Why aren't the vegetables helping my BRAIN?

There is some serious malfunction occurring in my brain recently. This kind of thing happened to me on a near-daily basis as a teenager, but I like to think that I've made some progress since then. To say so this week would look like a lie.

Sunday I woke up early and decided to take advantage of the sunshine and go for a walk down the mountain. I took my mp3 player (a relic from when no moving parts was still big news) and the two keys I need to get into my apartment building - one for the outside door, and one for my apartment.

The walk was fantastic - I made it all the way up the mountain for the first time since my return without having to stop and rest. These are measurable, kick-ass results!!! I was practically skipping when I got to my apartment and stuck the key in the door.

Or at least I tried to, but it just...wouldn't....go. It was the wrong key. I had a look at the other key to see if I had been twice-careless or just once over. Definitely twice-careless. I walked to a friend's apartment where we first figured out the Spanish word for locksmith and then found one who was willing to come at nine-thirty on a Sunday morning to jimmy my door open.

The locksmith guy was actually kind of cute. Bonus. He had my door open in under two minutes (which is actually a bit of a worry, right?) but I didn't beat myself up over this, because it could happen to almost anybody.

But twice in three days? Forget it! And I'm ashamed to admit it, but today's locked-out drama was far worse. I didn't grab the wrong keys, I didn't grab the keys at all. I left them at school when I rushed out after a meeting that had gone late. I didn't realize that they weren't in my bag until I got home much later at nine. So, back to my friend's house, to devise a plan. (If she hadn't done the same thing twice last week I might have felt silly, but as it stands, we're even. This is not a contest I want to win.)

In the end, I had to get in touch with the school's physical plant assistant, who in turn contacted the security guard, who opened my classroom for me to collect the keys. And I do not live near my school. My school is located down the mountain, along a highway, then down a windy country road. You don't swing by my school to pick something up, you hail a taxi and tolerate the quizzical looks the driver gives you when you say you want to go to a school in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. (Okay, not the middle of the night, but certainly way past the hour when I want to be out in the street!)

What is wrong with my brain? The portero (doorman/security guard) at the school laughed at my forgetfulness and suggested it was caused by lovesickness. *sigh* Not a chance. Can I still claim chemo-brain? I'm supposed to be in control and making deliberate, positive choices in my life. That's what this whole project is about. No more flailing about mindlessly!!

Breathe...