1. I find that setting alarms on my phone, making lists and attaching them to my pill box, and writing occasional notes to myself helps my wandering mind remember my medications as well as Copper's and other things -- like I have a load of laundry sitting in the drier.
As I age day to day, I try to stay mindful of the fact that my mind sometimes just wanders off -- obscure memories return, things that happened over forty years ago that embarrass me, sometimes haunt me. I lose track of what's happening right now. It's ghostly.
It's not really a problem when this wandering happens at home -- I do, after all, set alarms and write stuff down, but I'd like to reign in this mental wandering when I'm driving, especially when I drive alone. I'd like to learn to catch my mind drifting off as it starts to do so, not when I'm several minutes into having thoughts, remembrances, and dreams. The mental activity is good, in and of itself, but not when I'm driving or when the drifting distracts me from things that need taken care of.
2. Jeff's Deadish show dedicated to British folk rock music will be on the KEPW-FM archive until either Wednesday or Thursday. His shows stay archived for two weeks. Today, while I worked puzzles, I went back to this April 17th show and jumped ahead to hour number two so I could listen again to Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, and Pentangle -- and maybe other ensembles from 55-60 years ago. I especially enjoy the vocals of Sandy Denny and Maddie Prior and the way these innovative groups worked electric guitar and other rock influences into their explorations of traditional British folk music tunes, whether traditional songs they rework or original songs they composed themselves in traditional styles.
3. I'm hungry for mental stimulation. I honestly wish I could do multiple of these stimulating things simultaneously. I know this is foolish, but it's my blog and this is where I can write foolishness!
I wish I could read several books at the same time. I wish I could read, listen to music, and watch movies at the same time.
Tonight, as I retired for the night, one of my hankerings I enjoy came back to me and I knew I wouldn't be reading, watching movies, or listening to music, let alone taking in a sporting event, because I wanted to listen to voices, radio voices or podcast voices. What should I tune into? At first I thought I'd listen to Radiolab, but then a flash of memory pushed me a different direction -- it had been a long time since I tuned in to This American Life. I don't even remember the episode I put on as I fell asleep, but every so often I woke up and listened to bits and pieces of whatever was playing. At one point, I caught a segment, but didn't finish it before falling asleep again, about a grad student from India being harassed by U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
This American Life presented this segment as five days of diary entries and I stayed awake to hear about an email the student received, her refusal to open her apartment door when agents came pounding on it, her hiding out in a friend's apartment, her frantic attempts to work with the University and the government to figure out what was going on, and her shock when suddenly Columbia University unenrolled her, canceled her housing, and terminated her grad student teaching position.
I've got to return to this episode and this segment to see how it concluded.
But as it played tonight, I simply couldn't stay awake.
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