Mandelbrot Cat Syndrome

Mrs Malaprop, I presume?

Over breakfast, Jacqui said she wasn't sure whether Stanley had pooped or not when she took the dogs out. (Stanley is a dog by the way, not an elderly relative.) It made me think of the cat metaphor, where there is a cat in the box who may be dead but also alive and the 2 can be simultaneous in the quantum world, but what is the threshold where the quantum world is superseded by reality and once you open the box you have either a live or dead cat?

What's it called? I'm trying to think of it, and all I can think of is *MANDELBROT CAT SYNDROME. And I know it's wrong but I can't think of the real name for it.

Come on come on....type in 'cat physics'. Of course it's Schrödinger's Cat.

Reminded me of that scene in The Office where they're doing a pub quiz and the question is 'Who has been president of Cuba since 1959?', and David Brent said Fray Bentos, which has proven to be a massive spanner in the works. No one can think of the answer and people are super annoyed at Brent.

Leader of Cuba 1959-2008

It's true though - the actual answer is much more evasive after a daft but similar-sounding answer is given in its place. 

I'm going start assembling the daft things I say from now on. 'Dimensions' keeps substituting itself for 'dementia'. I'll try and keep a log of these. Another word is 'Initiative', which in RPGs comes up all the time, and I keep forgetting it and all that comes out is 'er, er, er, er, er, um.' I end up having to look at the character sheets as I know where to look for the word.

*DISCLAIMER: not strictly a Malapropism, but almost.

It's Christmas!!!!

Tomorrow I'm going to see my Mum and Dad and my sister and nephew. I haven't seen them for months. Christmas was a disaster for us because -  like many families - one of us got Omicron and it scuppered visiting. That person was yours truly.

Nephew (not sure I'm allowed to say his name online) is a top gamer so I thought I'd take some stuff down with me. He's a great lad and I really enjoy spending time with him. He knows his uncle has this neurological condition and he was really sad when he found out, and that made me sad.

Anyway, I suddenly felt Christmassy at the prospect. I imagined Christmas trees and baubles and presents opened with wrapping everywhere and smiles and laughter. 

That made me feel a lot warmer inside. 

When emoting goes wrong

Many say "Oh I do that!" and words to the effect of  "Join the club!" when I tell them I can't remember words or can't start a job, or get increasingly flustered at starting a seemingly mundane task.

The thing is yes, we all have our foibles that get worse with age - forgetfulness and so forth, and with some of us we go through our lives with that particular bar set quite low - common examples would be poor spelling and absent-mindedness. 

People say I started off quite high in many regards, but I know certain aspects were always low. For example:

1. my propensity to procrastinate for things I wasn't interested in (covers 90% of everything)
2. low- attention span
3. total failure to really embrace modern capitalism
4. intolerance for entitlement (the irony of living in SW London!)
5. intolerance for teenagers
6. intolerance for...(I could go on ad infinitum but will stop here)
7. occasional social faux pas - although I'm keeping the Dalai Lama's advice to say nothing unless it's better than silence (when I remember to...)

These have all gotten (even) worse in the past few years, apart from #3 which has always been a flat-liner.

People say "well, I was always a poor speller" or "I'm forgetful too". 

But when you could previously do things to a certain level and you see those abilities diminish, it's not really much comfort when someone says they were never very good at them either. It's done with good intent, to quell the significance of the problem. 

'It's just a thing.' 

'It's not the end of the world.' 

'I get on okay without it.'

But it is significant to you because it's part of who you are or who you were. And now it's going or gone.

Something you used to find easy or automatic is no longer the case and that can be very frustrating.

So next time someone in a chronic condition says they're having difficulty with something, think before you say something well-meaning as what they hear might be something different to what was intended. 

And this is intended for me more than anyone. I am the biggest hypocrite in this regard as I often say clumsy things to people I would never like to be the recipient of.

And finally...

I didn't want to leave on a sanctimonious note, so changing the subject...

...I hate this time of year as gloomy old Winter stubbornly drags its heels, refusing to hand over to Spring.

By February/ March we've all had enough of the gloomy, short, cold days and are eager for signs of Spring. The days are getting longer now, and the trees will soon be in bud, but like anything you're desperately waiting for it, takes twice as long to arrive...! So it was great to see all the daffodils are out everywhere, bringing colour and joy to our lives. 

Come on Spring, do your thing!

Hope