Have you the brain worms?
I really am not sure what is wrong with me. Is it this cold I've had for a week now? Is all of the built up bubbly mucus infringing on my grey matter? Or is it something more simple, like the fact that I'm getting old and stuff is just getting lost in there?
Here's the deal. I had an ad that was supposed to go out last night at 5pm. 5:30 rolled around and there was still no final approval. At 5:45 the AE (account executive for those "not in the know") made the decision that it could go out the next morning. All well and good. I was just happy to be able to finally get clear of here.
Morning rolls around as ususal, and at about 9:20am a different AE comes up to me and says that she needs me to email a PDF of the ad to her so that she can get the client's approval. It seems the first AE isn't going to be in and the ad has to go out to the paper absolutely no later than 10am.
I say "sure thing", the whole time I'm staring at her. I know her. She's been here longer than I have. I've worked on many of her ads in the past, although nothing recently since she's taken on more of a supervisory roll. Here's the thing: I COULDN'T REMEMBER HER NAME!
I swear, I was drawing a blank. I SHOULD have known her name, I just DIDN'T. I didn't even know what LETTER it started with. I felt the stirrings of a panic party inside my head. I was about to jokingly say, "And you are...?" and try to laugh it off but I KNEW that by then the panic inside my noggin would have emerged from my tear ducts and settled over my face and she would realize that I'd lost my mind. So I just smiled and stared at her all wide-eyed and stupid looking as she turned and walked out of the room.
I sat there for a few seconds and concentrated very hard on recalling her name with no luck. It was like trying to superglue a water balloon to a greased monkey. So I turned and consulted the phone list. I didn't see anything that looked like the vague idea I had of how her name should look on the first pass and the panic surged to an unprecedented level. In that moment it occurred to me how extra stupid this was since I'm the one responsible for updating the phone list.
During the second more careful look-through I saw a name that SEEMED like it SHOULD be hers, but it still looked wrong. However the more it settled into my head, the more correct it seemed to be. By the time I sent the email I was finally confident that was, in fact, her name.
And I don't drink heavily or take copious amounts of drugs. I know! Surprise! Not even small amounts. Probably a good thing too, if this is how bad I am sober.
Oh, and this isn't a new development in my head. In the past week I've forgotten Heather's work number and my ex's phone number, and no doubt other things that I've forgotten that I forgot.
At this point I should probably be grateful that breathing is autonomous.
Here's the deal. I had an ad that was supposed to go out last night at 5pm. 5:30 rolled around and there was still no final approval. At 5:45 the AE (account executive for those "not in the know") made the decision that it could go out the next morning. All well and good. I was just happy to be able to finally get clear of here.
Morning rolls around as ususal, and at about 9:20am a different AE comes up to me and says that she needs me to email a PDF of the ad to her so that she can get the client's approval. It seems the first AE isn't going to be in and the ad has to go out to the paper absolutely no later than 10am.
I say "sure thing", the whole time I'm staring at her. I know her. She's been here longer than I have. I've worked on many of her ads in the past, although nothing recently since she's taken on more of a supervisory roll. Here's the thing: I COULDN'T REMEMBER HER NAME!
I swear, I was drawing a blank. I SHOULD have known her name, I just DIDN'T. I didn't even know what LETTER it started with. I felt the stirrings of a panic party inside my head. I was about to jokingly say, "And you are...?" and try to laugh it off but I KNEW that by then the panic inside my noggin would have emerged from my tear ducts and settled over my face and she would realize that I'd lost my mind. So I just smiled and stared at her all wide-eyed and stupid looking as she turned and walked out of the room.
I sat there for a few seconds and concentrated very hard on recalling her name with no luck. It was like trying to superglue a water balloon to a greased monkey. So I turned and consulted the phone list. I didn't see anything that looked like the vague idea I had of how her name should look on the first pass and the panic surged to an unprecedented level. In that moment it occurred to me how extra stupid this was since I'm the one responsible for updating the phone list.
During the second more careful look-through I saw a name that SEEMED like it SHOULD be hers, but it still looked wrong. However the more it settled into my head, the more correct it seemed to be. By the time I sent the email I was finally confident that was, in fact, her name.
And I don't drink heavily or take copious amounts of drugs. I know! Surprise! Not even small amounts. Probably a good thing too, if this is how bad I am sober.
Oh, and this isn't a new development in my head. In the past week I've forgotten Heather's work number and my ex's phone number, and no doubt other things that I've forgotten that I forgot.
At this point I should probably be grateful that breathing is autonomous.
Comments
I've done that with Angie more than once. Her name: it simply escapes me. But the name you were trying to think of? BURNED IN MY BRAIN.
it is evil.
You forgot my work number? That's funny. Your poor brain!
-Robyn
-Mark M