I feel like work is making my odd cognitive difficulties more...well, difficult. Now I don't have any true idea of whether I've got any definite syndrome...all I know is, I'm getting very frustrated by imprecise communication where I'm expected to interpret vague directions ("put this one in that one", pointing quickly to a diagram, as if that were sufficient) or pick up on _ad hoc_ changes in a routine that I've only just barely learned to memorize in its default form.

I have the following particular difficulties that make my job harder:

1. I tend to extreme literalism when interpreting speech, particularly under stress and in unfamiliar circumstances, so ambiguous directions that rely heavily on context known only to the speaker ("it's the one on your left!" *looks and sees a half-dozen possibilities to my left*) reduce me to confusion.

2. I learn practical skills poorly by reading and by verbal explanation. I have to be shown, and I have to touch things, to learn them best. one of the more senior guys is pretty good at walking me through procedures, and I learn better from him; the other guy (who was the only guy I could get direction from today) tends towards rushed explanations of the "it's really easy, just do this and this and this, got it?" sort. Which brings me to...