Thursday 8 December 2011

Soup

I had possibly been a bit nippy in the bookstore, there was confusion with my Society of Author's discount, there was misunderstanding on both sides, in the end I had to say: I am chronically ill, my brain sometimes has problems absorbing information. Please be patient. I would not usually reveal such a chink in my armour but I was so frustrated at not being able to do the sums. I really get more scatty by the day, it is fucking ridiculous. Totally unrelated, I love that you can make soup from anything. Really. It feels quite virtuous to boil up everything in the vegetable drawer of the fridge.

4 comments:

Cusp said...

I dont know why it should seem so, but your 'revelation' in the bookstore seems really brave to me. I would never say such a thing in public. I guess I have been living with the bastard illness too long and my modus operandi, at least in public, is to 'pass' whenever I can. That's probably why I have dolts telling me I look so well and why I could sometimes swing my rucksack at their heads. Well done !

nmj said...

Hey Cusp, I've never said this before to anyone in a shop situation - though I will say w/out any qualms that I need to sit down. I think I was afraid that I was appearing intransigent - or even worse, stupid - so I was just trying to set the record straight. But I did feel odd as I said it.

Have been thinking a lot about the particular cognitive probs I have and it is def to do with numbers and/or written/spoken instructions. I recently got a new printer and the pictorial guide to setting up the paper tray might as well have been in Chinese, I just could not grasp it, and it took forever. I felt upset!

And I am forgetful/scatty beyond belief in the house, leaving kitchen tap on is a favourite. I often go to the living room, having completely forgotten I had the damned tap on.

And I just cannot absorb blocks of information, long articles I need to read and re-read. Strangely, non-fiction is harder for me to read than fiction.

Amazingly, I am still vigilant when it comes to editing, I can spot typos fairly easily, though I can't do it for a sustained amount of time without being shattered and head going numb - hence the book was a task and a half.

Cusp said...

I'm the same. I leave the hob on the (electric) cooker .... take a saucepan off and walk away. Son got new alarm clock and I read the instructions at least 5 times....gave up. I pay bills with cheque and covering letter but dont enclose the cheque or dont sign it. Typos never flag up for me.....I often have absolutely no idea I have spelled something wrong or misplaced letters in a word...same in speech: my spoonerisms are legendary at home.

In the end I just laugh about it...what else can I do ?

The worst is when I am very fatigued and cannot speak properly..words just dont come out or I stutter

sylvieromy said...

...boiling up everything in the vegetable drawer of the fridge - hehehe! - that made me chuckle.