Yay for Enthusiasm!

Most of my life I've been considered odd because I'm enthusiastic about lots of things, especially learning. If something makes me happy or interests me or affects me greatly, I really appreciate it. What's more, I have no problem letting people know about such things.

For example, in this blog I've already typed about coffee, tea, movies, Mad Men, and writing. Eventually I'll type about cooking, cooking shows, food allergies, the swoonworthy and oh so sexy Ming Tsai, books, anthropology, art, artists, Jazz vocals, good teachers, France, the importance of good friends, and much more. My interests are varied and I'm on a constant journey of discovery.

You see, I'm rebuilding my memory banks. During the years before the uterine cancer diagnosis, I experienced extreme anemia due to the symptoms of that disease. As a result, my brain was constantly starved for oxygen along with the rest of my body. My short term memory went kablooey and I began having more frequent instances of aphasia than normal. I also forgot simple procedures that I'd been doing my whole life. And, worst of all, I lost much of the trivia that had been accumulating in my brain since birth.

Honestly, it was terrifying how much memory I lost. I had no way of knowing if I'd get any of it back. Thank the Universe, much has returned. What hasn't returned is all the information I used to know about things I learned when I was a teenager. For example, I was very much into punk music then, but I kept my interest closeted because of where I lived and went to school. If I'd been in a city like New York or Boston or San Francisco, I very likely would have been fully into the punk scene. Alas, I was in the South, and thus all I could do was listen to the punk djs on local college radio stations and get relevant magazines when I went to more outre bookstores in Chapel Hill or when I went on a school trip to NYC my junior year.

Well, I've forgotten most of what I knew. I barely recall names of bands or any songs and it drives me nuts. I had a tape of '70s punk that I used to play in my Walkman when I was walking around Ole Miss in the late '90s. There were times I really hated being there and listening to the screaming angry punk kept me moving fast and helped me keep my temper in check when I had to deal with my much younger student peers' myopic and often idiotic behaviors. Anyhow, you'd think that since that I was still listening to punk in the late '90s that I'd remember more about it than I do, but I don't. I have huge gaps.

I don't seem to have forgotten much about cooking and cooking shows. I guess that's because I've been focused on cooking ever since I can remember. I was always in the kitchen w/my mom and in the summer with my grandma. In fact, one of my favorite meals is one my grandmother served regularly because it was economically and nutritionally sound. I'll type more about it another day.

I remember a lot of the folklore and fairytales that I used to collect. It's really funny how I'll be watching TV or reading a story and I'll go, "I know this. This is just like <insert relevant fairytale or folk tale>." It's really true that there are no original stories or characters, btw. It's all in presentation and a writer's ability to tell the tale effectively.

The things I remember are things going back to when I was very young. Interests that began when I was a teenager or later kind of poofed. I'm getting them back, though. It's slow-going, but the interwebs are very helpful. I'm working on my college French again too, for example. I'm doing okay with vocabulary, but my grammar is atrocious. I could survive in France, but people would shake their heads at my syntax, I'm sure.

So yeah, I get really into my research about whatever catches my interest. I cram as much information into my brain as hard and as fast as I can. If I can read it, odds are I'll remember it. Or look at it. My visual memory is really strong. That which I learn aurally? Not as much. Unless it's music. Melodies and harmonies I hang onto.

Be enthusiastic about learning, whether it's something new or something you've been into your whole life. Ignore people who look at you funny. Some people are very limited in their scope, alas, and simply don't see the value in learning something new each day. But you do, don't you? Else, why would you be here, visiting The Goobiverse?