My mother, whose DNA most closely resembles mine, suffered from dementia for several years, before passing away a couple years ago at 95.
During walks, I frequently test my memory, trying to remember as many words as possible starting with a single letter.
The trick is to associate the next letter in the alphabet and work from there.
Aardvark is always a good start, but then you go to about, abridge, abstract, absurd, etc.
Then, you think of an obscure word like abracadabra and include it before you forget it.
As I think of the words, I keep track of how many I've come up with; 200? 300?
Still, I'm forgetting things and worried about it, frequently testing my memory.
How many NFL quarterbacks can I name?
I came up with 20 rather quickly. Actually 21, but with one obvious error.
I included "Keith Moon" in the list, but knew that wasn't right. Why did I include the drummer for The Who in my list of quarterbacks?
That bothered me for a day.
"Oh, dammit! Warren Moon!" I finally figured out.
More insight into how the mind works.
During my mental search for quarterbacks, in my mind's eye, I kept seeing this aged, overweight QB for the Chicago Bears, who was also a kicker.
 |
| George Blanda |
His name escaped me for 24 hours, until just a few moments ago, I remembered: "George Blanda!"
People in their fifties tell me not to worry as they forget things too, but that's not particularly reassuring as, at fifty, I was not forgetting anything.
I keep up with developments in the high control religious cult I was raised in, just to reassure myself that leaving that cult was the best decision I ever made.
Learning more about theology, including agnosticism, world travel and sports occupies a good portion of every day.
More data is out there on the "information highway" than was ever available in school.
Even in old age, I'm more obsessed with learning than ever.
It's forgetting that sometimes worries me.
Trump Derangement Syndrome affliction
ReplyDeleteOur country survived smarter versions of Trump in George Wallace and David Duke. I'm more concerned about his mindless January 6 contingent.
DeleteYes our country was almost overthrown on January 6. The military was beaten and ready to surrender and our nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers were completely destroyed. And not a single weapon was used. Just like everything else..just keep repeating it over and over and it becomes truth to the left.
DeleteA white unarmed woman was shot by Capital police. She was in another room on the other side of the door when she was shot. Nothing was done to the cop. Where's the outrage? Imagine if that woman had been black.
It is very ignorant to believe the government was going to be overthrow by unarmed people. Even if they were armed they would. Not be able to overthrow the government. Only ignorant people believe this. It's s way to distract and avoid talking about all the harm Biden is causing our country.
People don't actually believe the country was going to be taken over by insurgents on January 6. That's being ignorant. Nobody is that stupid. They just keep saying it over and over because that's all they can do to divert attention to all the harm Biden is doing to our country. They can't talk about anything good that Biden is doing so if they keep this January 6 attempted overthrow of the government going it keeps them from talking about all the damage Biden is doing. Nobody is that stupid to believe a handful of people were going to overthrow our government. That's just being ignorant.
ReplyDelete