What Absent Minded Thing Have You Done Lately?

[kaneohe]

My short term memory is getting really bad. I routinely walk into a room and can’t remember what I went in for. .................................!

There's an old Bill Cosby story that when you get older, part of your brain storage transfers to your butt so the solution to your problem is to go back to the original room and sit down. You will instantly remember what you went into the other room for. Much funnier said by him.......perhaps can be found by Google.

 

[scrabbler1]

There's an old Bill Cosby story that when you get older, part of your brain storage transfers to your butt so the solution to your problem is to go back to the original room and sit down. You will instantly remember what you went into the other room for. Much funnier said by him.......perhaps can be found by Google.

I had a similar problem back in my working days. I often had to go the mainframe printer room at the other end of the floor to pick up printouts. But to get there, I had to run a gauntlet, walking through the main hallway where most of my coworkers had their cubicles. Many times, I got stopped for questions and requests. But I often forgot I was heading to the printer room, so I simply went back to my desk, scratching my head trying to figure out where I was heading when I returned. Then I'd remember and have to make the long trek to the printer (through the gauntlet again).

I eventualy figured out a different route to the printer room by walking through an adjacent file room to avoid the gauntlet and actually get my printouts the first time. This worked for a few years until they redid the fllor and cut the access to the file room, forcing me back to running the gauntlet again.

 

[Sanstar]

I can’t find a kitchen implement that I haven’t used in years. It’s just a lotus steamer, costs about $7. I know I will find it as soon as I buy another one!

Isn't that always the case ;-)

 

[Bir48die]

I'm ADD. Somehow I've survived making many lists of different kinds. However my whole life is absent minded or distracted in one way or another. I'm am the poster child for the "shiny car" or "there goes a squirrel" syndrome. I remember two of three things or two of four things at any given moment. I forget what I was going to do three seconds after I started going there. I cannot believe I had the success I did but only because someone probably picked up all the pieces on a daily basis.

I did do some non-amphetamine medication for a few years but quit and now it's just folly to my friends and kids. So, to answer the question I'd have to make a list of my absent minded things and then I would have lost it before I posted this reply.

 

[easysurfer]

I'm doing the happy dance as I found my pocket knife which I misplaced.

Found by accident and a lot faster than I thought.

Been opening some packages, and missing the knife. Decided to use a box cutter I have with stored with some assorted small screwdrivers in a cup like container. As I looked for the box cutter, also there was the knife (mistakenly stored there by me in the past).

Usually, I place the knife in a box with other stuff like keys and my wallet. I use the knife often with all the packages. Hopefully, to prevent me from misplacing the knife again, I now have a new system. Still in the same box, but easier to find . Maybe this will keep my mind honest.

 

[USA]

I have a wooden rack on a kitchen counter holding frequently used cooking items: a tall bottle with a pour spout for olive oil, another bottle for balsamic, etc. Over the holidays I was making a wine spritzer. I had poured the club soda and reached for the wine bottle where I had placed next to the wooden rack. I turned to the kitchen island to pour as I was speaking to a friend. I made an olive oil
Spritzer. That was a doozy.

 

[Koogie]

I made an olive oil Spritzer. That was a doozy.

Sure.. but how did it taste ?....

 

[Nemo2]

Sure.. but how did it taste ?....

Probably the only similarity to Spritzer was they both start with 'S'.

 

[USA]

The oil was floating so I think Nemo has it pegged. [emoji12]

 

[CaliforniaMan]

Years ago, when I still had young kids at home, I was looking for my sheath knife to take camping. I had put it somewhere away from where the kids would find it. I looked everywhere for it and after a few weeks of not finding it, I went out and bought a new one. Then when I got the new knife home, I had to find a place to hide it away from where my kids would find it. So I put it in the back of the drawer where I kept some of my electronic tools. And what did I see there? My old knife! Now I had two. And at that time I could not even blame old age!

 

[TromboneAl]

I could not even blame old age!

This is good to remember. We did absent-minded things when we were young.

After going home from college one summer, I couldn't find a big stack of papers that I knew I'd brought home. It turned out I had "cleverly" put them into the small dorm-room fridge that I brought home with me. That saved packing space in the car.

Ever since then, I've had a rule: Don't be clever!

 

[USA]

I’d been at a friends who owns a sack of hair (cat) & I was wearing black pants. I get home & take a lint brush to them. Rushing to leave my house again I go to grab a can of Static Guard. I had picked the can of hairspray. Yes I used it...and I hadn’t even had an olive oil spritzer.

 

[skipro33]

Maybe get one of those multi-camera security systems and review the video when you loose something. Should pay for itself pretty quickly.

 

[Walt34]

Perhaps TMI but:

Yesterday we drove to Charlottesvile, VA for a doctor appointment today, staying in a hotel overnight to make sure we got there on time. (It's a bit of a drive.) When packing we were a bit rushed since another appointment the same day as the drive there ran much longer than we had thought it would.

When I unpacked my suitcase I found that I had packed everything needed except for... a change of underwear!

 

[Meadbh]

When I unpacked my suitcase I found that I had packed everything needed except for... a change of underwear!

I did the same thing once when flying to another city for a 3 day conference. Amazingly, one of my colleagues did the same. Fortunately, the conference venue was attached to a major shopping centre. Our mad dash underwear shopping during the first coffee break was hilarious!

 

[MRG]

I did the same thing once when flying to another city for a 3 day conference. Amazingly, one of my colleagues did the same. Fortunately, the conference venue was attached to a major shopping centre. Our mad dash underwear shopping during the first coffee break was hilarious!

Megacorp bought me underwear at a Marriott gift shop! [emoji111] They were very expensive. It wasn't worth it. That trip, an overnighter, turned into ten days! We were working 16 hour days, food and sleep, an afterthought.

Those were the days, you were going home after time on the road, suddenly at 4:00PM, you're not going home.You have no new anything. A couple of night's we weren't sure where we were sleeping, as we'd checked out, had flights home, and there's a huge convention in this city.

Thank you, Lord, for administrative people.

 

[tmm99]

Has anybody ever paid for a fast food burger (or whatever) through a drive-through window and drove off without the food? Well, I have. I quickly turned around, but still.

 

[SecondCor521]

My Mom used to pour herself a cup of coffee from the coffee pot, put the cup in the microwave to heat it up, and then - "squirrel!" - forget it was in there. In her defense she had three kids to keep track of and my Dad was at work a lot so she was probably tired (thus the coffee).

We kids would later want to use the microwave for something else and invariably find her cup of coffee.

Eventually she learned to look in the microwave first before pouring herself a cup of coffee because there was better than 50/50 odds that there was already a cup in there that just needed to be reheated.

She probably reheated any given cup of coffee two or three times on average before eventually succeeding at drinking it.

...

I'm a relative youngster but am starting to notice little slips here and there at age 48. I think the name of the game is adaptation in whatever form that takes.

 

[Walt34]

We kids would later want to use the microwave for something else and invariably find her cup of coffee.

It isn't quite the norm yet but quite often I'll find DW's reheated (and now cold) coffee in the microwave.

 

[NW-Bound]

In my 20s, once when I was ready to leave work I could not find my keys. After looking around for several minutes, I had the idea of looking inside the trash can by the side of the desk. Yes, they were in there.

And it got worse from there. My wife often got frustrated with me, and asked how I could do my work. I explained that I did my work very well because I was a single-minded guy, and when I concentrated on something I tuned everything else out.

 

[TromboneAl]

Perhaps TMI but:

Yesterday we drove to Charlottesvile, VA for a doctor appointment today, staying in a hotel overnight to make sure we got there on time. (It's a bit of a drive.) When packing we were a bit rushed since another appointment the same day as the drive there ran much longer than we had thought it would.

When I unpacked my suitcase I found that I had packed everything needed except for... a change of underwear!

I can't live without checklists. My Overnight Trip checklist:

• Water Bottle
• Dark Glasses
• Underwear
• Socks
• T Shirts
• Other Shirts
• Pants
• Toothbrush
• Shaver
• Toilet Kit
• Bathing Suit
• Money
• Wallet
• Vitamins
• Batteries
• Chargers and different cords
• Computer Glasses
• Travel mug
• Ear plugs
• Orange ear buds
• Chairs
• Camera
• Corkscrew
• Running Shoes
• Cell phone
• Computer
• Computer Charger
• Chocoperfection
• Bread
• Quest bars
• Towel
• Jam
• Waffles
• Syrup
• Shampoo
• Rain jacket
• Extension Cord
• Portable Charger
• 2 amp USB Port for car
• Charging Cables
• Kindle

 

[aja8888]

I can't live without checklists. My Overnight Trip checklist:

• Water Bottle
• Dark Glasses
• Underwear
• Socks
• T Shirts
• Other Shirts
• Pants
• Toothbrush
• Shaver
• Toilet Kit
• Bathing Suit
• Money
• Wallet
• Vitamins
• Batteries
• Chargers and different cords
• Computer Glasses
• Travel mug
• Ear plugs
• Orange ear buds
• Chairs
• Camera
• Corkscrew
• Running Shoes
• Cell phone
• Computer
• Computer Charger
• Chocoperfection
• Bread
• Quest bars
• Towel
• Jam
• Waffles
• Syrup
• Shampoo
• Rain jacket
• Extension Cord
• Portable Charger
• 2 amp USB Port for car
• Charging Cables
• Kindle

Overnight? All that food? Waffles and syrup?

 

[NW-Bound]

Overnight? All that food? Waffles and syrup?

I think T-Al was just checking to see if anyone was attentive.

You were.

 

[SumDay]

I just put a sticky note on DH's bathroom mirror to remind him to lock the door behind him when he comes in late at night from the hot tub. I've found it unlocked four times this week.


I started a thread a while back about stuff we've put in place to prevent absent-minded mishaps around the house: http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/life-on-auto-pilot-87380.html

 

[MRG]

DW woke me up this morning at 5:00AM to tell me the endodontist office called yesterday afternoon.