Senior Moments: Or, Where the Hell Are My Car Keys?

Today’s missive was inspired by faithful blog reader and friend Rick Cooper, who sent me the video posted below (and who has since forgotten he did )

Most people I come across in my general age range suffer the same malady as I do-namely, an ever-increasing incidence of what we call “senior moments”—those lapses in memory that cause embarrassment and inconvenience.

For me, the affliction is just an extension of life in general. I don’t possess a good memory, but then again, I never did. Can’t recall the name of my 3rd grade teacher. Don’t remember what I had for dinner last Tuesday. Don’t ask me where we were last Easter or who visited us two summers ago.

For me, this blanking out has pretty much always been there. Now, of course, as I get older, the frequency increases.

The most embarrassing manifestation is the black hole that occurs when struggling to remember names. I am comforted in knowing that many others wrestle with this as well. Sometimes, it’s not that I don’t KNOW the name—but rather, the name that comes to mind (90% of the time it is correct) also arrives with doubt-and so I hesitate to use it. ‘Tis better to say “Hey there!” instead of “Hi there, Bob” when two seconds later, you realize his name was Clifford.

Oops.

I’ve purchased the memory tapes, read the memory books, but so much of it relies on “linking” similar objects or characteristics. Too much work. The idea is to find a visual characteristic and then link it to the their name. If, for example, a woman with an exceptionally large nose has the name “Ally”, then you would link the name with something that has a large nose---in this case , Ally conjures up the image of an elephant (large “nose”)—and then my memory device becomes “Allyphant”.

Ally may appreciate my remembering her name next time we meet, but would be aghast if she knew that I only accomplished this feat by associating her with a pachyderm.

So, I stumble through life. I walk into rooms and wonder why I am there. I search for my keys until I glance at my HAND. I sometimes cut myself off in mid-sentence, wondering what the hell I was about to say.

If you too have suffered any of the above, then you’ll appreciate the following spoof of “Memories”—enjoy:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzSaoN2LdfU

The most maddening thing about it all is that ALL of the information is in there SOMEWHERE!!! Brain scientists say that we record virtually everything we see, do and hear. It must be that some of us have lousy filing cabinets upstairs.

Someday, there will be a way to access all of the vast information in our cerebral cortexes. What a glorious day that will be---instantly making obsolete the education system that relies on rote memorization. Of course, all excuses about forgetting to do your homework will also vanish.

I can’t wait for the day when….when……
What were we talking about?




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