Friday, November 14, 2008

What was that again??

A thought struck me this morning. I was drinking tea when suddenly I thought of something someone had told me, or was it some proverb or something? Can't remember. But I remember thinking, "This would make a good blog post," and not doing anything about it. One hour later here I am, trying to write it down but couldn't remember anything or what it was all about.

That’s me. Forgetting easily. I know I will remember it sometime later, but my brain probably decided this is not the right time because nothing strikes me now. Maybe my neurons are not properly aligned. Maybe there isn't enough spark to kickstart the recollection process.

I’ve always had this habit of overestimating my ability to remember. If I see or hear something great, something that I would need later, I never bothered to write it down for later reference. I would instead think “This is nothing, how can I forget something as simple as this,” and would later be racking my brain and looking for clues and asking the people around me “What was it that I wanted to remember?” and would time and again make a complete fool of myself.

So I tried to learn from my mistakes and bought a small notebook that I carried with me everywhere. Sometimes I would jot down some stuff. But the irony of it is, I never forget the things that I had noted, I just had to think of my little notebook and immediately the stuff pops into my head. And if I don’t write it down, it’s practically guaranteed it will get lost in the recesses of my memory. But I’m only human, and like any imperfect human being I don’t always whip out my notebook every time I encounter something noteworthy - laziness being the root cause - and so greatly increase the risk of forgetting.

If later in the day, or week, or month, or even year I remember that thing I wanted to write, I will let you know.

12 comments:

  1. haha this happens to me too all the time! For a very long time now, I have always tried to keep a notebook and a pen within reach, and times when I am good I do write a few words down. And fail to understand what it was I was trying to convey later. Can be difficult if you wake up the next day, and you remember you woke up in the middle of the night last night with an amazing idea abut something. And you actually sleepily jotted it down! And then you eagerly grab the piece of paper where this brilliance was noted down, and all you see is 'Chicken thirsty..' or 'prophet donkey' :) And yes, these are real stuff that I've jotted down in my moments of temporary higher consciousness.

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  2. Me too, happens to me all the time. And with everyday little matters too. Like saying we need to buy this and that and then going to the shops and clean forgetting it all. Keeping little notebooks doesn't doesn't work for me cause I go and misplace the notebook too :(

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  3. I can imagine a chicken being thirsty but a donkey being a prophet? lol Jerusha. Why is it that the best ideas and thoughts come to us bang in the middle of the night when we are at our laziest? Such midnight epiphanies I never write down, never could shake myself enough to reach for that pen and paper. But yes, they are always the best of ideas.

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  4. J, I always make a list before I go shopping. And sometimes would forget to take the list along and would madly explore the supermartket aisles looking at stuff randomly hoping something would trigger my memory. And sometimes would have to resort to calling home and asking to check if we need salt, sugar, milk etc.

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  5. Hope you get it back soon as it must be pretty interesting. I'm sure it won't be as obscure as Jerusha's thirsty chicken and donkey prophet.

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  6. mesjay I'm not so sure about its obscurity but I know it was interesting, very interesting. If only I could remember what it was!!!!

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  7. hehehe... thats a good one. But you know what? You should... uhhh.... you should... urmmmm... damn I forgot what I was going to comment!

    :D

    I carry a small notepad all the time too. All the peeps in the creative team do that in my office. Coz ideas come and go very quick, and our creative director insists we must always have a note pad ready with us all the time, especially while we're in the loo coz supposedly thats where most great ideas generate from!!! :)

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  8. Ni Aduh...Magazine a i ziah kha that kha..heta mi hi chuan a tluklo mahse...

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  9. Kim, why don't you suggest to your bosses that they keep a notepad and pen in the loo? You know those kind of things that you can fix on the wall, so if lightning strikes while you're in there you can just rip off a page and jot down your idea.

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  10. U Sawmte, i ti lawmawm e!! Heta mi te hi chuuu phur thuta ziah mai mai alawm.

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  11. forgeting genes a in express a nih chu. Upat lam hian a nasa bik an ti, nula senior hian...sawi tamlo mai ang. Tak takin ka ti mai mai a nih kha. Mut hmuna thil tha deuh, ziah atana ka khawl reuh2 hi zingah chuan a lo tham ral leh vek thin

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  12. Vana, nia forgetting genes hi chu upat hnuah hian a ron in express nasa alawm. Mithiam te chuan tlangval senior zingah hian a nasa leh bik an ti tlat!!

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