Naked Blogging: I'm Bad at My Life

Lately I've kind of lost it. I'm not talking about nervous breakdowns here. I'm talking about the fact that I used to be really good at things. Like everything that people are supposed to be good at.

I could instantly tell you where you were and where you wanted to go. I was inVOLved. I knew the latest Hollywood gossip and what was going on with important TV programs. I had read all the news and had opinions on current affairs.

I used to know the seasonal fashion trends and who was wearing them and what makeup and nail polish colors were going to set them off perfectly.

It used to be that I could answer questions on Jeopardy! and Who Wants to be a Millionaire, because I was just that up-to-date on pop culture and not so pop culture. I was sharp.

But lately I've been feeling very mushy.

This evening someone stopped on the street and asked me what the address was where we were - as in what hundred block is this? And I looked around like I had no idea where I was. Incidentally, I was half a block from home. There was an old man with an umbrella walking behind me who said, "1400." Of course we were in the 1400 block.

(Interesting real-time aside: I think I just heard someone having sex outside my window).

Then the guy who had stopped me on the street asked which way to the 900 block? And I pointed the opposite direction of where he was heading. The old man with the umbrella replied (correctly), "East. Straight ahead, east."

This incident caused me to accept the fact that I am not good at my life. People want to talk to me, strike up harmless conversations like, "how long have you been waiting at the bus stop?"

It actually takes me time to think about these types of questions these days. Usually the answer is something like, "not long," but I'm always absorbed in some internal dialogue or a convoluted reverie about the best ways to turn down marriage proposals or whether there is ever an acceptable reason to purchase clothing made in Indonesia or whether or not I should care about changes to the health care system in the United States.

This type of thinking does not make you sharper and more desirable to talk to, I've found.

Usually people don't want to talk about this sort of thing on a daily basis. They just want to know which way they should go. You know, practical sorts of concerns that plague the life of your normal person. I find myself using the phrase, "I'm kinda out of it today," much more frequently than I'd like. Not because I'm really out of it, but because I'm so focused on something that has absolutely no relevance to what it is that I'm doing at the present moment.

1.) Do most people have these problems?
2.) Is this a symptom of something else?
3.) Would I be a more fulfilled and relaxed individual if I were more concerned about what the address was?