Occupation: Dreamer

It's not that I can't pay attention; I am super sensitive to all kinds of things pulling my attention. I pay attention to many things at once. In fact, when you google "how to improve attention," you don't get much - what you learn is how to GET someone's attention. The correct diagnosis is Concentration deficit.  DO IT NOW When I analyze my ADD and procrastination, it comes down to fear of a hard task. I choose easy, transactional tasks to feel like I am doing things, but the truth is that all tasks are hard. The transactional tasks are not productive. So I vow to take a task, DO IT THEN, and do not stop until it is done. Half-finished is un-done HALF-FINISHED IS UN DONE You know what I mean if you have ever picked up someone else's half-finished work and tried to finish it. You are really starting anew. It's not different when you are an ADD, and you leave a piece of work undone. You spend just as much time getting back into it, seeing what is done a...

10/10/24 - 6:00 am EST  - Neighbor posting a video of the storm in his canal. The top river height was reported at 12.30 am, and it was 6.55 over the flood stage, which was 1.43 ft over Helene. 10/9/24 - 5:45pm EST  - Storm Surge starting to come in: Water coming on to the causeway entrance - McGregor Blvd. This canal is one block over from our house. The surge has just come up over the seawall on the house across the canal to the left.  Sanibel Harbour - Surge coming up over fixed docks. The Marriott is where the Weather Channel is broadcasting. You can see the waves licking over onto the pool deck.   10/9/24 - 5:00pm EST —Update from NOAA: Thankfully, the inundation is decreasing. However, Tropical storm-force winds remain.  No water on McGregor going to causeway. 5:00pm EST 10/9/24 10/9/24 - 3:45pm EST - Water splashing over the docks at Sanibel Harbor Marina (Sanibel Causeway) 10/9/24 - 2:45pm EST— A 2 o'clock update to the forecast dramatically reduces...

In a recent article dated January 8, 2024, David Leonhardt of The New York Times delved into an intriguing correlation: students who excel in standardized tests like the SAT/ACT often also have higher college GPAs. This finding prompts a vital question in the realm of education: What do these metrics truly measure? The responses posted to the article (so overwhelming that the NYT closed the comments within 24 hours of publication) show that people lifted up by SATs really appreciated the opportunity and did well in college. For me, this belies the problem. Do you really get a better education at Harvard than Nebraska? I got an excellent education, even though I had to drop out of NYU because of funding problems. My grades were terrible - I had a 2.0 - but I wrestled on the college team, wrote for the school newspaper, worked on film crews for students in the film department, organized music events, and made some lifelong friends.  Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycl...

Maybe you've stood at a party struggling to make conversation... In an elevator... At work... Often feeling like the words are just filling air. Awkward. Looking for something that you might have in common so that it can be a real connection with another person.  Not everyone feels like this among others, but I often do. Especially when I was younger.  But not with Kent. For whatever reason every conversation with Kent was real; important, relevant, smart. I needed that. I was an outsider, and I'd found another outsider, and when I was with him I was an insider. When you're young, you take these things for granted a little. As I get older I realize i don't make new friends as easily. Suddenly, there I was in middle age, counting my friends on my hands. There was Kent, accidentally close by in Florida.  There's that moment when I start to reach out to someone with whom the tides of time have created distance where I ask myself "Should I?" because maybe they...

Anyone who lives or works with an ADD has found them, from time to time, to be unreliable, inconsistent performers, and late. For non-ADD sufferers, the ADD appears inconsiderate, irresponsible, and immature. However, these are not character defects but rather reflect a mind which is focused on NOW. You want an ADD with you in a foxhole, on a help desk, on the playing field, in the woods, navigating a strange land, or leading a clamoring group of people - we are finely attuned to our changing environment, sensitive to what others are feeling or thinking, and always dreaming about how we can make our present situation better.  The problem is, most of modern life isn't like that. Modern life is sitting, writing, and admin work. There is physical labor, but that doesn't challenge the brilliant, speedy mind of the ADD. So, despite their weaknesses, because of their intelligence and leadership skills, they get inserted into the modern educational system and workforce in roles that a...

I've always humorously addressed my ADD. I'm the "forgetful" one. I'm the guy who blurts something out impulsively for effect in a conversation, looking for a laugh. My wife jokes that I have Tourette's syndrome. Teachers and others called me "Accident-prone." My buddies shout "squirrel!!" to mock how I change subjects while conversing.  Realizing I'm Different I received a clinical diagnosis early in my life, given the rarity of the diagnoses in the 60s and 70s. During a visit back to the US when I was 10, I was prescribed Ritalin. I don't remember if it did any good. I have sought other psychiatric treatment, but no one directly addressed the issue of ADD as the source of my dysphoria.  What I do remember is my frustration, even in 3rd and 4th grade, with my poor grades. I couldn't complete homework assignments, and I lived in fear of a confrontation with the teacher over the assignment not turned in. I LIKED school. I did wel...

     As a fifth grader, I realized I had become fascinated by pictures of houses and buildings. A photo book of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings enchanted me. I was in Europe then, so American literature was hard to come by, but I scavenged "Popular Mechanics" and saw floor plans. You could design buildings by drawing their guts! Wow!! I could sit and draw floor plans at my little desk for hours on end. My obsession was so evident to my parents that my 13th birthday gift was a drafting table.      Back in the US, I made my way downtown Washington DC riding a series of busses to find drafting paper, a day-long adventure that resulted in purchasing a long scroll of paper instead of sheets. It was translucent and had a bit of a slick surface, which made my pencil drawings smear. I didn't realize that I needed to use a pen. I also didn't understand that the purpose of translucence was to allow the layering of floor plans to retain the same building shell but chan...