CRS Disease

I often feel like I'm losing my mind and can't remember, well, shit. At those times, when I have a short list of things I have to do which I know won't make it out of my short-term memory and into something a little more permanent, I find myself using bizarre mnemonic aids to remember my little lists.

Specifically, I often find myself reciting my list (in my head, fortunately) to the tune and rhythm of a song. Now, here's the weird part. There are three songs which somehow seem to get used for this purpose, which for some bizarre reason have been in my head off and on SINCE CHILDHOOD. I kid you not. These songs are:

1. California, Here I Come
2. On Top of Old Smokey/Spaghetti
3. Polly Wolly Doodle.

Now, in addition to these being INCREDIBLY annoying songs in general, and extra irritating to get stuck in one's head, I also have no clue why they would continue to plague me for, oh, going on a couple of decades now. I must be insane. So what happens is, to the tune of "California, Here I Come," I'll sing to myself something akin to the following:
"Boil some water, feed the cat;
Scoop cat box and get the mail;

And so on until I've gone nuts and/or accomplished the list items. It seems to be optimal for a list of between 2 and 6 items; any more than that and I get confused and can't remember them in the proper order, or at all. A lot of the time, though, I end up not singing, but chanting my list under my breath or in my head like some deranged cheerleader exhorting myself to get shit done. Perhaps I'm simply a freak. But it felt good to get this off my chest. It also felt good to be procrastinating...Okay, back to work.

This blog entry is dedicated to the memory of my high school AP/IB Biology teacher, Mr. Carroll, who taught us that Kings Play Cards On Fat Girls' Stomachs. I will never, ever forget, unless I get Alzheimers or somebody excises those particular brain cells, Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species.