Try This: Chapter 1, part 2

I Don't Remember...

Now go for another ten minutes. This time begin with "i don't remember" and keep going. This is good. It gets to the underbelly of your mind, the blank dark spaces of your thoughts.

*I have copied this from my word document almost verbatim. 

I don’t remember my grandparents. I don’t remember a rhinoceros ever being in my kitchen. I don’t remember what clothes I wore on my first day of school. I don’t remember what it was like to be kissed for the first time. I don’t remember my first bath. I don’t remember a time when I was bored. I don’t understand people who get bored. I wonder if that is how people actually relax… just becoming friends with this “boredom” because I don’t remember ever feeling like I had NOTHING to do. I don’t remember what it was like to try cookie dough for the first time. However, I do remember my mother saying “open your mouth and close your eyes and you will get a big surprise!” and this was usually a spoonful of brown sugar. Or maybe not. I don’t remember my first bunny. I don’t remember why I did not play with it more. I don’t remember why I liked material things as much as I used to. I don’t remember why I acclimated myself with a political party when I knew nothing about politics. I don’t remember why I started to not like the dentist. I don’t remember why I did not like certain people at my elementary school. I know I was just as awkward as they were. One time I even caught myself drooling. I was wide away talking to my teacher and just drooled on myself. I also had a purple rollie backback. Actually it was blue. I was jealous of LIndsays because her’s was cooler. I don’t remember why Morgan and I stopped being friends in the second grade. I don’t remember why I did not try harder in 7th grade. I don’t remember why I was so fascinated by The Sims. I don’t remember why I was so bratty to my parents on my way home from kindergarden. This continues to bother me even today. I insisted on walking twenty yards in front of them. Did I think this made me a grown up? Oh I had so much living to do. I have so much living to do. I don’t remember being in love with a boy I said “I love you” to. I don’t remember why I said it. Actually, that’s a lie. I do. I was afraid that he would see through me that I did not really love him and then stop loving me and at that time in my life I needed his love. I don’t remember what a brussel sprout tastes like. It looks like a small green flower and I would like to like it, but I think my reasoning behind wanting to like the brussel spout is the same as my reason for liking Salt and Vinegar Lays Potato Chips- I need to be different