I just wrote a xanga entry that was going to be the xanga entry of all xanga entries… it was going to get a thousand recs and double as many e-props… people were going to have debates in the comments section that in themselves were going to be doctoral dissertations… but it was on a non-premium secondary site that I have, and in a click I lost 2 hours of work. And now it’s gone forever. The sad thing is, this is not the first, nor the second, nor the twelfth time this has happened. I keep telling myself that I should get in the habit of saving every once in a while, but I always forget. (btw, this is a plug for xanga premium… when you submit, it temporarily saves a copy of whatever you wrote on your clipboard, so that if something gets screwed up, you can retrieve your data).
But all this is just accentuating the fact that I am the single most absent-minded person on this earth. I heard somewhere that Einstein was really absent-minded because he was always thinking about things like nuclear fission and general relativity. Now, I’d like to say that I’m this way because my mind is occupied finding a cure for cancer, but no. I’m more likely thinking about how TV commercials would sound if they were like campaign attack ads or wondering why no one sells station wagons anymore.
At least a few times a month, I have to return home from my drive to work because I forgot something. I can’t count the number of times I left my lunch for that day on the living room coffee table because I was putting on my shoes and bolted out the door. If a burglar was scoping out my house to see when I leave, there’s a good chance he might get the shock of his life when he sees me come back home because I forgot something.
Just yesterday as I was driving to work, I froze for a second because I realized I didn’t have my access card badge in my pocket. I checked all my pockets, in my jacket pockets, around the inside of my car… nowhere. Great, it’s probably sitting on my kitchen counter, I thought. So I drove back home, looked all over, but couldn’t find it. So after about 5 minutes of this, I just decided that everyone at work will just have to let me in, and I would have to apologize for leaving my badge somewhere. I was thinking this as I bent over to get back into my car… when something flashed in my peripheral vision… it was my badge… which was already hanging around my neck… it was there the whole time.
It’s a disease. And for me, there is no cure.
I have outlook reminders for everything… right now there are 9 reminders flashing at me for stupid things like “call your mother” or “find a landscaper” or “drink your coffee before it gets ice-cold.” I have to mail a package to my brother today, so I have it in the middle of the floor in my office, where I have to step over it to get in and out just so that I don’t forget to do that today. I sometimes put things in my shoes so that I don’t forget to take them to work (this doesn’t work for my lunch for multiple reasons including not wanting to eat something that’s been in my shoes).
One time as I was driving back home from playing volleyball, I thought I had forgotten my keys at the court… think about that for a second… I was DRIVING home and I thought I had left my KEYS at the volleyball court. Sigh…
One last story..
I was over at my friend Peter’s house. At the time his oldest son, Caleb, was about 4 years old. As we were talking I noticed that Caleb found his way into my jacket pockets and was playing with my keys. When it got time to leave, I put on my jacket but didn’t hear the jingle of the keys in my pocket… so naturally, I thought Caleb had put them somewhere… this was the exchange…
Me: Caleb, where did you put my keys?
(blank stare from Caleb)
Me: Caleb, I need to go home now and I can’t do that without my keys. Could you please give them to me?
(a puzzled blink from Caleb)
Peter: Caleb, Uncle Nathan is asking you nicely, but if you don’t want to get punished you have to give him his keys.
(a more concerned look from Caleb)
Me: I don’t mind that you played with them, but you have to put things back where they belong. So where are my keys?
This is when he calmly pointed to my left hand… and there they were. Sigh… I think this is when he realized adults aren’t so smart after all…
What’s the most absent-minded thing you’ve done recently? Can you beat any of mine?
poor kid. he needs a new uncle..lol.
Too funny!
haha, this whole post made me go “HAHAHA, awww.”i thought i was a bit forgetful, but you’ve won the cake. iced the cake? idk how the saying goes. haha =)
i don’t know how old you are, but im 25 and i’m almost as bad as you are. i go into panic mode when i can’t remember where i left my keys. there’s a key-purse (get it, keepers, not lose-ers?) that i got so that it hangs on my purse so that works out. and as for driving back home because you forgot something, my mom’s concerned that im always trekking back into the house after i leave the house. she looks at me while fly up the stairs and back down and shakes her head at me. she says that im half her age and that i should not be doing what she’s doing–being absent-minded & forgetful. im ATTACHED to my planner, and no im not talking about those electronic PDA’s; im old school. i have EVERYTHING written down from calling my brother in korea, to best friend and family’s bday (ha, yeah, sad), to lunch/dinner engagements… even when i last filled up my tank coz im very anal when it comes to filling up my tank JUST ONCE A WEEK. here’s the thing tho… i forget to even write some of these things down in my planner. if i forget to write my memory down, how else am i going to remember, right? seriously, i feel you about this being a disease… i’m really starting to get concerned about myself. my mom thinks im going to be one of those negligent moms who forget that they brought their baby out and then just leaves the baby in the car… uh ohhhh!
wow, i finally met someone who will understand my absent mindedness. i’m horrible, and i have to set reminders for stupid shit, too. i like to munch on ginko nuts as a snack, but it doesn’t help. i’m doomed.
wow, you take the cake from me and the beau. I thought I was bad in that I always forget to take the recycling / garbage / reusable cloth bags down to the garbage / recycling room / car. I usually end up forgetting one or the other, and have to make multiple trips. The man “misplaced” his wallet yesterday, which made me cranky. It ends up that he had transferred it from one pocket to the other, but instead of completing the transfer, he’d left it on the counter at home. He didn’t realize it until he’d driven to a restaurant for lunch. He’s also locked his keys in his pathfinder, while it was on, and while he needed the fob on the keychain to open all his doors for work and home.
Oh man. Absent mindedness sucks.
once, the lamp in my bedroom wouldn’t turn on. I checked the bulb (which i had only replaced 2 weeks ago) and just in case, went out buy new ones. i came home, put one in, still didn’t work. i thought it must be the bulb insert thing in the lamp because i’d had the lamp for about three years. but i really didn’t want to go all the way to ikea to get a $9 lamp fixed, so i just kept toying with the bulb. then i looked down. and towards the wall. the lamp was unplugged the entire time.
this literally JUST happened to me with my wallet. well, it happens to me every day, actually. but this was one of those times where i was actually so distraught that i blogged about it… my biggest thing is never looking for something where it’s actually supposed to be, because i assume it’s already lost. for instance, my keys have a “key hook” by the front door. whenever i actually place them on this hook, i’m bound to spend a half hour tearing my apartment apart before finally finding them… right where they’re supposed to be.
maybe you need to sleep more. i start forgetting things when my sleep is inadequate
good entry. i laughed a lot.
I am glad I didn’t read ahead for a change. I didn’t know where the key story was going and then I cracked up.
I bet this post was better than the lost post. You do remember you lost a post, don’t you?
My mom puts things in the refrigerator (such as her lunch, but not her shoes) and puts her car/house keys with it. She cannot leave the house without getting the “bundle” from the fridge. It’s the last thing she grabs and she grabs it on her way out the door.
LOVED the badge around your neck story!!
HAHA nicee -_-“
I do similar things all the time. When I worked at a place where we had security cards for the doors and photo IDs, I forgot them all the time. Eventually, I figured out that it was a good idea to leave it in my car at night. But then I’d leave it in the car and rather than driving home to get it, I had to run back to my car to get it, which was better but not as good as if I’d actually remembered it once in awhile. Most recently, I needed my daughter’s social security card. My wallet had been in my car for several days, and the card was in the wallet. I thought I had left it at home, so I drove home, spent half an hour looking for it, and gave up because I no longer had time to take care of the errand that required it. As I parked my car on campus with only 5 minutes til class, I realized that the card had been in my car all along. If only I’d realized that in the first place…
Thinking that you’ve forgotten your keys while driving has got to be the best (or worst) story! Eat more strawberries, heard they improve your memory. Lately, I’m just forgetting my age and I’m only a quarter century.
Wow, and I thought I was bad! I’m a little scatterbrained myself when it comes to rushing around and forgetting things. I do a self-check every morning by talking out loud to myself. Wallet? Check. Keys? Check. Phone? Check.
Oh my. I’m so sorry. (Although this IS very funny. I’m sorry to laugh at you. hehe)
I can’t really say much though – yesterday i drove to class, took a test, and when I went back out to my car realized that I lost my CAR key. I had my key ring, but one key was gone. I have no explaination, still cannot find it, and had to grab a ride home with my lab partner. At least I wasn’t driving and I thought I lost it. lol. That was great.
Well, I think I found a scatter-brained buddy. I often panic and tell my friend that I lost my phone…. look frantically for it with one hand… and then realize that I’m TALKING ON IT to my friend and it’s in my other hand.Do you do the thing where you never can remember IF you locked the house/car/office whatever? I always have to drive back up the driveway to check the front door, and walk back to within remote range of the car to see the flashers flash “locked.”It’s like the opposite of OCD, I tell you.BTW, I know the first post was ten times better, but we’ve all gotten screwed by the un-saving.
Hm, I don’t think I’m quite as bad as you, but I have my share of stories.I’ve searched high and low for my glasses only to realize they were already on my face. I’ve searched far and wide for my combination lock to use at the gym only to later find it’s there on the gym locker waiting for me. I’ve put ice cream in the fridge and have not discovered it until it’s too late. Once I left for work in a panic unable to find my keys but not wanting to be later than I was. I leave, and halfway to the subway station I realize I also don’t have my Metro card or any cash or my cards to get a new Metro card because my wallet and keys are attached. I freak out and search my bag ONE more time…and fortunately find it in my bag all along. I was lucky that time!!
@Kamaaha – Hey Jon, I do those things all the time. The bad part is, there are times when I actually didn’t lock my car and I come back to see that my doors are unlocked, which only makes me more paranoid that I didn’t lock it the next time.
@wherethefishlives – I do the self-check thing… only I use numbers, I know that I put 5 things in my pockets before I leave the house, so I feel my pockets and go… 1…2…3…4…5. But the sad thing is that I’ve gotten so used to doing that, that sometimes I do the count without actually feeling the item, and I get burned.
@elohelay – I’ve done this!
@wumanjoo – Hey Joo! At least you put it in the fridge… I’d leave it in the trunk of my car after going shopping.
*bursts out laughing* So glad I’m not alone in my absurdity. I’ve been really awful with homework assignments lately, staying up until all hours finishing them, then forgetting to grab them off my desk and FLYING back through the door when I’m already pressed for time. But I’ll wager you’ve never tried to type a word on your microwave numbers after a four hour writing project, so I think that puts me a tad ahead of you in the fuzz-brained department. I also forget essential things… like eating. I’ll just forget I’m hungry. Or like today, I stood up with an express purpose in mind of something that I had to do. I racked my brain. I stared blankly at my friend and asked her what I was about to do. Then it occurred to me… I was going to get a drink and take ibuprofen for my headache. Because some how, in the five odd seconds it took me to stand, I had already forgotten what I was doing. You’d think my head throbbing would have reminded me. *sigh* I’m so scatterbrained. Very glad I’m not driving myself around just yet– I’m sure I’d not only lose my keys, but the car itself. 😛
gosh that was so funny! 🙂