Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Brain Drain

"Every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain".
--Homer in Simpson

I can't agree with it more especially when I am experiencing it first hand. Nowadays, whatever I read/learn/talk, stays in my head for two days before bouncing off. You can call it effect of getting older, poor concentration, trying to handle too many tasks before dropping them all, you can pick whatever. I won't remember your choice after two days. I used to be pretty good in remembering stuff. I would retain class teachings in my head for a long time. Not only would I remember what the teacher taught but also her/his gestures and mannerisms. The main reason of why I loved imitating them at home and be an entertainment to my entire family. I never needed assistance in remembering my friend's birthdays or nick names.

But things have obviously changed.

Last week, I bumped into a nice girl with a very familiar face. She beamed at me and greeted me with my name. During the initial conversation, I figured out that I worked with her in one of my previous companies three years back but still could not recall her name. She, on the other hand had an elephantine memory. She remembered my colleagues and the group I worked for. Why she even remembered my personal email id!! I had to stop her there and ask her name. I was getting dizzy talking to a person who remembered so much about me while my brain was coming up with a blank screen when I inquired it who she was.

I heard learning art or language can help keeping brain young. I started taking Violin class again. Only drawback, I didn’t remember everything I needed to practice. Once I told my teacher what I practiced at home only to realize that I practiced what was going to be taught that day!

The other day I got involved in daily chores that I completely ignored my stomach. I wound up the day's work and got ready to hit the bed when I heard rumbling. I had forgotten to eat and of course sleep never embraces an empty stomach.

I figured I need to do something about it. So I started jotting down “to-do" list daily. Now only if I can remember where the list is...

9 comments:

aMus said...

hahahaha...join the club,

the going to sleep, fogetting to eat was classic...

these days, i open multiple windows in my comp and tehn stare at them wondering what i was searching for..

soooooo nice to see you back, J

--xh-- said...

welcome to the club :-D but i have to say - i never forget to eat ;) though i have forgot to sleep :)

the name scene happens a lot with me - i am very bad with names and dates...

nice to see you back...

Madhu said...

cannot believe u r forgetting things...lets see arch reactions to this, she will not believe it :)

Cannot believe, u did not realise u did not eat...For me the most common thing i forget is i start a search and then forget what i am searching, then i always go back to the room where i started, to see if would help :)...it has never helped so far:D

Sumana said...

Yeh you back !!!
I would pick handling too many things at a time is the primary reason. Don't want to sound like a doc, but sometime i will be in the midst of something. I take a restroom break, back at my desk, i will take a few minutes to figure out what i was upto before i left. I remember reading a post of yours about TODO list and that is when i started making myself one on a weekly basis. That seemed to help druing our move back here and also catching up with stuff out here.

ceedy said...

Hehe.

So I guess you did forget your blog too. Update took a while.

Its not age or anything I feel we are bombarded with so much info so fast that the brain keeps what is pertinent and rest it drains it out.

Sairekha said...

Hahahaha... join the club. I started forgetting sensitive info like passwords. Then I figured I should write them down. And then, I forgot where I had them jotted!:)

I guess there's a lot on your mind da... this will pass:)

Archana Bahuguna said...

Welcome to the land of forget-fellas :-). I am the one of the elderly ones here. Come to me and I will teach ya the secret of enjoying it. :-)

aMus said...

tagegd u...:)

Hip Grandma said...

i was like that in my college days too.but now I see a person and think'he looks so much like so and so. The person smiles at me and I find out that he is indeed so and so.At other times i smile at an unknown person certain that he/she is so and so and the person either looks past me or is confused and turns around to see if someone else is following him/her and is the one being smiled at.so..you are not alone my dear.

To evolve or not...