Question:
x-no-archive: yes r, Great incident report!!! I have done this repeatedly. When holding an object in my left hand, or setting it someplace with my left hand, I often am unable to see/sense where it is or where I placed it. This pattern has been lifelong for me, a constant and all too concrete example of that old expression, "the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing." I don’t know of any relationship but are you also left handed?
Nope; I barely even qualify as right-handed? non-bedextrous? 
It’s been years, but I want to say that it was in my right hand (at least by the end), and I was using my left. R — For more information about this service, send e-mail to:
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – (Macn1k) writes: Had a huge culminating project due for school over the long weekend. Loaded everything in the car. Drove for four hours. Arrived at camp seven miles in woods. Kicked out son and husband to plant garden in town in the rain. They disappear and I unpack to work. No sooner had they gone but I realized that my calculator was four hours away on the kitchen table and I had a very long weekend of statistics- by – hand ahead of me (or a very long walk). Somehow it got done. 14 hours on Saturday and another 4 on Sunday. Geesh, it’s like a death wish or something. I have to take something thats unbelievably complex and make it close to impossible. Anybody else do this kind of thing to themselves? Macn1k What? Who? Me? Naahh! I once wrote 5 term papers in five days…I do not have the foggiest notion of how I accomplished this — I forgot as soon as it was done….
In university, I once pulled the proverbial all-nighter writing an essay for a Politics course. I had no choice, because at 9pm that night, I realized that I hadn’t done a damn bit of useful research or done any of the pre-reading assigned by the prof. Got an "A" anyway. Waltzed into class the next morning and handed in the essay – still humming along on adrenaline and caffeine. Ahh, the power of hyperfocus.
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Had a huge culminating project due for school over the long weekend. Loaded everything in the car. Drove for four hours. Arrived at camp seven miles in woods. Kicked out son and husband to plant garden in town in the rain. They disappear and I unpack to work. No sooner had they gone but I realized that my calculator was four hours away on the kitchen table and I had a very long weekend of statistics- by – hand ahead of me (or a very long walk). Somehow it got done. 14 hours on Saturday and another 4 on Sunday. Geesh, it’s like a death wish or something. I have to take something thats unbelievably complex and make it close to impossible. Anybody else do this kind of thing to themselves? Macn1k
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Having just started working at my new job as a computer programmer at Revenue Canada (and no, I can’t change anyone’s tax returns, so don’t ask…), I spent the first couple of weeks doing computer-based tutorials, the last of which was COBOL. I’ve already taken two semesters of it at college, so it was all a simple refresher, but what really got me was when I was reading the part about simple math functions, and they talked about the "ADD" function. In COBOL, every command is in upper case, so this command is the one that adds two numbers together, but I would constantly catch myself reading it as the "A.D.D. command"… :P — %% Budding SF author, still struggling with my first novel… %% %%%% "I hate dancing…. Dancing is standing still, only %%%% %%%% faster." ("Aaden’s Dance", by Elf Sternberg) %%%%
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r, Great incident report!!! I have done this repeatedly. When holding an object in my left hand, or setting it someplace with my left hand, I often am unable to see/sense where it is or where I placed it. This pattern has been lifelong for me, a constant and all too concrete example of that old expression, "the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing." I don’t know of any relationship but are you also left handed? GOSH! – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hmmm, last month I was looking for my MagLite flashlight. off with it or something. I was considering replacing it when… I went camping last week with friends and I lifted the hood of my truck to check the water level at the campsite. My friend reached in and picked my MagLight up from the fender shelf beside the radiator. He asked me if I usually stored my MagLite there, and if this was the same one I had looked in his garage for or had I replaced it? Woops… right there, where Several years ago, working as a programmer, I ransacked the office looking for my listing (which would take 20-30 minutes to reprint). After 10 or 15 minutes, the secretary couldn’t control her laughter: I’d been doing my ransacking one-handed, as the other hand was holding the printout. r — For more information about this service, send e-mail to:
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ADD is when you need a remote controler to find all your lost remote controlers. Scott
I had one of those but I lost it:) — James Dinsdale? Dinsdaaaaale!!!
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Hey, Scott, re: the suggestion below of a snap ring for your keys. That’s a great idea! But what if I forget to put my pants on, or don’t have any, because I haven’t done laundry yet??? – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – A note on lost keys: I used to loose my keys like 3 times a week. I left them in front door, in yesterday’s clothing, locked in car, or "misplaced" just about anywhere and everywhere. Then I bought a snap ring for them. I clip them onto a belt loop on my pants during the day, and I leave them on a buffet by the door all other times. Since I adopted this method I have lost them very rarely. When travelling I clip them inside my suitcase. More likely that I’d loose them than the airline losing my luggage… Scott
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Good reply… But, then you may have a problem. I have lost my keys once or twice since I started using this technique. It is not bullet or ADD proof in all cases I guess. I have not forgotten to put my pants on since first grade. I actually was sent home when I went to school in my PJ’s one time then. We lived across the street from the school, so it was no biggie. My mother worked and I have been dressing myself since age 5 (and proud of it!). Bought an iron when I was 32… laundry is still a problem though. But as for not losing things, I clip and hang everything I can off of myself so I do not set them down without thinking about where they are all the time. I have a "stupid" string for my sunglasses that are always around my neak. They are fashionable in So. Cal… the snap ring for my keys. A clip for my comapny badge. I keep everything in my wallet: ID/money/credit/quarters for phone/list of phone numbers/ calendar/stamps/buisness cards/receipts/reminders. Everything else is in my briefcase: pens, notes, maps, calculator, asthma inhaler, Rx drugs, extra cash, work files, home & project files, and lot least, all my LISTS. I am dead without my wallet and briefcase though Two ways of dealing with losing things: one is to take it all with you as I do in my wallet and briefcase. The other is to stash mutiple items of needed things everywhere so that they are handy. ie., one at home, one in each car, one in the desk at work or school, one at my girlfriend’s place, etc. I do this with my asthma inhalers. Never know when I will need one, and when I do they are required promptly. Regards, Scott – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hey, Scott, re: the suggestion below of a snap ring for your keys. That’s a great idea! But what if I forget to put my pants on, or don’t have any, because I haven’t done laundry yet??? A note on lost keys: I used to loose my keys like 3 times a week. I left them in front door, in yesterday’s clothing, locked in car, or "misplaced" just about anywhere and everywhere. Then I bought a snap ring for them. I clip them onto a belt loop on my pants during the day, and I leave them on a buffet by the door all other times. Since I adopted this method I have lost them very rarely. When travelling I clip them inside my suitcase. More likely that I’d loose them than the airline losing my luggage… Scott
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ADD is when you need a remote controler to find all your lost remote controlers. Scott
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A note on lost keys: I used to loose my keys like 3 times a week. I left them in front door, in yesterday’s clothing, locked in car, or "misplaced" just about anywhere and everywhere. Then I bought a snap ring for them. I clip them onto a belt loop on my pants during the day, and I leave them on a buffet by the door all other times. Since I adopted this method I have lost them very rarely. When travelling I clip them inside my suitcase. More likely that I’d loose them than the airline losing my luggage… Scott
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I laughed hysterically at this whole thread. It was like the story of my life! I emailed about half of the posts to my husband, too; I know he’ll see himself in there. Maybe he’ll stop being so self- hating at the "stupid" things he does. "Friendly fire isn’t." Tarma shena Tale’sedrin
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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – -Swoop (Sure glad I put that spare key in my wallet. Uh-oh. I knew I shouldn’t have put my wallet in the glove-box. Hello, AAA’s. Yes, I have my card. I always keep it in my wallet….) Today I was only five minutes late for my golf lesson. I locked my purse into the trunk of the car and carried my golf clubs over to the office and met my instructor. After the lesson I felt all my pockets for my keys and found none. So I went over to the pay phone to call my Dad who has a spare trunk key for my car, (to be used for just such an occasion). I called collect, twice, since I had no money in my pockets, not even a quarter. I just got their answering machine. Just then, through the mesh pocket in my golf bag I spotted my keys. "Never mind!", I said to the operator. I had absolutely no memory of putting the keys into the bag! (Announcer):Spaceshot???? or ADD—You be the judge! Cambela
It’s a small world after all! (Hey Cambela, when you called collect, did you dial 1-ADD-COLLECT?) -Swoop (1-ADD-SWOOP)
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I’ve found my home planet ;-) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – -Swoop (Sure glad I put that spare key in my wallet. Uh-oh. I knew I shouldn’t have put my wallet in the glove-box. Hello, AAA’s. Yes, I have my card. I always keep it in my wallet….) Today I was only five minutes late for my golf lesson. I locked my purse into the trunk of the car and carried my golf clubs over to the office and met my instructor. After the lesson I felt all my pockets for my keys and found none. So I went over to the pay phone to call my Dad who has a spare trunk key for my car, (to be used for just such an occasion). I called collect, twice, since I had no money in my pockets, not even a quarter. I just got their answering machine. Just then, through the mesh pocket in my golf bag I spotted my keys. "Never mind!", I said to the operator. I had absolutely no memory of putting the keys into the bag! (Announcer):Spaceshot???? or ADD—You be the judge! Cambela
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Ah yes! A fortune! Well Macn1k, maybe a half-fortune at least. I
guess that’s what you’d get if you wrote half a book! Hey, you can write a book and I can write a book, and then we can put our two half-books together. Or we could each just sell our own half-books to ADDers, since they would never finish them anyway! I don’t know. Let me think about that some more tommorrow. -Swoop (No no no. I DO have my card with me, it’s in my wallet. But
my wallet’s in my car right now. No, I can’t get it because I’m locked out of my car. That’s why I’m calling. Okay? LOOK, CAN’T YOU JUST LOOK UP MY ACCOUNT FROM MY NAME! IT’S SWOOP. "S" "W" "O" "O" "P" SWOOP. OH YAH, WELL SCREW YOU TOO! <CLANK! Now where’s a frickin’ brick…) < Are you kidding me? You could write a movie script! Well, you’d need someone to help you finish it when the novelty wore off… no, don’t look at me! Wendy
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-Swoop (Sure glad I put that spare key in my wallet. Uh-oh. I knew I shouldn’t have put my wallet in the glove-box. Hello, AAA’s. Yes, I have my card. I always keep it in my wallet….) Swoop, I think there’s a whole book of these. Your fortune awaits! Macn1k I slow for white cars with ski racks.
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Garry, <pausing long enough to recover so I can type again There ought to be a law against posting stuff as funny as this. Not for the faint hearted! <still giggling after ten minutes Wendy
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-Swoop (Sure glad I put that spare key in my wallet. Uh-oh. I knew I shouldn’t have put my wallet in the glove-box. Hello, AAA’s. Yes, I have my card. I always keep it in my wallet….)
Today I was only five minutes late for my golf lesson. I locked my purse into the trunk of the car and carried my golf clubs over to the office and met my instructor. After the lesson I felt all my pockets for my keys and found none. So I went over to the pay phone to call my Dad who has a spare trunk key for my car, (to be used for just such an occasion). I called collect, twice, since I had no money in my pockets, not even a quarter. I just got their answering machine. Just then, through the mesh pocket in my golf bag I spotted my keys. "Never mind!", I said to the operator. I had absolutely no memory of putting the keys into the bag! (Announcer):Spaceshot???? or ADD—You be the judge! Cambela
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…How true this is…and [too] many others! This just happened today: I found 4 2-liter bottles of pop <soda to some that I’ve been looking for for at *least* 6 months. ALL had exploded [from being out in the cold] in the back of my truck! More, too much more, later… …ct /
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I double dare anybody to come up with one better than this: Working as a Temp. a few years ago, I took an assignment with a Cigarette company putting up Posters in Seven-Elevens offering a special discount…one day, I started home, putting the Manual (complete with location addresses of each store) on the top of the car…for exactly what reason escapes me…and driving away! Needless to say the notebook and pages flew all over the two lane highway and of course I stopped and ran all over (it was a windy day of course) and tried to retrieve the airborne papers. Well, I think I got most of them…and I was so upset that I called in and Quit…never telling them what had happened…would you? Now, that I know I have ADD I can laugh…but then….I just wanted to crawl under a rock! Believe it or Not! Ed
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…putting the Manual (complete with location addresses of each store) on the top of the car…and driving away! I did that with a college course-book. Some 400 pages of copied document that I had just bought from the student store for $50. I drove away to see a blizzard behind me.
I did it with a folder full of corporate financial statements (I did typing work at home for an accounting firm). I had spent hours typing them the night before and had finished them up during the morning while my kids were at nursery school. I had stopped to pick up the kids and then we were on our way to my office to drop off the folder. In the process of juggling the seat belts, car seats, back packs, lunch boxes, school papers, etc., into the car, I had very carefully taken the folder *out* of the car and set it up on the roof so it wouldn’t get crumbled or sat on. I never saw the folder leave the roof of the car. I remembered it about a mile down the road and drove back to the school again but the papers were nowhere to be seen Sigh. Nancy G. (happy ending, well, sort of: somebody in town *did* find the folder later that same day, and although they were muddy and crumbled, most of the papers were still inside. Of course, by then I had almost finished re-typing the whole set — on my own time, of course.)
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…putting the Manual (complete with location addresses of each store) on the top of the car…and driving away!
I had a dozen nearly rotten eggs in a carton that I was going to put into the car trunk, but left them on the back bumper. I drove 77 miles and was wondering why several people had been looking at me sort of funny. When I got home and unloaded my car, I found those eggs still on the bumper…HA! :D …ct /
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Re: Leaving Things On Top of Cars and Driving Away: I’ll mention my parents first: Twice they have left cameras on the car roof, and lost them, another time my mother left a bank deposit pouch full of cash from her shop (somebody actually turned it in!!!) I had a birthday present in a handbag, and set it down to put something else in the car, then, in forgetting about the bag, backed the car out, and ran over the bag with the present in it… In the city years ago, I made a deposit in an ATM machine, got confused and put the deposit envelope in the place where the empty envelopes come out, couldn’t understand why the machine was beeping and wouldn’t give my card back, got disgusted and punched "cancel"… so that the next person making a deposit would get an envelope with $80 in cash in it. Didn’t realize what I’d done until 2 am the next morning, suddenly sat up in bed and said, "Oh, NO!" Then there was the news article of the couple with the baby in the car carrier… they were going down the road, got pulled over by police, and realized their baby was in his car seat, kept in place by the roof rack. It was a case of: "But I thought YOU had put him in the car!" Yikes. Wondering how some of us actually survive. <G Wendy
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Ah but having the sense of humor about it is what keeps you so sane….. Hang in there… How did the appointment go? Daniel goes on Thursday for his first formal eval for ADD although his behavior and his checklists SCREAM ADHD-inattentive My smiles go with you…. Nessa – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Gee Guys THANKS!!! I needed this. *G* Have had a horrible ADD day. I relized that my daughter has psyc.appointment on Tuesday, so I get the eval sheet for the teacher ready–where is it? I looked EVERYWHERE, and still have not found it (though the house DOES look cleaner now! *G*) Called the doctor’s office and asked them to fax me a copy. They never called back, though my best friend tried, and the school did (to let me know that my daughter was out of meds and I was needed to bring some to her). Finally, I called the teacher and asked her a few questions for when we go to the doctor at 9:00 tomorrow morning. Still haven’t found the paper, but I did find her report card that the Doctor asked to see last time, but I had lost it, then. Gee, does my ADD show or what?!!!!*BG* Tammy
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-Swoop (Sure glad I put that spare key in my wallet. Uh-oh. I knew I shouldn’t have put my wallet in the glove-box. Hello, AAA’s. Yes, I have my card. I always keep it in my wallet….) Swoop, I think there’s a whole book of these. Your fortune awaits! Macn1k I slow for white cars with ski racks.
Ah yes! A fortune! Well Macn1k, maybe a half-fortune at least. I guess that’s what you’d get if you wrote half a book! Hey, you can write a book and I can write a book, and then we can put our two half-books together. Or we could each just sell our own half-books to ADDers, since they would never finish them anyway! I don’t know. Let me think about that some more tommorrow. -Swoop (No no no. I DO have my card with me, it’s in my wallet. But my wallet’s in my car right now. No, I can’t get it because I’m locked out of my car. That’s why I’m calling. Okay? LOOK, CAN’T YOU JUST LOOK UP MY ACCOUNT FROM MY NAME! IT’S SWOOP. "S" "W" "O" "O" "P" SWOOP. OH YAH, WELL SCREW YOU TOO! <CLANK! Now where’s a frickin’ brick…)
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ADD is coming home after a hard day of trying to work and you find that you have put the milk away in the cupboard and the cereal in the refrigerator. ADD is doing the even numbered examples on page 47 and 49 of your mathbook, only to find out in class that you were suposed to to do the odd numbered examples on pages 48 and 50. ADD is not knowing whether you need to buy catsup or mustard at the store, but you know you are out of one of them and have been for some time. The kids have been complaining so you decide to buy the catsup. You return home to find that you now have four bottles of catsup on the shelf and two open ones in the refrigerator, but no mustard at all. ADD is always being in the wrong lane at the intersection. ADD is getting going to work with wet underwear in January because in the morning while dressing, you found out that all your underware is still sitting in the washing machine because you forgot to switch it to the dryer. ADD is putting the trash out on Tuesday because you think it’s Wednesday, then bringing it back in when you realize that you’ve made a mistake, then sitting at work on Thursday, you realize that Wednesday went by and you forgot to put out the trash. ADD is washing four kingsized sheets and mismatched pillow cases with out changing the water level setting you used for the last load from hand wash to full load. ADD is calling your friend Karen’s number to talk to your friend Mary. ADD is signing a check with your previous last name after being married to this husband for 20 years. OK, your turn. Macn1k I slow for white cars with ski racks.