I Suck At Neurobics

okay, today may be a slow day.

i just finished reading a book. yes, i have been known to read a book or two... something other than a comic book... or a piece of fiction. my reading preference is fiction because it allows me envision crazy things in my head. the more fantastic... the better. unless of course, the book is "twilight". for some reason, i was not too impressed with that book. the book, which i borrowed from my friend (andrea) is a simple love story between a young woman and a vampire. the gist of the book can be summed up as follows: "i love you... but i shouldn't... you're a vampire" "i love you.. but always remember... i'm a vampire!" mind you, the young woman has never had a boyfriend... ever... so i find the dialogue a little silly. but i digress.

"twilight" is not the book i finished reading today. i actually finished a non-fiction book today... and no, the book is not "the secret". my friend (jen)... and apparently oprah... have been touting "the secret". from what i have heard about the book, "the secret" sounds like it should be called "the crap"... but i will give it a fair reading...

the book i actually finished today is titled "keep your brain alive". basically, the book is about neurobics and provides 83 exercises to help prevent memory loss and increase mental fitness. too bad i suck at neurobics. obviously, i could use something like this. i'm lucky that i have a blog to even remind me about what i did a few days ago. neurobics are a bunch of brain exercises designed to involve the five senses in such a way as to create associations between types of information.

according to the book, most of the information we use to associate is through sight. say we meet someone and are introduced to them by sight. we can easily forget that person's name because we are only using one of our senses. if we involve the other senses like touch, hearing, smelling, etc. we have a better chance of remembering the person's name because the other senses are associated with that piece of information. so if one of those associations forgets the information, it has another association to retrieve that information... whereas with only one sense (sight)... once that information is lost... you have to think really, really hard...

i guess that was the premise that karen was mentioning at the cheesecake factory, to which i jokingly warned to not be surprised if i put your hand in my mouth the next time i see you. needless to say, after reading the book... karen seems to make more sense. (heck, i'm sure the book makes a lot more sense than "the secret" too.)

anyway, here are some of the exercises to help "keep your brain alive" (it should be noted that not all of these exercises should be done at one time... but here and there to throw your normal routine off.):

for the beginning/end of the day

1) change the usual morning olfactory association
2) shower with your eyes closed
3) brushing with your nondominant hand
4) choose clothes without looking
5) wear earplugs at breakfast
6) introduce novelty
7) a warm bath with various stimuli
8) reading aloud to someone
9) sex... yes!

for commuting

1) start the car without looking
2) take a different route to work
3) put new textures on all the car controls
4) open the window for smells and sounds
5) wear heavy mittens while driving
6) smell different aromas at different locations
7) smell different aromas while listening to music
8) determine the denomination of coins without looking
9) be social
10) car pool
11) leave someone else drive

for work

1) change the location of things at your desk
2) put different color filters on your lamp
3) make tasks odorous
4) learn braille
5) take someone to work
6) brainstorm
7) take brain breaks
8) random chess game with no specific players
9) turn pictures upside down
10) adapt, adopt or ad lib

at the market

1) visit a farmer's market
2) shop at an ethnic market (or some place different)
3) go to a butcher, baker, fishmonger
4) practice neurobics inside the supermarket
5) shop without a list and pick what looks good for that day
6) have someone give you a shopping list of the food description, not the name
7) no more one stop shopping

during mealtimes

1) make it social
2) share a meal in silence
3) sit in different spots
4) hold your nose while eating
5) have everyone choose a menu item to prepare for dinner
6) recreate meals that are associated with a significant memory
7) introduce novelty
8) enhance the sensory environment
9) try a new cuisine... like my bff's (kerry) original plan!
10) identify food only by smell, taste, and touch
11) blind wine tasting
12) cook from scratch
13) have a sexy meal

for leisure

1) go to new place and see new faces
2) go camping
3) community project... like the census!
4) do something you normally do not do on vacation
5) be creative
6) random joy ride
7) art project... like jen's vision board!
8) improv
9) learn sign language... like kerry!
10) play the "10 things" game (10 things you can do with an object)
11) play "name that sound"
12) vary exercise by doing it outdoors
13) go to a park
14) start a new hobby
15) grow a garden

all right, so some of these ideas are peculiar and lame. nonetheless, i need all the help i can to remember things. hopefully i will remember to incorporate a few of the suggestions ever so often.