Life
is difficult when you have memory difficulties. It may throw minor
problems at you, like combs disappearing from your house, meaning you
go out to buy more, only for one of them to reappear. (Where the
other original one is I still don't know.) Or it could be, you went
for a meal with support group Andy's Man Club, to The Blue Tiffin in Oldham.
You forgot what you ordered, and almost saw your meal go back to the
kitchen when you realised the tandoori mixed grill was yours. Or it
could be more serious ones, like forgetting to move your car so the
council can't resurface your road, meaning your neighbour has to
contact your work's switchboard to get in touch with you, and you
have to leave work to move it. They had sent me a letter. I'd put a
reminder in my phone and paper diary, but of course I didn't see
either of them that morning.
Last
Saturday threw yet another curveball: I'd used up all of my data
about a week prior to this, and my reset time was midnight that
night. I had been in contact with a Meetup group called Socially Awkward,
who describe themselves as 'A friendly, welcoming, non-judgmental
social group for people who struggle with any form of anxiety or
depression.' Sounds great, but they run most of their meetups in The
Moon Under the Water, a chav-laiden hellhole on Deansgate, and a
loud, noisy affair completely unsuitable for people with anxiety. The
group has 7 and a half thousand members, but hardly anyone goes to
the meetups. Obviously, they aren't picking the right venues. In the
group discussion page, I described this to them, and suggested some
street challenges: a chance to practice approaching people and
striking up conversations. We agreed on a time and place- Piccadilly
Gardens at 11am, nowhere near any major shops or bars- and I set off
to meet them.
Of
course, having no data meant I couldn't check the Meetup page, and
Meetup is an 18+ site so local WiFi spots wouldn't let me on. I was
stood right outside the coffee shop meeting point, looking pensive,
looking for other people who might be part of the group. I asked a
few people, but they had no idea what I was talking about. The only
person to approach me was, typically, a drug dealer. Piccadilly
Gardens is a hotspot for this, which is another reason why this area
is not where I would have chosen. I gave up and went home. When I got
back on my computer there were a few messages on the page saying
people had been there, but the rain caused them to cut it short.
None
of them thought to approach me.
Granted,
my data running out was the issue there, and I could have asked for a
member's number so I could link up. But whatever- they could have
organised this a lot better. I won't be involved with Socially
Awkward any more. Even the name carries negative connotations. You
can't walk up to people you don't recognise, and ask, 'socially
awkward?' in the hope that they're part of the group and that they
won't assume you're assessing their character. If I was to start a
similar meetup I'd call it 'Manchester Confidence Building,' or
something else positive- something about where we're trying to get to
and not where we're stuck.
I'm
still using the Xperia X, which is way over 2 years old now. I need
to buy another Xperia, but a lot of them are either out of stock or
have notable faults, like overheating, weak batteries or unreliable
cameras. But the consensus is that people who switch from Sony phones
to Samsung or other brands are usually disappointed, and psychology
professionals have usually advised me to stick to what I know. So
it's looking like the 10, the XZ or the XZ2.
More
psychology-related info next week.
