Grocery List

Given my general cockiness, as is common in teenagers around that age, and my gross misunderstanding of the world and problems yet to come, I couldn’t fathom why she needed to write down a small list of 5 to 20 items.

“Why do you need a grocery list, mom? Why can’t you just remember it. MOM? I wouldn’t need a grocery list.”

And that’s the thing. I didn’t need a grocery list. Once I was able to drive, she frequently sent me out to test my grocery-remembering talents.

I specifically remember one time when I went shopping for myself — without a list, of course — and I couldn’t remember the first fucking thing I needed to buy.

I was at the Superindo in Griya Bukit Jaya, Bogor. I wandered probably 3 different aisles, then in whichever aisle I was currently at, I stopped, took out my phone and texted my mom:

“Mom, I do understand now why we have to using grocery lists. Now I get it.”

I had so much going on in my mind that I couldn’t remember what to buy. Amongst the sea of other thoughts in my head, groceries were such a trivial and unimportant thing that it was almost as if my brain decided, 

“Not worth it. Just write it down, you b*tches.”

And so that’s what I had to start doing.

Today, I write down everything. If it’s not something I do every day: writing, exercising, going to work, pooping, and peeing, then chances are I’m not going to remember.

I decided to start putting everything into a notebook or my calendar. Here’s a snapshot from my calendar:

And to everybody else, what weird things do you do to help you remember things? Assuming that you need to as well.