A Splintered Mind

Tuesday - Entry 12: This morning clipped along as smoothly as a canoe through lake water. The girls arose quickly. They didn't squabble with me or each other. They dressed quickly. We were out the door and early. Without the usual stress and pandemonium clouding my morning I was able to notice the world around me. The sky was a deep, dark blue that was electrified with highlights within the thin cloud layer. A full moon hung above the western mountains and stood out starkly in the pinking dawn, bright and glowing, catching my eye as I turned down our driveway towards the road. I stopped for a moment to capture the scene, but my iPhone could not focus, too dark was it still. Later, as I returned home I was again treated to a beautiful sight as I noticed a contrail painted against the sky, spread out like a narrow cloud catching the colors of dawn. From its purple roots in the far north it contrasted against the blue sky in neon pastel orange as it ascended overhead. I could not reca...

I decided to retire Wunderlist from my rather large list of task manager apps today. Before I did, though, I wanted to tell you about it. Maybe you will have a different experience, or maybe you won't mind its shortcomings because of its many benefits. First, the good. Wunderlist is beautifully designed. The graphic elements give the app a classy touch. Elegant wood paneling and large icons to tap make the app easy to use. It supports multiple lists, due dates, and stars for important tasks. If you want to see what is due Today, there is an icon for that. Have multiple lists, but only want to see what you have starred? There's an icon for that, too. Tapping "More" gives you a menu of other filters to view your tasks with. The app also supports shared lists with other Wunderlist users, or if you wish, you can send somebody a text version of the list via Facebook, Email, or SMS. If you have Wunderlist for your iPhone, iPad, and Mac as I do, all the lists synchronize ni...

Thursday - Entry 11: I have noticed that if I read a book to escape the weight of depression, the weight catches up to me when I finish. It's not the most efficacious therapy, though I do enjoy the short respite from the tension and sadness. So, today's escape… I started reading Brad Thor's THE APOSTLE. He builds a realistic setting through a copious amount of details, but I wonder if it's too much. Thor obviously loves his Harvath character. The entire story perked up the moment Harvath arrived. Unfortunately, that wasn't until chapter six. When authors work up characters for their books, some like to have very detailed character sheets. They list details for everything about those characters: background history, physical features, likes and dislikes, favorite soda, &c. These details help the character become real for the author, and, theoretically, more real for the reader. I wonder if perhaps this is how Thor works. The problem with details is that they slow ...

Saturday - Entry 10: I just finished watching Metropolis Restored . Although the first act of the movie was impressive, I could now see why H.G. Wells called this movie silly. Never mind the laughable scene as the face of Maria was transferred to the Mechanical Man, nor distract yourself with the hedonistic burlesque act as the Mechanical Maria whipped the rich boys into a lustful hysteria…if this movie was about the proletariat throwing off their capitalistic masters, why were they depicted so disrespectfully? This bunch of screaming Luddites didn't have a brain cell shared between them. And as they destroyed their own existence in a mad frenzy, I wondered what the point of this movie was. What was Lang trying to say? Were the rich evil? Were the poor evil? Was technology evil? Lang's solution to show his mediator, Frederic, as the embodiment of the heart was to make all the characters nincompoops—caricatures in the extreme. The poor—the hands—were veritable Neanderthals, easi...

Thursday - Entry 9: Can't sleep. So I'll write an update instead. I didn't finish all my SEO freelance articles as planned. I came up two short by the end of the day. I had forgotten I had agreed to watch the Brownie yesterday. What a li'l mess-maker she was. Once she was gone, I cleaned, vacuumed, and washed windows to reclaim what I had done earlier before she arrived. Only then was I was able to do three articles and work on the plot of my NaNoWriMo project. I haven't written fiction in a while and feel that it is time. The last book I wrote I finished as my marriage collapsed. Not only did I never go back to polish that book, I stopped writing fiction altogether. I had subconsciously woven my marital turmoil into the story and inseparably associated my divorce with fiction writing. Enough time has passed that I am feeling the urge to write again. This can only be a good thing. As the day turned into evening, I ran for 20 minutes, then came back to my apartment t...

Part One | Part Two You have ADHD and you slip into daydreaming easier than taxes slip out of your paycheck, but you aren't happy with the amount of time you waste. Is there anything that can be done about it? Since I am one of those non-stop daydreaming adults with ADHD, I have been growing irritated with the amount of time I'm losing. I am far more comfortable as Spaceman Spiff than I care to admit. Ten minutes here and there can add up to an hour of daydreaming by the end of the day. That sounds grossly wasteful, doesn't it? But what can you do? First, go read this article here on the four stages of daydreaming . I will be referring to some of those different stages in this article. How do you stop daydreaming? I've spent a great deal of non-daydreamy thought on this subject and I came up with some techniques that have helped me exercise control over my own daydreaming tendencies. Before it wouldn't be uncommon for me to slip into Stage Two or Three throughout m...

Part One | Part Two Adults with ADHD are renown for their tendencies to space out, but is your spacing out putting you in danger of being Spaceman Spiff in the workplace? I daydreamed while writing this article. Oh, I meant to just sit down and type pithy thoughts on daydreaming, but the next thing I knew somebody screamed outside and I thought, "Boy, will it be nice when that noisy family moves out this weekend." Then my downstairs neighbor appeared in my mind and said "I didn't know you guys were moving." And I stopped. What a rude thing to say! And she smiled while she said it! What a jerk. We go to church with them. They should behave better. Then a five minute alarm went off and I knew I had failed again. Hello. My name is Douglas. I have a problem with daydreaming. I've been training my mind to stop daydreaming recently, and I've had a lot of success. However, there are days when my mind is tired—like it is today—and thoughts leak out of my ears li...

Sunday - Entry 8: I was going to write about going to the supermarket the other day and ONCE AGAIN discovering that I had forgotten to bring my wallet only after ringing up a hundred or so dollars of groceries, but that wasn't nearly as fresh in my mind as driving to church this morning and discovering nobody was there. The Elf was wiped out from her competition the day before, and the Goblin had taken an eternal shower, so the Leprechaun and I left both of them behind and rushed off to church. It was a bit past ten, so we were late for Sunday School, and the Leprechaun was anxious to see her friends. We drove the few miles to church and turned the corner. The church was on our left and all seemed in order until we came upon the parking lot. “What day is it?” The Leprechaun had just noticed what I had; there wasn't a single car in the parking lot. For a moment I was confused, but I knew it was Sunday. Somehow I had missed a memo. It was likely Stake Conference at the s...

Monday - Entry 7: I spent Columbus Day being sick, which was no different than how I spent the last few days, or even the last two weeks. This cold has its claws deep within me and simply will not release its grip. I plod along and wonder when I will finally feel better. Today's hardest challenge was getting the Brownie & Leprechaun to do something—anything—besides watching TV. I tried. I truly did, but despite my general failure at getting them to enrich their minds with reading, I did eventually read to the Brownie. I did have wonderful conversations with the Elf & Leprechaun. Dinner was supervised. Quarrels were diffused. Things were done. Important things, even. However, my biggest moment was earlier in the day. I told the Brownie to get off the computer because I needed to talk to her. She reluctantly came over to the couch where I sat and flollopped down with great sighs. Then I opened a book. "Reading?!" she shouted in alarm. "I thought you wanted to...

Tuesday - Entry 6: “Find your theme, then share it.” This seemingly simple advice was given out by a social media expert for Instagram users—a service I use, but with no impact. I take what I think are important pictures or images with great interest, yet I can't get others to take notice. I have tried many things such as littering my post with hashtags, using fancy filters, creatively editing with photo apps, and captions with text. The most feedback I have ever seen is about 17 likes before the photo drifts away into obscurity. Often I wonder just why I use the service; I could post pictures to Twitter with less effort and just as much impact. It's not as if I have a dearth of photo apps to make my photos look fancy. Also, 17 strangers liking a photo (but never leaving a comment or following me to see more of my work) is a meaningless metric of success. I also wonder why some people can post pictures of their breakfast in poor lighting—and even poorer cropping—and get hundred...