Mar 19 2009
Thieving Thursday: I Have Brain Aberrations So You Don’t Have To
So, I was struggling to identify a comment I made that was worth stealing. Sadly, I really didn’t. I didn’t, however, let that stop me. So, I noted my failure and decided to write about that. Here’s an example from this week (taken from JD’s excellent blog “I Crush Children’s Dreams So You Don’t Have To “):
Motto: If you’ll listen to lizards for car insurance, why not a frog for lawn care. After all, we’re GREEN.
Whoops. that was so bad, by brain just left in disgust. Damn, I hope it comes back.
To put something like that on a clever and brilliant blog like JD’s should be some sort of crime. She doesn’t take it out on me, of course, because (a) she’s a sweet person and (b) everyone has brain aberrations.
I just have more than my fair share of them. Cleverness comes and goes and when it’s gone, I can’t write a clever comment to save my life. Fortunately, some things come back and I’m hot. But when it’s gone, it’s really really gone.
But, I think more frustrating than when my brain is dialed to “dull,” is when I’m being all smart and clever or informative or clever and my fingers and mind are not in sync. That’s when I leave letters off words so I look like I can’t spell. Or I leave words out entirely (my favorite is “not” - so that what I write is - surprise! the opposite of my intent). Or I mix up the order of the words so that the sentence, which is filled with intelligent and perceptive words, doesn’t make sense.
So, I said we all had brain aberrations. Was I lying? Or is it just me?
Oh no, you are so not alone. I HATE it when the brain and my ability to express my thoughts are not in synch. Unfortunately, it happens a lot. I’m also prone to making silly errors, omitting very important words, and just general brain farts.
I’ve been having a lot of trouble lately. I blame spring time. I get all preoccupied with the delightful change of season, and have trouble focusing.
I’m glad to know I’m not alone with this affliction.
Wow, no, not at all. Almost any time I try to be clever I either fall far short or go completely blank. I comment now and then on the Comics Curmudgeon, for instance, hoping that I’ll make Comment of the Week runner-up at some point, but a lot of other people are a lot funnier than I am.
Well, and then there’s my book-review blog, which I haven’t updated in far too long, in part because the whole point was to write short reviews, which means compressing my rambles into something…well, witty, I suppose. I’ve found that nearly impossible, so my reviews have gotten longer and longer, and further and further between.
Oh, don’t you just hate that? As you catch sight of an error *just* as you click on “Send”??
That’s where most of mine come from — emails that I have proofread, usually more than once. And they’re always when I’m applying for some kind of gig as a writer or editor. Depending on the day (or how much I wanted the gig), I either start tearing my hair out or get philosophical and think, “Well, I’ll never hear from them, that’s for sure.”
Or! I’m constantly having to send a P.S. email, saying something like, “Oh, by the way, here’s the resume that I promised you in the email I just sent.”
*sigh*
Thanks for reminding me, bookish, of my missed attachments and cut and pasted emails to various different organizations where I forgot to change the name of their various instruments. Or misspelled their acronyms.
Having my own plethora of brain issues (the greatest one being that my brain is a sieve), I have become quite kind to people who forget things. The only time I’ve been truly angry lately is when my daughter lost her clip-on sunglasses less than a WEEK after I bought them (and they came with the glasses as a set… no idea how much a replacement will cost.
Mostly, though, my own brain frizzies guarantee those I love a “get out of jail free” card–okay, about ten of them–and that makes Richard very happy. I think the first year we dated I lost a grand total of SIX umbrellas. Of course, now I’ve solved the problem: I don’t USE umbrellas.
Don’t even get me started on attachments, remembering (i.e. forgetting) people’s names, etc.
I’m so glad I’m not alone!
Oh, I think you’re dead-on. Happens to me, probably more times than I’d like to admit. The really great (meaning opposite of great) thing about leaving comments is that once I screw up, I can’t edit it. I can edit my own blog post a million times, but my jacked-up comment has to have a companion comment that’s equally as jacked-up. Good times.
Davida