Einstein's Bucket Theory, or Reasons Why I Forget Stuff

A long time ago, I learned that Einstein thought of the brain like a bucket filling up with water. When you’re young, that bucket gets filled up and you’re able to retain most of everything you experience. As you age, the bucket is full and when you gather up drops of water, the same amount of water spills out – meaning you’re just going to lose that knowledge. To add to the unfairness of this concept, the quality of the knowledge is not reciprocal. So, if you take in the information that when your oldest son farts that your middle son will get seriously upset and a fist fight will ensue, you have the same chance of losing a similar useless bit of knowledge as you do losing what you learned about the scientific evaluation for the nature of quasars (everyday stuff, right?).

It was said that Einstein didn’t waste his time remembering useless bits of information, for fear that he’d forget or “lose” something really important – for example, he refused to learn his home address.

Now I don’t know if all of this is true, but ever since I learned this I’ve lived by this idea. I don’t know why I remember some of the things I do, and other things just completely escape me. Instead of feeling completely idiotic when I don’t know something I probably should, or when I forget something – I like to tell myself that it’s just a useless bit of information that I can’t crowd my brain with. I have to save space for stuff like the meaning of life and the day and time of my son’s class play. Oh, and also quasars.

Crazy Auntie = An Additional Kid For a Month

"Why don't you let me keep Jolene while you and Joan get settled in Texas?"

My brother, Joe, is a medic in the Navy and has be restationed from Pearl Harbor to San Antonio. So, I thought I'd joke around and say I'd keep Jolene while they get settled in.  I was sure they'd turn me down.

My brother quickly answered, "That's a great idea."

Well, I was wrong. I believe they may have already been thinking about the scenario before I brought it up. Now, I have an extra child for one month, maybe two months. That's alright, though. At least I love her to pieces!

Parting with Boris and Natasha -- Things That Make You Go Huh?

We are currently in the market for new seating in our family room. The sofa/chair set we have now has been in our family for eight or nine years and are finally seeing their last days. It is a nice looking cinnamon-brown leather set that has served us well, through two boys and a wild little girl and all their friends. It proudly shows off its wear with scuff marks over almost every inch, wrinkles and cracks that make the pair look more than twice their age, and one large tear in the middle of one of the sofa cushions that no one owns up to. I'll likely just sound nutty, but I also lovingly call the sofa and chair, Boris and Natasha, so they're almost like members of the family.  (Huh?  I know, right?  So, I put this post in the "Things that make you go Huh?" category.)

However, we love to entertain, and they only allow seating for 4 adults. It would be great to get a sectional sofa that would seat 6 or more adults.

This sofa and chair are inanimate objects that have no feelings and, of course, show no emotion. Neither have they once let us know their feelings about being spilled on, being wrestled and jumped on, and being beaten in every way imaginable.

Tell me, why do I feel a bit of nostalgia for these pieces of furniture that have greeted our just-awakened bodies almost every morning, accepted our tired bottoms after long days, and helped us to entertain all of our friends who stay and visit with us for awhile? Just because we've owned these objects for almost as long as our oldest son is in age, why do I feel like letting them move on is like giving away an important part of our family?

So, then I took a picture of Boris and Natasha to show how beaten up they are.  But, as you'll see in the picture -- they actually look great, other than the tear in the seat cushion.  It's almost as if they are speaking to me, saying, "See, don't let us go!"

The part of me that is still able to reason about this topic tells me that these are just replaceable "things" -- and "things" don't really matter. The sensitive and sappy part of me just likes the simple feelings and memories that flood into my mind. They remind me how much our family has grown and changed in the past eight or nine years and how much of it has played out day-to-day in our family room -- on this sofa and chair.

So, we continue our search for family room furniture replacements. But, I also find myself taking my time. It's silly, but Boris and Natasha are like part of the family and I'm a bit sad to know they'll soon be gone.

Valances at Target, Fundraising Events, and Things That Make You Go Huh?

I go through these phases where I’ll find myself saying a word all the time. Whatever the word is, I’ll use it correctly and incorrectly in numerous daily experiences.

For a while there, my favorite word was Ridiculous. When one of my kids did something that was just rude and uncalled for, Ridiculous!, I’d say. If something were terribly funny, I’d reward it with Ridiculous! If something were really great and quite close to the next best thing, I’d exclaim, Ridiculous!

Anyway, for just about every situation during the day, the word Ridiculous seemed to easily find a way to be used – I’d say at least 15 to 20 times a day.

Da da da da! And the New Word Is…

Earlier this week, I wrote a post called Einstein's Bucket Theory, or Reasons Why I Forget Stuff and tagged it under a new category I named Things That Make You Go Huh? Well, ever since then, my new word is Huh. (See these things I think of? According to the Bucket Theory, it's no wonder I forget stuff!)

Anyway, a close relative of Eh? and polar opposite of Oh!, Huh makes a comeback for me from my days in college when my ability to take full advantage of higher learning was negatively impacted by my ability to party every single night.

In the past few days, I’ve noticed that I’ve used Huh more than I normally would. It may be a side effect of reduced sleep, since lately I’ve been working more hours, worrying about my pre-teen son and how we need to have “The Talk”, and just being a bit more stressed lately. The fact that I’m a bit tired and generally lacking in attention these days, is most likely the reason why I’m constantly saying Huh.

My Shining Moment – Using My Word of the Day

So, my girlfriend, Kim, and I are together planning the biggest fundraiser of the year at our kids’ elementary school. This fundraiser is a Dinner/Auction and is responsible for 70% of the funds raised each year by our PTC (Parent-Teacher Committee). Yesterday morning, we met and talked about the event planning so far. Kim was talking about the subcommittees and then about the event budget. Well, my mind wandered and I started thinking about the new curtains and rods I had put up in my living room. And, then I heard Kim say something about a valance at Target. I spun out of my own little world, regained my focus back on Kim, in disbelief that she was actually talking about the same thing I was thinking, and said, Huh?

Well, we were meeting about the fundraiser, not talking about window coverings. We needed to make sure we ”balanced the budget” and not about adding a valance from Target. I’m pretty sure I recovered well, because our meeting continued to go smoothly – although I had to try really hard after that to try not to think about whether Target had any cute valances. Huh. I'll have to go check.