Reminiscing

As I drink my tea, gazing out the window, I ponder the differences between reminiscing and merely remembering.

Reminiscing conjures romantic images of the past.

while remembering seems commonplace, like something you do everyday.

Re-membering means to put the pieces together, like a puzzle. (recollect is a synonym for remember.)

Reminiscing is more like lounging on a hammock...

I am doing a presentation about Memory Enhancement with Hypnosis on August 11. Maybe if we call them remincences instead of memories...

Collaborate or Corroborate?

Collaborate means to work with someone else.

Corroborate means to find additional evidence for something.

I got these confused this week. Not exactly. What I did was use the wrong one.

I have been trying to corroborate the information I found on the benefits of hypnosis therapy for dementia. But I was saying I needed to collaborate this information.

Collaborate -- to work jointly with others, especially in an intellectual endeavor; to cooperate. From Latin.

Corroborate -- to support with evidence or authority, to confirm. From Latin.

Dastardly Deeds

I remember old cartoons referring to nasty villains perpetrating "dastardly deeds," but I have never heard the word, dastard. Actually, it has just come back to me that the villain that Dudley Dooright was always battling was Dick Dastardly!

Memory is a funny thing.

So I was thinking about the word, dastardly, and thought, it sounds like there must be a word, dastard. So I looked it up in my handy pocket dictionary. Dastard was there, and dastardly, the adjective form was listed within that entry.

Dastard - n. craven coward or deceitful sneak.

It seems to come from Middle English. I wonder if it is related to another very similar word which starts with "B?"

Technophobe

Technophobe. I'm sure this is a word, even though it is not in my unabridged dictionary. It is just a new word, a neologism.



I sometimes feel like a technophobe, as I have difficulty keeping up. It was only 2 weeks ago, when I sent my first text message. I have a new cell phone and it is still annoying to me. I have not figured out how to change my greeting, so I can't update the info about the next chapter meeting.



I also want to have a really amazing website, but haven't had time to read the manual for that software, either.



I'll get it together ... someday!



Technophobia is not my problem. I was a computer programmer for 10 years in the 80s and 90s. There were no PCs when I learned to write programs. I remember the first TI calculators when they were $500.00! OMG I am getting old!



I hesitate to write that. I need an updated, hip euphemism for "old." Remember the slogan, you're not getting older, you're getting better! I like it, but I don't know what it was for. I think hair color, perhaps.



I do have a great affirmation for memory: I have total recall. Is that right? Oh darn! I seem to have forgotten! Just kidding.

I will share lots of great affirmations at my workshop, the Hypnotic Fountain of Youth on July 9 at Serenity Now Books and Gifts (Palm Harbor).