When I am taking medicine, I can forget whether I took it or not. One of several errors would be to take a double dose after forgetting I took the first one. Fear of a double dose could make me fail to take any at all since I fear I took some but can’t remember.
I wrote about having backups and spares back in 2009. I still like to pick up an extra box of crackers when I am in the store that sells the kind I like. Just picking up a box when they are right there on the shelf I am passing is easy and can save a trip when we “need” some or have company coming or a party.
It is a pleasure to realize the backup bottle of oil is already there waiting just when we need a little olive oil and the dispenser bottle runs out. I do find I am capable of forgetting that I bought a backup the last time I was in this store, buying a 2nd backup and then finding I have an oversupply. An oversupply may mean the product overages before we get to it. Buying what we really don’t need can also mean, of course, the need to defend my fading mental sharpness to a worried partner, who fears my edge is getting dull and is on the lookout for confirming evidence.
The other day was my day to cook dinner. I like to put salmon in the microwave for 4 minutes after painting it with a mixture of a little dry mustard as an emulsifier, olive oil and lemon juice. So, I went to the store and bought a pound of salmon. Later, in the day, I thought cooking lentils would be a good thing for dinner, completely forgetting I had already bought the salmon. We still have lentils waiting as a backup for a dinner.
Daniel Schacter’s “The Seven Sins of Memory” explains one of the 7 problems: automaticity. Sure, routines that we know well - making a phone call, clearning the table, bringing in the mail - go quickly and smoothly but that happens to such an extent that we don’t recall the steps we actually took. I often have to think carefully to know if I put fresh water into the coffee maker (it’s opaque) or if it needs the water. I have managed to turn on the coffee maker without having added water - not a good way to brew coffee.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
