Does this happen to you?

You’re discussing a TV show with your wife and she asks, “What was the name of the guy who played the detective?”  You are now in big trouble because you remember his face, the part he played but damned if you could remember his name.  You know that at some time in the future it will come to you, but when?  Might be five minutes, five hours, tomorrow or a few weeks from now.  To shorten the time you start straining to remember, then you play the alphabet game starting with A to see if by magic his name pops into your mind. A similar problem occurs when during a conversation you are trying to use a word that just will not come to mind.   How many of you have gone through that?  I know I have.  I can remember occasions where, as a result of one of my wonderful wife’s questions, spent a great deal of time coming up with the name she asked about.  You finally stop the mental search (giving up that is) and put it out of your mind, then days later the name pops into your mind.  Why?  Has your hard drive been silently searching and searching to come up with that answer.  Don’t know, but it always makes me marvel at what a strange and fabulous thing the human brain is.

Sorry, I’m straying from the reason I started this blog.  Did you know that there is a name for these strange lapses of memory?  It’s called Lethologica and is a psychological disorder wherein an individual temporarily forgets things like key words, phrases, or names in conversation.

Things to ponder

Those of you who spend time on Facebook might be aware of a site called “Remembering New Britain” were people make entries concerning their memories and experiences about things New Britain.  Many people have expressed fond memories of the Capitol Lunch famous hotdogs.  In fact people have begun to use the restaurant as a meeting place to discuss old and new times in the Hardware City.  Although I personally am not that fond of the sauce they use on their dogs, many others seem to be finatics about it.  In fact a few days ago someone living in Texas posted a recipe on Facebook for the hotdog sauce used by Capitol. I can only assume it is correct so I’m passing it along here.  If you want to get real authentic please remember the dogs have to be Martin Rosol’s.

                  CAPITOL LUNCH CHILI

2 lbs.   80/20% ground beef

1 medium onion chopped

5 tbs. Worcestershire sauce

5 tbs. A-1 steak sauce

1-1/2 tbs. chili powder

1-1/2 tbs. cumin powder

1 tbs. ketchup

1/4 tsp pepper

1-1/4 tsp salt

1 tbs. yellow mustard

1-1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tbs. chopped garlic

In a large skillet mix the meat with 1 cup of water and Worcestershire sauce and brown for about 15 minutes.  Place in a blender and mix as fine as you like.  Put the browned mix in a sauce pan and add the other ingredients and simmer for 2 hours.  You might need to add water if it gets too thick. Note the absence of beans or tomato sauce….Enjoy!

In a previous Blog entry I mentioned that we had received one of those daily calendars that featured a quote a day referring to forgetfulness.  I’ve included a few here that I thought you would enjoy.

“Quit the world, and the world forgets you”

 BRITISH PRIME MINISTER – BENJAMIN DISHRAELI

“Most of us forgive and forget; we just don’t want the other person to forget we forgave.”

 APHORIST IVERN BALL

“I prefer to forget both pairs of glasses and pass my declining years saluting strange

 women and grandfather clocks.”

  POET OGDEN NASH

“Your marriage is in trouble if your wife says. ‘You’re only interested in one thing,’ and

 you can’t remember what it is.”

 COMEDIAN MILTON BERLE

“Tom”

 TOM NISSALKE, the absentminded ABA and NBA basketball coach when asked how to pronounce his   

 name.

“People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights.”

 INDIAN PRIME MINISTER INDIRA GANDHI

My Exercise Program

Just returned from my daily exercise program.  Have to keep this splendid body of mine in good shape.  This program is something I developed myself after having tried several other popular ones.  Mine has the advantage of not costing anything and does not inflict sweating or pain to your body.  It generally takes me about 30 minutes to an hour to complete.  The program does not interfere with opportunities to socialize with friends if you wish and you're even able complete an annoying (to some people) household task at the same time.  What is this marvelous program and what's the task you ask?  It's my almost daily trip to the local Price Chopper to travel the long isles strengthening my muscles and getting the shopping done.  After completing my list and investigating any bargains, it's off to home I go to rest up those now tired muscles.  My muscles now rippling after the workout, I call upon Marge to come out and give me a hand.  What happens next destroys any prospect of having a nice day.  The bottom of one of the bags Marge is carrying bursts open and my garage floor is now covered with Bread and Butter pickles and Kalamata olives.  Those cheap bastards!  Couldn't they buy a better bag or double bag the heavy stuff?  There was of course a bright side, I have to go back to get them replaced giving me a chance for another exposure to my exercise program.

Be still my heart, I don't know if I could handle any more excitement.  Down to the office in the cellar where I'm able to rest and get some finger exercise writing these Blogs.  There is a reason these Blog entries have been so infrequent.  I sit at the computer and what comes to mind at once is some stupid thing to say about my advancing age.  I just can't put the words down, I feel so lousy about my obsession about age. Thank heaven I came up with something to get away from those thoughts.  Recently I was given a present from our very good friends.  In keeping with the age thing they gave me one of those desk calendars that have 365 pages with some story or quote for every day.  This particular calendar was all about forgetfulness, a subject we are getting more and more familiar with.  Anyway, long story short, the blurb for Sunday, January 17th was a quote by Norman Vincent Peale, Minister and Author.  He is quote was a follows:
                      "Live your life and forget your age"
I thought that was profound and decided that would give it a try

Boy's Night Out

A couple of years ago I made a very difficult decision.....stopped playing golf.   I'm really surprised that I was able to do this since I loved the game and really enjoyed the company of my playing partners. What made be quit?  In plain English my game began to suck and I was no longer having fun playing. I felt like I was a drag on my playing partner, but most of all my ego got in the way and remembering that a few years prior I actually had a decent game.  My Myrtle Beach playing partner took my place and the foursome was again complete.  Saturday mornings, our day to play, was not the same for me and it took quite awhile to get used to.  For a while I would join the group for the usual before golf breakfast and occasionally joined them for beers after their round finished.  These eventually went away and contact with the foursome became  extremely sporadic.

Fortunately spending some time with my friends and my son, who was a member of the foursome, did not totally go away.  On occasion we've gotten together for a few "Boy's Night Outs". The other night was one of them and proved interesting since we met at a new location, a bar of course, Johnny B's in Waterbury.  Typical small local bar with pool tables, a dozen flat screens, bar maids, and a real variety of customers....need I say more?  Big surprise came with the comprehensive menu supported by a chef/cook who I could tell was trying to do the menu justice.  Did not always succeed, but I gave him an "A" for effort.  Beer was, as usual cold and tasty (you never go wrong with Yuengling).

Our group has been together now for over thirty years, and believe it or not, we still like each other.  It was fun to spend the evening remembering so many of the experiences that over thirty years create.

The only thing that spoiled the evening was the look my wife gave me when I entered the house after our get together.  She looked at me, looked at the clock, and made some remark that made me realize how old I am getting. My son and I drove to Waterbury around 6:00 o'clock, ate dinner, drank a goodly share of beer, and walked in the house before the clock even struck nine.  Wow, even the girls stay out longer than that. What added to the feeling of advancing age,was remembering some of the conversations we had while drinking our beers.......we were discussing all the brown liver spots on our aging bodies.