I can't listen to two things at once. I need to turn off the radio or TV when I pick up the phone. I'm also not all that great at processing stuff that I hear -- I need to see something written out if I'm going to understand it. There's a museum in Ireland (Cork, I think -- it's an old prison that they've made into a museum of how horrible the prisons were) where there are no signs, just an audio tour on headphones. I got nothing out of that. Just spent the entire visit totally frustrated with not being able to learn anything.

Back to the bacon vodka for a minute, my band is playing at a bar in Las Vegas in August that evidently makes a bacontini.

Also, I would love a BLT for lunch (but will have the lunch that I brought in my Totoro bento box featuring quinoa salad and succotash made w/ edamame and cherries from the market).

Happy birthday, juliana!

I think almost everything I do is done faster/better if I have music on. I do like to listen to music that I'm very familiar with. A) It gives me a tempo to work to. B) It blocks out other noises. C) My brain focuses on the music and my inner chatter/distractions are cut way down.

I'm this way, too. I think having some familiar noise on distracts the overy-thinky part of my brain and lets the rest of me get on with what we're doing. This may also be why I like having sex with Bugs Bunny or Star Trek on the tv. (What?)

Listening to two people at once is completely beyond me. Cannot do it. Listening to one person at once is sometimes beyond me. It drives my DH crazy, we'll be in the middle of a conversation and I'll suddenly realize that I'm not understanding the words coming out of his mouth, so I'll ask him what he just said and he'll start explaining the concepts and I have to tell him "No, what words did you just say? Say them again but slower?"

I have this problem all the time! I hear "blablablah Friday" and I say "What?" and they say, loudly "FRIDAY!". Oh, that clears it up. Thanks. I taken to just responding to what I think people said, and I know by their expressions if I got it right. Always amusing. Except for the guy I thought said, "Prozac chainsaw!" Still don't know what he really said.

Fat Chihuahua

Lola is five years old and weighs 16.2 pounds. Most Chihuahuas hover between four and six pounds. “I get yelled at on the street,” says her owner, Pamela Arconti, an executive assistant on Wall Street. “She looked good at thirteen pounds. Her clothes fit. After that, I had to get Velcro extensions for her harness. Then the ridicule started.” Lola started developing a weight problem at six months, about the time Arconti began giving in to her constant begging, to the point where Lola consumes a bowl of dry food, a 3.5-ounce can of dog food, two Newman’s Own organic dog treats, a 4-ounce cup of sliced peaches, and assorted scraps of people food per day. “She likes peaches, and so do I,” says Arconti. “We have the same trigger foods.”

I can't listen to two things at once. I need to turn off the radio or TV when I pick up the phone. I'm also not all that great at processing stuff that I hear -- I need to see something written out if I'm going to understand it.

Me too! This is the reason I always have pen and paper with me. I actually got my hearing tested after my brother and my mother complained so much about me mishearing them (and guessing what they were saying). No problems with the ears, just the brain processing.

eta belated thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone! I had a great weekend.

But if somebody says my name, even in a whisper, I'll immediately hear it and respond. Very useful.

I'm forever thinking people (on the street or whatever) are talking to me, when actually they are just saying "Yes" or something. Am I seriously that self-centered that my brain assumes everyone is talking about or to me? Apparently.

Lisah! Where did you get your Totoro bento box and how big is it? I have been thinking of getting one for Casper as a lunchbox for school but all the ones I find seem so tiny.

I often ignore my name. Too many people with the same in college. It was a waste of time.

I can read the paper and listen to the news. But I can't read and listen to lyric-ed music. Certain orchestral pieces can be too distracting. I can't really tune out people talking but I can chose to ignore then. Oh, but I can do math with all of the above going on.

What kind of freaks me out is that I have an easier time listening on the right than the left. Not hearing, mind you, those test equally. But my ability to filter-mentally, background noise, other conversations, mumbled words, etc-is better on the right side.

I have no idea why.

Lisah! Where did you get your Totoro bento box and how big is it? I have been thinking of getting one for Casper as a lunchbox for school but all the ones I find seem so tiny.

My friends sell it at their awesome store:

[link]

I am no good with describing dimensions but it is big enough for me to bring enough lunch to fill me up! It's two containers (one is a bit bigger than the other) and comes with a couple of different dividers and a strap to hold the two together.

An example of a lunch I have brought in it: Big half easily contained a wrap sandwich (made out of a burrito-sized tortilla) cut diagonally. Bottom half fit a half bell pepper sliced, a handful of grape tomatoes, and two good-sized sliced strawberries.

It fits way more than it looks like it would. I got one for my 9-year old niece for her b'day and I got an Hello Kitty one for my 6-year old niece:

[link]

Ability to listen to 2 things at once is largely inherited

Given most people's reactions to this, I guess I understand why the fact I could do this (when they weren't even talking to me) freaked my students out so much.

More importantly,

Happy Birthday Juliana!!!!!!!!!