Last Friday I had a really bad case of the stupids.
I ran out of tissue at my desk at work, so I went to my car to get more. (Allergy season, I can not be out of tissue!)
When I started to unlock the car door, I looked at my hands and realized that my keys weren’t there. (but wait, there’s more)
Later, at lunch time, I went to my car, got in, put the keys in the ignition, and then tried to find my keys in my purse. When I couldn’t find them, I got the keys out of the ignition, closed and locked the door, took two steps and thought - “Wait, how did I get into the car if I didn’t have my keys?” Then I looked at my hands (again) and realized that I was holding the keys that I had been looking for. :o
So, make me feel better, tell me what you’ve done because your mind wasn’t functioning properly.
Anyway, I routinely lose my keys only to find them in my hand. Or lose my glasses and find them on my head. I find meditation works wonders for my ADD, it has a cumulative effect that I really like. The more I breathe the better I am at remembering things as I am in the present.
Do you want to talk about how I needed to get a hex wrench from the toolbox or tool bag(on separate floors), so it devolved into me starting dinner before I realized that I’ve moved the damn wrenches TWICE to get everything ready?
PS - only took 30 seconds to install the bike water cage, which was the whole reaason for getting the wrenches.
Whether or not I have ADD remains to be seen. But, I felt that I’d share the little escapade I had this morning.
Woke up early to get my boyfriend up for work. Decided to stay up and work on my homework.
Around 6AM, realized that I have a dentist appointment today but don’t know when. Decide to check my email to find out when it is.
Boyfriend kisses me goodbye as I go to check my email. The process of telling him to have a nice day causes me to forget why I am checking my email. I end up replying to a post on my facebook page instead.
Start working on homework again. Puppy pees on the floor and on his leash (which I left on the floor). Damn. I didn’t know that he was awake or I’d have taken him outside.
Go clean pee. Think to myself, I need to make this quick because I have a lot of homework to do. Think to myself, I should probably put Iggy outside because where there’s pee, there’s probably poop.
Throw leash down laundry chute. Find boyfriend’s coffee cup in bathroom.
Bring coffee cup to kitchen. Empty dishwasher. Start to load dishwasher. Remember that I have a lot of homework to do and leave the dishes in the sink. Find a clean bowl I had left on the counter. Pick up bowl to put away.
Get to area where dishes are. Instead of putting bowl away, take out spoon. Go get milk. Ok, apparently I’m going to have some cereal.
I put an empty box of Cheerios in the pantry. Guess I’ll have to eat the stale Honey Smacks instead. Eat breakfast.
Bring dishes to sink. Start to load dishwasher again. Remember homework again. Leave dishes in sink again.
Start work on homework again. Remember that I have dentist appointment today. Go to check email to find out when appointment is. What’s that smell? Dammit. Iggy pooped. I forgot to put him outside.
Go clean up Iggy Poop.
Go back to desk and start working on homework again.
8:15 phone rings. This is your dentist calling. You’re a dumbass and you missed your appointment.
This is why the damn house is a mess. My boyfriend just doesn’t understand what I go through every day while he’s relaxing at work.
Since then it has actually gone fairly well. I finished about 1/3 of my Spanish homework. I did get an email from a Bio classmate looking for help with that homework. I came so close to getting sidetracked again, until I remembered that I haven’t even read the chapter yet and can’t help her with the RNA translation stuff until I do.
I don’t think I had ADD when I was in my 20’s. But after 3 children, 20 years of teaching, and chemo – I have it now. Or maybe just senility. I routinely sit down on the bed to take my pills, reading a book or catching up on Facebook whilst I do so, and realize suddenly I have no idea whether I’ve actually taken the pills or was just about to do so. Take another Vicodin? Why, sure, I’d love to.
Maybe we should start a regular ADD thread. Like the MMP thread, but monthly instead of weekly because everyone will forget to post. Or at least we won’t post regularly.
We can forget what we’ve already posted and post it twice. We can forget each other’s names and histories. We can post tips and complaints. We can claim that chocolate is medicinal for ADD.
Reminds me of the two psychologists who decided to start an adult ADD group. They invited a lot of people specifically, from their practices, and everyone seemed thrilled with the idea. But at the first meeting, the first person to arrive was 20 minutes late. Folks lost track of time. Folks got lost.
Everyone ended up relieved that they weren’t the only one who was late. The group ended up meeting for about two years.
OK, I came here to post a story and can’t remember it now. I’ll try again later. If I remember.
I, for one, would love to hear that story.
I don’t normally document the misfiring in my brain. But, every time I’ve complained to a doctor about something, they’ve sent me back home to keep a diary. I figured that if I keep a diary of this week, he’ll be able to see what I’m complaining about without making me wait even longer to find out what the hell is wrong with me.
I don’t have issues anymore with losing or misplacing things. Not sure how that happened.
However, I’ve been meaning to clean my floors since 8am this morning (well, since last week, actually). It’s now 7pm, I have class in 20 minutes - today I went to the PO to mail an international package, did two loads of laundry, spent time with my BF, babysat his sister’s kid’s with him, went out to lunch, walked my dogs twice, grocery shopped, showered and did my hair, fed all my animals and played on the internet - but floor is filthy and my sink is full of dirty dishes, and the litterboxes need to be cleaned… I remember many days not so long ago when I would be hard pressed to do anything but feed my pets and sit on the internet, but still. Bleh.
Keeping my home clean and organized enough that it doesn’t give me anxiety is my biggest struggle. That’s partly my perfectionism, I always have anxiety because I never get it nearly as clean or organized as would make me happy, and the more anxiety I have the more I self-medicate with hyperfocus and don’t accomplish what I need to.
Not if you’re familiar withAllie Brosh’s, which I think should stand forever as the quintessential explanation of what it means to have ADD.
And on a technical note, it’s interesting that she called that piece “Why I’ll Never Be An Adult” - because you’re hip to the theories of Russell Barkley, ( I consider him to be the absolute best ADD researcher out there), you’ll know that he describes ADD as a disorder of “executive functioning” of the brain, in other words, all the things we learn that help us be grownups.
My boyfriend doesn’t understand why I read that blog. Then again, he is capable of doing the same thing all day long without getting distracted by shiny things and the sounds of the house settling.
Seriously? All due respect… I could never imagine being in a serious relationship with someone who did not understand why I read that blog…who did not read and appreciate that blog themselves, really.
Allie Brosh is a goddess of humor and truth kicking the ass of any and all who dare to challenge her. Others can be amusing, even very amusing (The Oatmeal), but Allie is cut from a finer, truer, more brilliant cloth that lifts her far above the rest.
He makes up for it in other ways (like stopping at Papa Ginos on his way home after a 13 hour day because he knows I’m tired from studying all day and that I’m craving Papa Ginos). He does admit that she’s funny and a good writer. He just doesn’t understand her.
Heh. I have hayfever. Part of my problem with managing my allergy symptoms is that nothing works really well for them. The rest of the problem is at least three times a month I realize I have no idea if I’ve taken my pill or not. Bad Things can result from doubling up, so on those days I don’t take anything. Or do I?
Okay, Zyada, couple of true stories. See if either of these cheers you up.
British writer G.K. Chesterton is upstairs in his bedroom, changing his clothes. Downstairs, his wife and some friends wait for him. When he seemed to be taking an unconscionably long time, his wife went up to check on him. Returning, she reported that while dressing, he had reached down to the floor to get his shoes, found a book that he’d dropped, and got caught up in it.
J.B.S. Haldane, the great early 20th century biologist, is sent upstairs by his wife, to change for a dinner party. Like Chesterton, he takes an ungodly amount of time, and his wife duly investigates. She finds him fast asleep in bed. When woken, he admits that he had forgotten what he was doing, found himself undressing, and reasoned that he must have been going to bed.
There. And these were two of the intellectual giants of the early 20th century. Feel better?
