Been a few years since I designed or built anything. Recently I had some basic DIY audio work to do and I was surprised how much knowledge has gone which resulted in head scratching but some came back slowly. It's not like riding a bike but more use it or lose it. The joys of the senior years.
I design and build stuff constantly and am still working full time, the memory is not too bad for the important things. I had not played much vinyl in the past few years because my system architecture is digital and I had a little trouble sorting out the A to D end of things. Recently fixed I found I could not remember where a single one of my favorite albums was. I have about 1200 total at this time having eliminated about as many that came here to die from a variety of sources.
FWIW I am not sure I can even ride my bike anymore - have been afraid to do so since my brush with hodgkins a decade ago.
FWIW I am not sure I can even ride my bike anymore - have been afraid to do so since my brush with hodgkins a decade ago.
"I had a little trouble sorting out the A to D end of things. Recently fixed I found I could not remember where a single one of my favorite albums was."
That is not A to D... it is A to Z 🙂
That is not A to D... it is A to Z 🙂
For me at least I just find it's been shunted to some sort of slower storage medium the longer I don't use it.
RAM to SSD to HDD to tape to punched card.
But I'm always amazed how much is lodged there given enough time and the right stimulus.
Many years back I was talking to someone about a BBC series and couldn't remember the name of the star. It took 4 days and then his name just popped into my consciousness while I was driving home.
I blame this phenomenon on the fact that our brain needs to process too much different info at a given moment.
Browsing the net is one such case.
When it happens, I turn off the music, walk away from the screen and sit down and relax for a moment.
With in a minute or so, the lost info mostly returns spontaneously.
I have this exact problem all the time ever since I had brain surgery about ten years ago. It can be so frustrating and actually worrying. At least yours was only a one off!
I use that excuse as well. Whether it's valid or not I don't know. But I certainly find that my ability to process and remember information is not as good as it used to be. But it also used to be very, very good so maybe I just had further to fall. 🙂
I took a 2-year break between the second and third semester in college so I could get my military service out of the way. I did find myself a bit rusty when I returned, but it came back pretty quickly.
Tom
There's a term for that. I forget what it is, but having such brain farts (for the lack of a better term) is pretty common after brain issues. A friend of mine has had several strokes. He functions normally so unless he tells you, you wouldn't know it. He searches for words all the time. He used to teach literature at the university level, so for him it's pretty disturbing to have to hunt for words. His vocabulary is huge, it just takes a while to index it. 🙂
Tom
Tom, that's one of my issues - I've had a few minor strokes and the surgery was to clip a (apparently unrelated) cerebral aneurysm. There are no outward signs obvious to others, and the only physical manifestation so far is a numb patch on my thigh. In fact, I had one of the strokes only a couple of months ago. Damn annoying, and I find I am constantly concerned about when the next will occur!
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Oy... I can't even imagine living with that kind of uncertainty. That must be hard.
One way my friend copes is to be very open about his condition. He'll often mention in conversation with people he just met (or doesn't see very often) that he has a brain injury. I think it works to increase other people's understanding a bit. At least, people are pretty overbearing and understanding with him. He's also worked with psychologists to better understand his deficits and learn better coping. It's definitely not an easy job.
Tom
Many years ago a friend recommended "the man who mistook his wife for a hat" by Oliver Sachs. It brought home to me how amazing, fragile and resilient our brains are.
It's so easy to forget my brain is me, everything else is just meat...
It's so easy to forget my brain is me, everything else is just meat...
My lights went out a couple times. I have brain farts and memory gaps. I had a blood clot in my leg and it broke up and visited a few vital organs on its journey, including my brain. I get hung up on real simple stuff like the word "the" or "who." Sometimes I have to ask myself "is that really a word?" I have to look it up in the dictionary and then I remember. Kind of weird. I had trouble speaking (you wouldn't believe that if you knew me in person) but my speech suddenly came back.
I didn't do hardly any electronics for almost 20 years. It's what I love first and foremost and what I went to school for, but I had diverted to a high pressure job in finance. To my surprise it all came back to me (in alarming detail!) and now I know way more than I ever did when I did it for a living. (Ironically, the status quo considers me unemployable. I am a pretty stubborn ahole.) Still learning and still studying! It keeps the cells still sparking in shape.
I am well aware I'm one stroke away from being a drooling imbecile. I'm a shell of my former self but I refuse to stop moving forward. I lost 70 pounds when the doctor said I'd "never" (his word) be able to do it without a gastric bypass. I'm no longer diabetic and no longer take medicine for it. My blood pressure medicine has been reduced in dosage several times. Never say never.
I didn't do hardly any electronics for almost 20 years. It's what I love first and foremost and what I went to school for, but I had diverted to a high pressure job in finance. To my surprise it all came back to me (in alarming detail!) and now I know way more than I ever did when I did it for a living. (Ironically, the status quo considers me unemployable. I am a pretty stubborn ahole.) Still learning and still studying! It keeps the cells still sparking in shape.
I am well aware I'm one stroke away from being a drooling imbecile. I'm a shell of my former self but I refuse to stop moving forward. I lost 70 pounds when the doctor said I'd "never" (his word) be able to do it without a gastric bypass. I'm no longer diabetic and no longer take medicine for it. My blood pressure medicine has been reduced in dosage several times. Never say never.
I've got the trifecta.... old age, failing eyesight, low fine motor skills and none help with DIY.
Do you mean aphasia? My father had pretty bad aphasia during the last four years of his life. He usually managed to explain what he meant some way or other, for example by saying 'sport with guys throwing each other on a mat' when he meant judo.
As a 69yr old, I find that I need to refer to datasheets much more as I don't trust my memory but agree that you need to keep those brain cells active.
It's important to stave off Alzheimers that you keep taxing your brain. (one cause of dementia is day time tv!!)
I have several projects on the go at the moment - Noir HP amp, Chiurutu's balanced R2R no DSP ladder dac, current sensor recalibrator for my Honda CRZ's HV battery unit. Otherwise I spend time testing (REW) stuff before and after mods eg X10 clone buffer and Chinese SE amp.
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I don't think it's aphasia. He used a different term that's specific to the inability to produce words that are part of his vocaboraly. Honestly, if you met him you probably wouldn't notice the deficit. It's certainly seems no worse than me on a day where I've had crappy sleep. In a sense, that makes it harder for him to cope. Had he been missing a leg people would be very understanding of why he hobbled a bit. Not all disabilities are visible...
Anyway. To nudge the thread towards the original topic: I find that I tend to get stuck in a rut if I work on the same circuit for a long time. I often find that I'll draw inspiration from unlikely sources. Maybe I'll be driving somewhere and an idea pops into my head. Oh. I could do that... Those are great. Especially if they happen at the beginning of a long drive or a vacation. Then I can fantasize about how well the idea would work until I get home, power up the simulator, and find out that it's fundamentally broken. 🙂
Tom
Well. No. One correlate of dementia is the amount of daytime TV watched (assuming your statement is true). One must be careful not to confuse correlation with causation.
That said, daytime TV definitely turns my brain into mush so I don't watch it. Same with reality TV ... or as a friend of mine calls it, junk food for the brain.
Tom
It was obviously a joke but doesn't exactly challenge our brain cells.
I try to avoid it and defintiely avoid reality tv and soaps, but sometimes it requires a big conscious effort to turn off the 'box'.
The other brain wrecker is is social media (excluding some great forums!) I am appalled at the addiction to this shown by our youth and the failiure by adults to do anythig about it. (addicted themselves no doubt)
I try to avoid it and defintiely avoid reality tv and soaps, but sometimes it requires a big conscious effort to turn off the 'box'.
The other brain wrecker is is social media (excluding some great forums!) I am appalled at the addiction to this shown by our youth and the failiure by adults to do anythig about it. (addicted themselves no doubt)
I've got the years, but not the rest. So far. However it is impossible not to be fully aware of the fragility of my good fortune.
So I just get on with what I can, push myself and be very very grateful for every good year I have.
Oh, and try not to think every brain fart is incipient Alzheimer's...