Before I Forget, Redux... Maybe

 Following up on last week's comments about forgetfulness--if it was last week--if there were comments about forgetfulness--who can keep track of these things?

What was I saying?

Ah, yes. Forgetfulness.  It's no joke, people!  I was looking at my work calendar this morning, and I saw on tomorrow’s docket, "AB705 presentation (if possible)."  Now, for those of you not familiar with California state education legislation, AB705 is, broadly, a law passed several years ago to streamline students' progress through community colleges.  As for the rest of that calendar entry, though. . . . Presentation of what?  For whom? Or maybe by whom?  And what does "if possible" mean?  I mean. . . I guess it isn't, but still . . . 

Junk showing up on my calendar isn't especially strange, but generally this junk is placed there by other people.  Meeting invitations pop up like zits, random and unexpected.  But this was clearly something I placed there myself, presumably so that I wouldn't forget something important.  Yet here we are.

*****

Random British expression that Americans should start using: Tickety-boo (fine, good, just so).  As in, "Just grab yourself a hedgehog, drop him in the pot, let him simmer for 20 minutes or so, and then, tickety boo, you've got yourself a tasty little lunch."  Wouldn't that just make the world that much more civilized?

Before I Forget

My mind is going.  Or maybe it's gone.

How many times has this happened to you: You're at work--

(Digression: Whatever "at" means these days.  Home? Office?  Home office?  Zoom meetings in your car on your way to Starbucks?

[Digression digression: We've just been informed that Starbucks is foisting something called a "Honey Oat Milk Latte" on people.  As if Pumpkin Spice weren't bad enough!  When will the madness stop?!? End of Digression Digression]

This is the age of work-from-anywhere, which is really not an improvement on anything, as it means no place is universally considered not-work. End of Digression)

--and you're being productive, and you're finishing up that well-crafted email and are about to hit "Send," and you suddenly remember something important that you need to do next, so as soon as you fire off that email you open up your files and. . . 

And what was I doing? I literally just had it.  And now it's gone.

Sure, you say, that's why you need to write things down.  And, believe me, I know that. I DO write things down.  I have a To-do list Word file open at all times to add things to. And when those Really Important Things cross my mind, I generally add them to the list.  I even cross them off (well, delete them)  as they get done.  But sometimes, you're in the flow of one task, and you're almost at the end thereof, when the RIT pops up, and you don't want to break the flow to jump to the to-do list, and SURELY--

(Digression: Don't call me Surely. EOD)

--you can hold on to this RIT for the twenty seconds it will take you to complete Task A before you jump to Task B (the RIT).  

But, you can't.

Couldn't have been that important, right? (He says, as he hears the wailing and moaning and teeth-gnashing of the person he's left to die because he failed to complete the RIT.)

I know I'm getting older, and the fact that the last year-plus has essentially been the same day repeated ad infinitum with only the occasional missing rabbit or white-nationalist riot to break the monotony, but this can't really be the new normal can it?  We've got to have at least enough mental capacity left to be able to remember things from one minute to the next, right?

. . . 

Wait, what was I saying?