01 September 2010

Of dormice and dull wars

Ever have one of those moments when the name of something familiar and common seems just out of reach--and as you flit through your memory banks in hopes of finding it, you pull up every strange fact you ever learned instead?

Welcome to my world. My brain seems to be stuck on "strange and odd" storage mode. Meanwhile, everyday details elude me.

This morning, I woke at the unholy hour of 6 a.m. with a burning need to know the name of a movie/restaurant plaza that I've been to a thousand times.

Canfield?

Catana?

Cantina?

None of those were right, yet I knew they were close. As I lay there wondering why the name of this place was so important, I ticked through every C word I could think of.

Canterbury?

Carlisle?

Charlotte?

I do this a lot, mind you. Forget the normal stuff but remember the oddities. Don't chalk this up to my age. It's always been like this. Even as a child, I was a font of obscure information but would have trouble remembering how to spell "have."

What this means is if you want me to remember your birthday, post it on Facebook or send me a meeting notice. I do good to remember my own most years. But if you want to know how many fountains Kansas City has or what a Seldon Crisis is, just ask.

After a fruitless, 20-minute search of my brain this morning, I got up and looked online because I really, really, really wanted to go back to sleep. I typed in the name of the movie theatre--and there it was.

Cantera.

Still with no idea why I needed to know that, I went back to bed...and lay there wondering how it is that I can remember the Roman method for preparing dormice or the outcome of the Toledo War, yet the name of an amped-up strip mall eludes me.

I never did go back to sleep.

3 comments:

Bernadette said...

Ah, the workings of a brilliant mind. A fascinating peek. Sorry about the lost sleep.

Keena Kincaid said...

Brilliant? You are way too kind. Others have described my thought process a little less politely. ;-)

Jeffe Kennedy said...

A friend once called me a "fount of useless information." I'm with you!