Senior Moments

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

I’m watching Air America (1990) tonight starring Mel Gibson, Nancy Travis, Robert Downey and others.

So I recognize the actor playing the role of the Vietnamese general as the guy who played Cato in the Pink Panther movies (Herbert Tsangtse Kwouk). But for the  life of me, I couldn’t remember the name of the detective movies that made Mel Gibson famous. 

 

I had to Google “Mel Gibson detective movies” to realize it was “Lethal Weapon”. 
 

I used to able to recall that trivia in an instant. Not anymore. Yeesh!

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Welcome to the party, pal. 

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

Vitamin B-12 in tablet or by injection may help.

[J-BAR #18287]

I forgot my last 2 lab work appointments.  Welcome to my world.

[watab kid]

i hear ya - i can still recall them but not necessarily at the moment i want to , sometimes my mind has to dwell on it for a bit then it suddenly pops up and its the middle of the night and no one to tell it to , sometimes gettin old is a lonely place to be , good we got this place to go to huh ? 

Edited January 20 by watab kid

[Warden Callaway]

You don't have to be old to have a senior moment. 

 

Of about 20 guys in my high school school class, there were three Garys, two Larrys, a Harry and a Terry. Got a little confusing at times.  After graduating we pretty much scattered to the wind. Most I never heard from again.  But one Gary I would run into once in a while.  We would exchange words in passing.  One day it struck me that I couldn't come up with his last name.  Any idle moment, day or night I would think about it. Probably a month like a song stuck in you head.  One day Mary and I where on the road and pasted where he lived in high school.  Got me to thinking again.  In frustration,  I turned to Mary and blurted out, "What's Gary McCormick's last name?".  She looked at me like I was crazy.  I told her about dwelling on it for a month. What a relief. 

 

 

Edited January 19 by Warden Callaway

[Pat Riot]

12 hours ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Welcome to the party, pal. 

This deserves 10 laughing emojis and 5 stars.

 

 

Now, what were we talking about?

[bgavin]

The mind is the 2nd thing to go.

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

Yes, but did you remember why you walked into the kitchen?

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

When I have a maturity moment I let it rest and go on to other things. It comes to me later. And if it doesn’t it must not have been very important anyway.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

1 hour ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said:

Yes, but did you remember why you walked into the kitchen?

Nope. I have to leave the room to remember why I went there.  

[Pat Riot]

I must say that I am glad that I am not alone in this regard. 
 

3 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

When I have a maturity moment I let it rest and go on to other things. It comes to me later. And if it doesn’t it must not have been very important anyway.

I do this too. 
 

2 hours ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

Nope. I have to leave the room to remember why I went there.  

I do this as well. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I leave the room and go sit down. twenty minutes later it hits me, oh crap, that’s why I went there.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

16 hours ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

Vitamin B-12 in tablet or by injection may help.

I get B-12 in tablets from the VA.

 

They don't help much.

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

It's aggravating, yes, but it's completely understandable.

Consider that in a day's time we make thousands of individual decisions, and tens of thousands of information bits have to be processed.

An occasional slip of the mental gears is perfectly understandable!

I also read -- and have to consider it might not be wrong -- that the older we get, the more stuff we know, and simply sorting through that sheer mass of experience and knowledge, takes longer because there's more to be sorted through!
We're not old.

We're freaking brilliant!

To this let me add -- back in '90, during the flu epidemic in SE Ohio, when I was a nurse on the Med-Surg floor -- we had every bed filled, we had beds in the hall, we were racked, stacked and packed, we agreed we nurses should have worn roller blades ... and the every last one of us started to have a bad case of the "Oh what was I going to do next?" moments.

We compared notes and we were honestly getting scared, and speculation grew as to whether this was some kind of Contagious Oldtimer's Disease.

By some fluke of fate, the corporate headshrinker set foot on the floor shortly before end of shift, so we buttonholed him:  "Hey Doc, this is what we're experiencing, what the hell is going on here?"

He laughed and said, "First of all, you're all nurses."

Comparing notes later, we agreed we were debating whether to beat him to death on the spot, or later when we could avail ourselves of jack handles and ball bats.

He raises his palms and said "Here's what happens. 

"When you come on shift, you sit for report.

"During report, you automatically prioritize care to your assigned block of patients: who is seen first, who's next, meds when, bandage changes when, treatments in what sequence, who is on oxygen, who'll be seen by Respiratory, whether a patient goes down for x-ray. You're arranging priorities on your assigned block of patients.

"At the same time, you're listening to report on everyone else's patients, and you're setting up the same priorities list with them, because sooner or later everyone has to cycle off the floor to drain the bladder and take a break.

"Your mind then has to rewrite all this given real world changes, new admits to the floor, a patient is discharged or dies, your mind gets loaded up with such an overwhelming amount of very important information, that the human brain throws up its hands and screams "I'M OUTTA HERE!" and goes on a mini-vacation.

"That's the momentary mental blank you're all describing. 

"It's perfectly normal, it's absolutely healthy, if our minds didn't take that emergency vacation, you would quite literally go insane from overload."

Suddenly we weren't quite so alarmed at our collective mental lapses.

 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

The other thing that happens is once you remember why you went into a room and go back, you get distracted by something else, which deflects you from your original task. 

“Oh, there are my car keys!”

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

4 minutes ago, Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 said:

It's aggravating, yes, but it's completely understandable.

Consider that in a day's time we make thousands of individual decisions, and tens of thousands of information bits have to be processed.

An occasional slip of the mental gears is perfectly understandable!

I also read -- and have to consider it might not be wrong -- that the older we get, the more stuff we know, and simply sorting through that sheer mass of experience and knowledge, takes longer because there's more to be sorted through!
We're not old.

We're freaking brilliant!

To this let me add -- back in '90, during the flu epidemic in SE Ohio, when I was a nurse on the Med-Surg floor -- we had every bed filled, we had beds in the hall, we were racked, stacked and packed, we agreed we nurses should have worn roller blades ... and the every last one of us started to have a bad case of the "Oh what was I going to do next?" moments.

We compared notes and we were honestly getting scared, and speculation grew as to whether this was some kind of Contagious Oldtimer's Disease.

By some fluke of fate, the corporate headshrinker set foot on the floor shortly before end of shift, so we buttonholed him:  "Hey Doc, this is what we're experiencing, what the hell is going on here?"

He laughed and said, "First of all, you're all nurses."

Comparing notes later, we agreed we were debating whether to beat him to death on the spot, or later when we could avail ourselves of jack handles and ball bats.

He raises his palms and said "Here's what happens. 

"When you come on shift, you sit for report.

"During report, you automatically prioritize care to your assigned block of patients: who is seen first, who's next, meds when, bandage changes when, treatments in what sequence, who is on oxygen, who'll be seen by Respiratory, whether a patient goes down for x-ray. You're arranging priorities on your assigned block of patients.

"At the same time, you're listening to report on everyone else's patients, and you're setting up the same priorities list with them, because sooner or later everyone has to cycle off the floor to drain the bladder and take a break.

"Your mind then has to rewrite all this given real world changes, new admits to the floor, a patient is discharged or dies, your mind gets loaded up with such an overwhelming amount of very important information, that the human brain throws up its hands and screams "I'M OUTTA HERE!" and goes on a mini-vacation.

"That's the momentary mental blank you're all describing. 

"It's perfectly normal, it's absolutely healthy, if our minds didn't take that emergency vacation, you would quite literally go insane from overload."

Suddenly we weren't quite so alarmed at our collective mental lapses.

 

Or maybe it’s just that my brain is full. If you shove another piece of information in one side, one falls out the other side.  

[Warden Callaway]

Mary and I have some routines that help.  When heading out, we each inventory each other to make sure we have phone, billfold,  keys, and any other items we may need.  When at Aldi and Wally-World,  I always try to park in same or near the same spot.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Worst one is, Oh right, I had to pee.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I’ll be heading towards the basement and half way down the steps I….. wait ….what were we talking about?

[watab kid]

3 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

I leave the room and go sit down. twenty minutes later it hits me, oh crap, that’s why I went there.

yup , long as it wasnt to turn off the oven or stove probably no big deal , 

[Blackwater 53393]

Mark Watson, the first guitar player in our band, describes memory as a huge reel to reel tape.

 

Once you get everything loaded onto the tape, it sometimes takes a pretty good while to find the section where you have something stored.  

You keep a log of the critical and the really memorable stuff, so you can go right to where it is on the tape.  The less important stuff is what you end up searching and sampling to find!

 

Some stuff gets erased, but on tape, some traces of that stuff always remain!

 

Some parts of the tape become worn and faded and some stuff gets recorded more than once.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

2 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

Mark Watson, the first guitar player in our band, describes memory as a huge reel to reel tape.

 

Once you get everything loaded onto the tape, it sometimes takes a pretty good while to find the section where you have something stored.  

You keep a log of the critical and the really memorable stuff, so you can go right to where it is on the tape.  The less important stuff is what you end up searching and sampling to find!

 

Some stuff gets erased, but on tape, some traces of that stuff always remain!

 

Some parts of the tape become worn and faded and some stuff gets recorded more than once.

Great analogy!

 

I remember slivers of paper inserted in the spool to indicate the bookmarks. 
 

Trouble is my brain won’t accommodate slivers of paper. 

 

 

Edited January 20 by Abilene Slim SASS 81783

[watab kid]

ive always thought of it as a lot of file drawers - some things are filed deep enough that it takes a while to find it , 

 

had a moment yesterday , watching a commercial for law and order - the gal on that is jane mansfields daughter - it took me a little searching to remember janes whole name - she we just another blonde bombshell back then , but her death was memorable 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

5 hours ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

Or maybe it’s just that my brain is full. If you shove another piece of information in one side, one falls out the other side.  

I find that I learn a lot of useless stuff every day even when I try hard not learn ANYTHING!  I also suspect that a lot runs out my ears to make room for the new stuff and vanishes.  It might roll under a chair or get run down a drain when I shower or simply blow away.  Some gets tangled in the collar or on the shoulder of whatever I'm wearing and it gets back in and crop up from time to time.

 

I'm also convinced that a rather large percentage of people I meet, see on TV, hear on the radio, or read about, are causing my IQ to drop a few points every day.  Sometimes I can feel it getting lower as it's happening.  

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

6 hours ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

“Oh, there are my car keys!”

As I was getting ice cream.

[bgavin]

It was explained to me, when you changes rooms, the brains sees a change of scene and flushes everything from the previous scene.
My bride has a trick:  she walks backwards to where she came from, until she hits the place where it fell out of her head, then jumps back in.

[Blackwater 53393]

^^^^
I’d need a backup monitor, two rear view mirrors, a warning beeper, and a flag man!!

 

Yeah! It’s the “Doorway Effect” and I find it happens more often these days!

 

 

Edited January 20 by Blackwater 53393

[Capt. R. Hugh Kidnme]

10 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I find that I learn a lot of useless stuff every day even when I try hard not learn ANYTHING!  I also suspect that a lot runs out my ears to make room for the new stuff and vanishes.  It might roll under a chair or get run down a drain when I shower or simply blow away.  Some gets tangled in the collar or on the shoulder of whatever I'm wearing and it gets back in and crop up from time to time.

 

I'm also convinced that a rather large percentage of people I meet, see on TV, hear on the radio, or read about, are causing my IQ to drop a few points every day.  Sometimes I can feel it getting lower as it's happening.  

Those people are known as politicians...............

[Warden Callaway]

Technology use to come easy for me. I enjoyed the challenge of new things. Any more it's an irritation and burdensome.  About the time I get something figured out, something changes.   Our Edge has the touch screen and so much monitoring features.   We got to where we could shut a lot of stuff off and get on our way. About a month ago we get in and the system reinvented itself.  Another sequence of poking to get stuff knocked down. Same way with pad, phone, smart TV and so on.  Not long ago the SASS Wire Saloon was formated completely different.  Ok on everything else. Suffered through it for a day.  I looked at browser settings.  I waited to see if someone else mentioned the change.  Then I noticed a pair of icons in upper right with no label.  I poked the other one and the format changed back to what use to. Must have touched it by mistake.  

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

I'm now 80 and I rely more on the chalk board in the kitchen, listing things to buy or do, as they occur to me.

The appropriate items on that list get transferred to a note pad or a shopping list before I leave the house and all the distractions I encounter outside.

Works for me and when I return home, they're done!!

[bgavin]

When my clients complained about Windows 10, then Windows 11, I tell 'em, "it's your favorite hardware store.  They still have everything in stock, but all the shelves, doors and windows have been rearranged."

[Cypress Sun]

When the thread has been in the Saloon for a while, I start looking at the posts from the most recent to the line that says "Unread posts". Been a while since I read this thread...had to go back up to the title to see what it was about to begin with.

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

I just realized how much more space would be available if I didn't remember all most of the lyrics to the songs of my youth!

[Johnny Buck]

Have you ever forgotten your starting line? Shot the targets out of order, and with the wrong gun(s)?  We gave out a special award at the banquet.  We called it "Choke the Chicken" award and gave out a rubber chicken!  Everyone in the room almost fell out of their chairs laughing except the recipient!  However, years later they had it attached to their gun cart   All in the name of fun!  That's why we do it I think?  I don't know I can't remember........................