Absent Minded

2007-02-24 12:46 p.m.
There are definitely some benefits to being absent minded.

As some of you may know, absent mindedness is generally attributed to genius. I would never claim such a thing, so don't think that's in any way related to my point. Absent mindedness is actually a product of priority, focus and perspective. Certain things have the focus of your thought when other routine things probably should.

If you think often and intensely, you begin to realize that there are limitations. Your brain has thresholds as to how much it can hold at any given moment without becoming overwhelmed You literally begin to optimize your thought patterns in order to ensure you can fit a certain group of thoughts in at once. There go phone numbers and addresses. Your attention to certain things diminishes, not necessarily due to importance but mostly due to habit. There go people's names and birthdays. Maintaining ordinary spans of attention becomes impossible. There goes knowing where you physically are at any given moment.

Sometimes, these things tend to bother people socially. So you have to almost literally disconnect yourself from these patterns when socializing. Unfortunately they become habitual and harder to brush away over time.

But the benefits... Let's see... recent stuff... I can hear stories about things that have happened to me as if for the very first time. People quote me from the past and I get to be pleasantly surprised by the answer to "who said that?" And the good feeling I get when I ponder for a moment and think "yeah, I guess that sounds like something I'd say, but wow, I actually said that aloud?"

And of course the wonderful response "Yeah, and you were sober!" Bewildering to say the least.

The other day LK called and asked a favor, which I recited while I was writing it down.

"Wow, you're so organized!"

"You know me better than that. If I don't write it down it'll never happen."

And this morning. I had to wait in line at the post office for about an hour because the bastards never deliver packages here, they just put the "sorry we missed you" slip directly in the mail as they've not the patience to wait for you to possibly answer the bell. I know this because I work from home and can hear my buzzer from any room in this little place. I knew I was getting something from Amazon, but I forgot what. My saved cart and wish list on that site is about 7 pages long.

Now, my reading habits are hardly habits at all. I read often, though mostly online. I do, in fact, spend hours and hours reading things online about Everything, and maybe an hour a day reading paper. I generally read about 5 books at a time, all completely unrelated. This adds to mental absence. Currently A Brave New World, the last few chapters of Devil in a White City, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and AW's father's most recent book.

And so the thought of adding more books to my to-read list is a bit daunting. I've so much left to read of these 4 and they're so fullfilling in their vast differences, what could possibly take my interest? Code Complete - a Highly Recommended programming book about "The Art and Sciences of software construction" - (boring description to most, but if I had panties on they'd be wet), Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope and The Rum Diary by HST which I've been meaning to read for years.

I literally stopped to congratulate myself on the Perfect book selection exclaiming (aloud) "Man, I just like you... What a great fucking selection! You cool fucking bastard." Now, sure, I would NEVER expect ANYONE to guess such an odd list, EVER - even with access to my list of hopeful reads. And being that I'm barely cognitive most of the time, I expect the same disappointment from myself. So to actually open a box full of a wide span of interesting shit to read pleased me to no end. Perfect for a trip which begins in less than 40 hours. Well except for Code Complete - about 800 pages long, which I would never consider carrying any further than my couch or bathroom.

Happy happy.