Recovering short term memory

I carry a little notebook around in my shirt pocket along with a pen or pencil. Okay, truth is I usually have two pens because you know, what if one goes dead?

As I’ve shared in earlier postings, these little notebooks, 4-1/2” x 3-1/4” versions of the composition books we all remember from elementary school are what Mary and I refer to as my short term memory. I say this only partly in jest. Anyone who has lived with me for, say, twenty-eight years will confirm that while I recall details of arcane events from forty years past, recalling the third item on a grocery list is frequently beyond me. Hence, the paper-based short term memory. 

I have accumulated quite a collection of these little guys. Most of the time, I cross out an item as soon as I’ve taken the action, brought the groceries, written the blog entry or looked up the word that escaped me. But sometimes not.

So what I have here is a notebook, thoroughly dog-eared and with a binding that tape will no longer hold together. Prior to retiring it, I thought to go through it one last time and dispose of the extant entries.

Hm-mm, he says. What have we here?

The Amber Alert info from two months ago – probably wouldn’t notice if I saw the car at this point. Line through.

Similarly, the address for a nonprofit in Pocatello is not immediately useful and anyway, I can look it up anytime, so out it goes.

I won’t bore you here with the entries I just can’t read. My penmanship is not deluxe, especially when I’m quickly jotting down – whatever that says. Pretty sure this one was rendered in Klingon which would make Leonard and Sheldon happy but does me no earthly good.

“Rachel sheets” – Was I supposed to wash them? Buy her some? Probably moot at this point so I line through the entry.

A really neat writing prompt that I thought of at some point but I might still use it so I don’t believe I shall relate it here.

“When genius and insanity hold hands” – I actually remember this one as the title of a TED talk I really liked. Feel free to check it out. But I’ve seen it, so goodbye.

“The Light Between Oceans” – I already read it, so cross this one off. Good book, by the way.

Same deal with “The Art of Racing in the Rain.”  Wow! This must be an older notebook than I thought!

Another Amber Alert – I always write these down. Hey, you never know…

Julie Warner – No earthly idea

“Govt involvement in marriage should be registry, not regulation” – Pretty sure I wrote that one, so out it goes.

Daedalus – Yeah, the dumbass who sent his son Icarus off flying around on wings of wax wth predictable results. Why did I even spend the energy required to write this one down? Sometimes, Michael…

Elizabeth Gilbert? Not a fan of Eat, Pray, Love, so what… Never mind, out with her!

Ooh! A really cool African proverb that I think I got from the movie The Good Lie but no matter because it’s cool no matter from whence I plagiarized it. Ready? Here goes: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Cool, right? (Good movie, too.)

Okay here’s a good one on me. I wrote down “Roberts dissent, pp 27-28” but did not write down the decision to which it refers. Useless.

At some point I wrote down “I am better than the sum of my failures.” Damn, I sure hope so!

Kirov. Just that, “Kirov.” What the…?

 

Okay, so not all the left behind entries are gems and for at least some of them, it’s probably clear why they had not previously been crossed out. What I haven’t shared with you is the ones that I liked and thought “Wow! I can write about this!” For those, stay tuned.