticking out). This time, you''ll be able to raise your ring finger half way but ONLY becuase you somehow tucked your pinky finger within the folds of your hand. You will feel the pressure greatest in the pinky finger as
you attempt to raise your ring finger as high as you can because you think there is a test at the end
of this experiment.

{slurp}

You guys are silly. Now that the pain and agony is over, why exactly does this occur? Well, I''m no scientist and I haven''t looked any of this on the web (yet), but I would think it is because of the way we use our hands. Think of all the things you use your hands for on a daily basis. If you''re sitting at a computer reading this, you use your hands to type. Whether you''re a touch typist or a pecker ttypist, you will have certain movement in your fingers exercised for typing. Guitar players will have better mobility (and strength) in one hand than another due to the way they press and bend strings along the fret board while playing. My left hand is much strong than my right (despite me being right handed) as I have been playing guitar for about 10 years now and have developed different strengths and mobility in my left hand than my right. In fact, if my left hand and right hand were to get into a fight, my left would kick my right''s.. umm... wrist all over the place.

{slurp}

Most manual labor people use their hands to move stuff around and pick things up. The will have less
independancy in their fingers as they are not exercised independantly at all. Is it safe to exercise
your fingers independantly? I heard a story about a great pianist while developed this grand invention to exercise his fingers independantly (or was it a guitarist). He wound up causing some tearing and such in his hand paralyzing it. I would recommend going out and getting a finger board or some other device to exercise your fingers. I have had one of those little finger exercise things for guitar players but after using it for about a year I found it hindered my playing instead of helping.

{slurp}

So the conclusion to all this? I don''t know. I found it interesting and wanted to write about it in
my musing. Since 90% of the time we use our hands to pick things up or hold on to things, we don''t even have to think about wrapping our fingers around a spoon or fork or anything else. However, do perform this experiment you actually had to think. This would be the same thing for a martial artist who
is in a fight. You spend so much time training to fight so when you''re in a fight you don''t have to think. This will allow your reflexes to take over (ie reflex to grab a ball with your hand and not thinking about each finger wrapping around it) and not make you think each thing through. If the afore mentioned ball was flying at your face you would either a) duck or b) catch. Either way, it is a reflex which defines which action you will take. If you catch the ball, you don''t think about each finger
and their role in the grabbing, you just do it. If you duck the ball, it is because you lack the confidence in your ability to catch (or fear). Cause and Effect.

{slurp}

Anyway gang, this finger is starting to throb a little bit and my typing is dropped about 20 wpm. I''m going to head off and get a start on this day. You all take care and stop staring at your fingers!!
:)

{slurp}

Cheers,

Al