March mADDness Week 1: ADD Moments

Why should basketball fans have all the fun in March?

You don't need to know your brackets to win some cool stuff this season. All you need to do is comment on a blog post and you just might win a prize! I'll be giving away free products this month, just for the hell of it.

So let's get started...who wants some swag??

March mADDness Week 1: ADD Moments

Prize: An autographed copy of my book, Odd One Out: The Maverick's Guide to Adult ADD

To Enter: In the comments field below, post your best and/or funniest ADD moment. "ADD moments" are those times when your ADD causes a comical or awkward situation.

Deadline: Comments must be posted by midnight EST on Sunday March 9th. The winner will be announced on Monday March 10.

You MUST include your name, email address, and an ADD moment to be eligible for the prize. (At minimum, please include your first name and last initial. Your name will be published, your email address will not be.)

The winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries and notified by email, as well as on the blog.

Good luck!

Comments

[Kat B.]

Yesterday I searched for my keys for 20 minutes. I called my husband to say I would be late and that I was sorry. I was near tears. Then I put my phone in my pocket. Well guess what. My keys were in my jacket pocket the entire time.

[Billy Francis]

Wow I cant believe more people havenot tried to win. Here is my ADD MOMENT.

Has anybody seen that commercial where there is a guy leaving a message for his new girlfirend and he keeps saying the wrong thing and starting over. Well when I was playing the field a long time ago before I married my lovely wife we did not have these luxurys. I called my girlfriend Susan and when she answered the phone I said hello and started talking about LAST NIGHT and how great it was. Silence on the other end. It was her mother. She didnt even live with her mother but her mother was visting and answered the phone. I was horrified and so was Susan and so was Mrs E Susan's mother.

That has to be my funniest ADD MOMENT. Funny now but not then. Of course back then I didnt even know I had it.

Billy in NJ

[Annmarie]

Sometimes, it's like living life with a whole bunch of bloopers. Yesterday I had to dial in to a weekly conference call with my husband and a therapist regarding one of our children. Well, I couldn't find the page I had saved with the dial-in number and access code and it was time for the call. So, I called my husband, who joins the conference calls from his office, twice for the correct dial-in number & code. Meanwhile, 6 weeks ago I had saved the page that contained this specific number and code for the purpose of easy access to these weekly calls. In fact, after last week's call I cut out just the necessary info and taped it to the top of my computer screen right next to a photo of my child!!! I was sitting right in front of the very phone number & access code the whole time!!!! I had been frantically looking for the page in the piles of papers I orignally "filed" it in -- completely forgetting that I'd taped it twelve inches from my face!!! I noticed it there right after we finished the call.

[Be bop anonymous]

Well when I lived in Japan there was no central heating. There was a heating table called a kotatsu that I sat at to keep warm. It wrinkled the clothes terribly so of course in the morning I would just wear my slip and put on my skirt as I was heading out the door.

Of course one day I went out the door without paying attention. I couldn't understand why people were looking at me funny. They often stared at me because I was a foreigner. When I looked down and saw the lace of my slip but no skirt I was mortified but laughed. I had to turn around and take a different bus back home, laughing the whole way.

The Japanese also thought it was odd that I would tell this story on myself shortly after it happened.

[Beth B]

Sorry I just realized I can't quite "be bop anonymous" here.

[Nicole A.]

Ok... let's see. Too many to choose. :)
My most embarrassing moment was probably when I finally mustered up the courage to tell this guy I was interested in that I was... interested. Let's just say I was beyond nervous. That, coupled with the fact that my ADD renders me without a filter between brain and mouth, made this not an easy task. I started off small talking. That went ok, but I was afraid I'd lose momentum. So I moved on to all the things we have in common and how much I enjoy hanging out with him. All that seemed fine.. then I somehow went awry. I heard myself telling this man that when I first met him, I thought he was arrogant. You know, "not in a bad way but in like a I-know-more-about-(this subject)-than-you-and-I'm-not-really-interested-in-your-input kind of way". Yeah, I really said that. I also proceeded to tell him that when we first met I figured he must be gay. I then listed my ridiculous evidence for that assumption. I should clarify and say that's not my style. It was actually something my sister-in-law implanted in my brain and when I heard it coming out of my mouth I was MORTIFIED. I couldn't stop it. It was like watching a car accident in slow motion and not being able to turn the wheel. Luckily, he's all the man I gave him credit for. He was very gracious and understanding. He must have known how nervous I was. We're still friends, I haven't gotten up the courage again to tell him how I still feel about him. I'm working on that filter thing a bit first. I'll keep you posted.

[Penny Orchard]

I work at a retail outlet for eye check ups. Last week, a customer, who is married, and has very feminine qualities, and is really funny, came in to pick up his glasses. I proceeded to tell him how he looked like the cute gay guy on Will and Grace, without even thinking that he may be sensitive about it, and the smile just went off his face, and he left without saying goodbye. I love Will and Grace, but I should have said the guy on "The Bucket List", because that is an excellent movie, too. I was so embarrassed, and I didn't work the next day when he came back, so I couldn't apologize to him either.

[Tammy M]

I was accepted in to a college to study childcare. On march four, 03/04 I received a letter along with some registration forms to send back. The letter stated that it had to be sent back by march twelve, 03/12 or the place will be filled by someone else. No problems there? Well not for non ADD people anyway. In my mind I had thought that it was already past this date and in a panic (worried that I would miss out)rang the college to inform them of 'their' mistake.(who by the way replied by saying they will make a note of it and advised me to send it in as soon as possible). How stupid did I feel five minutes later when I realised that 'I' had made the mistake and in my mind I had confused the day I received the letter (being the 4th ), thinking that it was already the fourth month. Duh!!!
It is still march isn't it????????

[Shawna Dickey]

Prior to my diagnosis, the idea of my having ADHD had not even crossed my mind. I even teach first graders and I fill out the CONNERS forms often. It did not occur to me that my hyper verbal chattiness was a sign, or that having the locksmith help me twice in one day for locking my keys in my car was an indicator....

My funniest moment:
It was a normal Saturday morning at my house. My daughter had a playdate going on and I was determined to be "super mom" flipping pancakes and multi-tasking like a "real mom" does. I threw the pancakes on the griddle, I started the bath water for my son and heard loud scream from the living room. I went to solve the conflict between my (undiagnosed 4 year old daughter) and her little brother. After fixing the DRAMA, I sent her to the basement to play with her guest. Moments later the girls yelled up to me, "Mommy! Emily slipped on the water. We can't play down here because of all this water." I thought, "Water? What water?----I run down the stairs quickly-- I see the bathroom (or should I say I hear the furious dripping from the ceiling) OOOOHHHH CRUDDD!!--I sprint up the stairs to my master bath to find the bathtub has been overflowing for several minutes. The ceiling panels fell in and water was all over my scrapbooking room in the basement (home to all my "ADHD piles"). We have a relatively new home that my husband helped build. I had to call my husband and warn him of what I had done. It was a moment I will never forget--and at the time I could only internalize that I must be a complete dingbat to leave the tub running for that long. Oh, and never mind about those burnt pancakes I forgot about. McDonalds hotcakes anyone?

[AM]

Okay, I know everyone has lost key stories- so not so original. However, I will forge ahead because one such time I lost my keys for 12 hours on the eve of an important work event that involved lots of driving and hauling of stuff in my truck.

The loss involved an UNsuccessful 2-hour search by me, my co-worker and her friend; a 2 am call to my sister to come to my office to help me look; a redistribution of event-related boxes and stuff from the back of my (open bed, thank god) truck to alternate transportation sources; a ride back to my house from sister; and permission to borrow said sister's car in the morning to get to the event.

While at the event the next morning, I found my keys in the FRONT POCKET of the SAME JEANS that I was STILL WEARING from the previous night.

And these were not baggy carpenter-style jeans with 8 pockets. They were your standard low-rise, butt-hugging boot-cut style that really have no excuse to swallow a set of 5+ keys on a full-sized carabiner. For 12 hours.

Postscript: This was before I knew anything about ADD.

[Andy]

Those are all ADD moments to be sure, but I think I can really win this thing....

Right after my wife and I got married, my mother came to visit. That's a great starter line, huh?

My wife had a baby from her first marriage, and the little guy was about 8 months old at the time...well we went to drop my mom off at the airport. I dropped the ladies off at the front and went and parked the car. It was early morning and the weather was perfect...

I parked the car, walked to the terminal and realized BOTH my mother and new wife were looking at me like the world had just ended...

I'm dumbfounded, right? I look behind me to see what was so wrong. There was nothing behind me. When I got closer to them I realized I must've forgotten something....

I forgot the baby.

Well, excuuuuse me! I was new to the whole "don't forget the baby in the car" thing, and he was asleep when I parked.

The blood rushed from my face as I took off in an all out wind sprint back to the car. When I'd run about a mile....no kidding it was about a mile....I realized I'd parked the car in the other direction....

I got to the car, sweaty, out of breath, my heart beating so hard it felt like it would explode! The baby was still sound asleep and everything turned out just fine.

He'll be 14 in July. My wife and I are separated now, but my step-son and I have a great relationship. He's so wonderful to help me get past my ADD moments.

You know what? He still lets me hug him and kiss in on the head when he comes to visit.

It wasn't very funny at the time...but I can say now, it's pretty stinkin' funny! I just wish I could run as long and as fast now as I did 13 years ago!

Peace and love to you all!

Andy