New Thing #143: Forgetting Dates

Today is May 23rd. I know there's something important about the date.

It could be that on May 23, 1999 I graduated Boston University.

It could be that on May 23, 2005 I graduated Lesley University as a graduate student.

It could be that one - or both - of those events happened on May 19th, and neither happened on this day.

But the reason I bring this up is that my mind used to be a steel trap for information like which day I graduated college.

Nowadays - it's more like one of those cartoon nets that catch lions, when they spring up into the treetops from the ground.

It has a lot of holes.

May 22nd is one of my favorite days: I have a friend who shares that birthday with his wife. They're the only people I know where that's the case - husband and wife sharing a birthday. (Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are the only other two I know of in this category. But I don't know them know them.)

Usually I'll shoot him a text early in the day to wish him a happy birthday. Yesterday? It wasn't until I saw a note on Facebook that I remembered.

And Facebook is part of the problem. It used to be that it was a mark of pride that I remembered birthdays. I think it's because growing up my mom always had people's birthdays on the calendar, and that's a practice I've continued into adulthood. But the problem with Facebook is that now, there's no reason to write down people's birthdays - it reminds you whenever someone's birthday happens. My own personal protest has been to ignore that tool - it's out of spite, I know that. And I've suffered because of it - because I'm caught in between new technology and an old school strategy that is failing me these days.

Because I don't think Facebook is entirely to blame. I think I'm storing more important information in my brain and trivia like dates are getting squeezed out. I still remember April 8th (Gary Carter's birthday), October 25th and 27th (Games 6 and 7 of the 1986 World Series), June 14th (Flag Day, and the day the Rangers won the Cup in 1994), and the birthdays of my wife and family. (My middle daughter is a little tricky. The doctors promised us as my wife labored that she would arrive on 9/18...but she just wouldn't come out and was actually born after midnight on 9/19. So I struggle to remember her actual day. It's not automatic, in other words.) So I remember those dates, but other dates are getting squeezed out by information about work, my daughters, and other things that are at the top of my priority list these days.

And, I hate to admit this - I'm getting older. Sometimes I feel it physically, but sometimes it manifests itself in other ways.

I was texting with a friend recently and we were both watching the Red Sox on TV. I asked him if he noticed that each year NESN's score bug in the top left corner of the screen gets harder and harder to read. Why are they making it smaller? I asked. He replied that it's possible it's poor design by them...but it's also more likely that our eyes are getting worse and worse as we get older.

And I sometimes think my memory is going the same way. And I pride myself on remembering. So I work hard to keep that brain of mine sharp. I do crosswords. I keep myself busy with trivial little things like '365 New Things In 2013.'

I bet you were worried if you logged on early this morning and saw there wasn't a New Thing waiting for you when you woke up. I do my best to have these written and ready to go the night before. Sometimes I just get too busy.

But there's no reason to worry all that much.

It's not like I forgot.

New Thing #100: 100 New Things!

I like celebrating milestones. And 100 New Things is a milestone.

My only worry embarking upon this initiative was that 365 seemed like a really big number.

But I'll say this - if it all comes as easily as the first 100 did, we're going to be just fine.

I figure 100 is a nice, round opportunity to take stock of the first 100 New Things.

There are  a few (well, more than a few) things I haven't had a chance to follow up on in the course of these 100 Things. So we can take care of that now:

• It started on January 2nd and continued straight through the end of March: I took a lot more winter walks this year than ever before.
• I did not win the Mets T-shirt contest. Here's who did. It's fine, though. I couldn't make it to that game on Social Media Night anyway.
• Sticking with baseball, I didn't love my tweet-a-day for the month of March way of publishing my baseball picks. Also, by the time I published, for example, my Yankees pick, it was outdated - they had so many injuries I probably would have changed it if possible. But I had already made my picks. I couldn't make changes. No one challenged me on any of them, though, no matter what had happened in spring training. So I'm pretty sure no one was reading them. My World Series pick - Nationals over Tigers - was the same as many of the baseball experts - that's the first time in a few years my pick has been the same as the popular opinion.
• I made a big deal out of the fact that Buster Olney re-tweeted me when that happened. I don't want to make such a big deal out of this, but he also replied to one of my tweets. On the eve of the baseball season I asked him if the podcast would still be Monday-Friday. (Because, as I've mentioned, I don't know how he finds the time to do all of this, and I thought during the season there would be no way he could keep it up.) He responded "Yes..." I, of course, interpreted that ellipse as him thinking, "Why wouldn't it be, you idiot?"
• I don't want to make too much out of this, either - but I was ahead of the curve on the Billy Joel singing with a student thing. That video took off in the week or so after I published it. Maybe I'm becoming a trend-setter.
• Are you listening to 99% Invisible yet? It's really tremendous. It's not entirely about design and architecture...well, it kind of is, but not how you think. For example - episode #28 is about opening credits for movies and TV shows. It's good stuff. And the title? Apparently it comes from a Buckminster Fuller quote, if that means anything to you.
• You may be wondering if I have a favorite New Thing so far. Good question. I do - it's this one.

My friends have commented on my positivity. I'm sorry. I generally like things. My friend Kevin suggested I do a theme week - New Things I Don't Like. I suppose it's a possibility...but first I'd have to start not liking things. Which would be a New Thing in and of itself...so I guess it wouldn't be bad.

Thanks for following along this far - 265 more to go. And I'd love it if this were more of an interactive site - please feel free to leave a comment or get in touch with me another way - I'd love to hear from you and know what you think. Thanks for reading.

New Thing #32: Reflecting On A Month Of New Things

Hi. Still with me?

Thanks for following along.

I thought, after a month of "New Things", it was a good time to stop and take stock of exactly what we're doing here.

Last weekend I asked my wife what she thought of the '365 New Things In 2013' so far.

She wasn't being critical, but she said she thought it would be funnier.

I'll be honest - I think I thought it would too.

I also didn't expect that I'd be so judgmental about certain things (like music....or furniture stores), or that such mundane things as, oh, I don't know, reflecting on a month of New Things could be considered "New".

And I'm OK with the mundane. 365 is a lot of "New". If I sit and think about it too much, I get a little intimidated by the enormity of 365 and the fact that here we are only 32 deep and I'm already venturing into dicey territory with a reflection that I feel is a legitimate "New Thing" but I'm sure many people would argue is a cop out and how in the world am I going to fill out 333 more "New Things"?

And then I stop and think that I've made it to 32 already. I still have almost 50 music entries to write and I haven't even touched on exercise yet and I still have so many more movies I want to watch and places I want to go. I'll be fine.

But I'm still figuring out the writing. It's hard for me not to think you're reading certain entries and thinking, "Maybe I should try that. Does John think I should try that?" That's why I'm turning certain experiences into reviews. But there are certain things that I feel like I'm just experiencing and I'm not judging. But I could review them if you'd like.

So I welcome your feedback if you feel like it. My e-mail is available under the 'contact' tab at the top of the page. You can always leave a comment. Call me. Stop me in person. Tweet me. (And know that I'm aware I could do a better job of taking pictures. I hope that'll get better.)

I'm really excited about this...I'm happy I've made it through a month with relative ease.

I'm about to open this all up to a much wider audience, and I want to make sure the readers are enjoying it as much as I am enjoying the experience of writing about it.

I really do appreciate you reading and caring what I do. In exchange, I'll try to throw in the occasional joke. (Did you see my 'appropriate' puns yesterday?)

Thanks for following along. On to a new month of "New Things".

Good thing February only has 28 days.