Mechanical vs. Technical

I've had to make this point recently and now I'm thinking about it.  Shocking, I know, but it happens.  Anyway, I've come to realize something.  I know how to work on computers.  I know how to work computers.  I can figure out a program without reading a manual or having any sort of instruction.  I can take a computer apart, I can put a computer together, and I can even do a little something in between.  Did I have formal training for this?  No.  Did I have any good mentoring for this?  No.  Have I always been able to do this?  To my knowledge... yes.  I have held several technical positions from the all-encompassing "technician" to the also all-encompassing "administrator" and "specialist."  Yes, I consider myself to be, fully, technically competent. 

Yay.

Now, for example, I can raise the hood on my Subaru, look into the engine compartment, inspect the components, and... blink.  Once or twice.  Maybe more.  I can try to fire up the engine on my motorcycle, watch and listen to it fail, and... blink.  Once or twice.  Indeed, I have no idea what to look or listen for in an engine.  Could not, to save my life, fix a car (beyond jumping it).  I have come to realize that I have no (and I mean that), NO mechanical aptitude whatsoever.

Really?

Really.

I don't know how that works.  In my mind, if you know how something works, you know how something works.  But, apparently, it's not that simple.  I know how technical things work... I mean, basically.  I have the intuition to work, on a basic level, things that require input.  An engine does not.  It gives, it does not take... except gas (petrol).  An engine just reacts to what you give it.  I don't understand that.  I don't understand mechanical things.  OK, I do after you explain them to me, but I don't have some crazy instinct that tells me how it works.  Any of it.

So, when I tell people that I have technical aptitude, not mechanical aptitude, I wish they knew this: Technical things make sense and mechanical things are simply magical.  That's all there is to it.  'Nuff said.