Why is it very difficult to write a card or letter with pencil or pen without stupid stuff-ups?
Can't even seem to get the address on the envelope right these days if writing by hand.
Putting computer issues aside. It seems that these days that all I am capable of is to write a card or letter on the computer & print it off when I need to send a physical letter, like for a death or other important situation.
Seemed to have lost my brain, hand, pencil skills.
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My eyesight and coordination are deteriorating faster than I expected they would. I guess I'm getting close to the end of the toilet roll of life.
I notice that I'm making many more errors these days. Recently I was thinking of an apostrophe, but I saw a question mark instead. It wasn't until the following day that I detected my mistake.
To keep track of any cognitive decline, I solve the same kinds of timed puzzles on a daily basis, both numeric and verbal. So far I am maintaining a consistent rolling average, but I can often tell when I'm having, or going to have, a bad day.
Edit:
Damn, I did it again. I meant exclamation mark, not question mark.
-- Edited by dorian on Friday 3rd of November 2023 01:05:40 PM
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So it's not just me then! I do crosswords every day to try to keep the old brain active but, of late I find myself wondering if that certain word is spelt with an E or an A and so on.
For a bloke who has always had pride in the fact that I had a reasonable command of the English language I find this disconcerting. As far as letter writing goes, I haven't written one in years but I know that my writing is nowhere like what it used to be.
Not a lot that we can do about it folks. The river Styx is in sight for some of us, I hope that the Ferryman is there I don't fancy swimming.
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I have printed, instead of writing cursive for over sixty years, I originally did it to make my writings legible when done in haste. Great for school and uni.
I used to practice letter formation by; Typing a letter "O" then practice writing my name (12 letters) inside. It's a great trick; used a finely sharpened (pointed) 2H pencil honed on the side of a matchbox, after every letter
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Possum; AKA:- Ali El-Aziz Mohamed Gundawiathan
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Basically I have always written in capitals as my first job was an awful lot of administration & everything had to be written in uppercase for head office for data entry. Even if you got a full stop wrong the form would be sent back to be redone, bunch of A holes!
I find it near impossible to do running writing.
But these days I seem to stuff up uppercase. Maybe I should pick up the pencil a bit more... not that I have a shortage of them lying around, & do an A4 worth of text every week of worthless dribble, like most other stuff!
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Hi all; yes its very hard to day to wright a letter with out having a few drafts first. Even worse when your phone or computer has auto correct and skews the words around some what. To make it even worse is some time you do not find out these little mistakes till it's been posted !!!
-- Edited by valiant81 on Friday 3rd of November 2023 02:20:23 PM
I was never a confident speller, so had a dictionary at hand. I feel auto correct, apart from wrong words, has made my spelling much worse.
The number of mistakes I find after sending is out of hand. If it is a more important letter I waste the paper & print it off, often a number of times.
Amazing what one picks up on the printed copy.
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Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
Change, All the better if its been tried before, do it anyway. Change everything is todays mantra. Especially if it had something to do with the Boomers. This includes spelling and the written and spoken word.
Might I unkindly mention how happy I am to hear that lots of others are experiencing the same symptoms as I.
For several years I have been aware of my gradual cognitive decline, despite getting a perfect score in my annual cognitive tests associated with the driver's licence renewal. I always score 124 or higher (even got 142 a few years ago) on those online IQ tests .. for what they are worth.
Whilst I rarely do crosswords et al, I do read extensively, perhaps 3 or more novels per week.
My cursive handwriting has always been poor & when still working I changed to printing so that others could read my mis-spelt notes and that was about 25 years ago.
After reading this thread I tried to read a page of stuff that I had written yesterday. Unintelligible; but I could still pick up the gist of what I had written, perhaps not possible in a year or so after I have forgotten what I had been writing about.
These days I have great difficulty in forming & expressing my opinions .. something that was once my strong suite. The ideas are there but expressing them in writing or sometimes even in speech is a problem.
About three years ago a Geriatrician diagnosed me as not having any signs of Dementia!
In recent years I have begun keeping a daily diary on our van trips. Looking back at them I find that for the first week or so it is difficult to read, but the writing gradually improves & is eventually quite OK, except of course for the terrible spelling. Thankfully I use Grammarly on my LapTop.
I accept it as part of the ageing process for some (& maybe a lifetime of far too much red wine in my case) but I'm not complaining.
BTW .. If I am writing a card (as I do every XMAS to several close friends/ex-colleagues), I write the message out several times on a notepad before doing the card.
Cant help but reflect on the adage "use it or lose it"
one must continually engage in and practice an ability or risk losing it. Practicing a physical skill such as basketball or golf clearly leads to improved performance, I'm sure the same applies to writing.
I carry a pen in my top pocket and use it frequently.
It's a pointless exercise to write a letter or card mr AP is not the most reliable mob to deliver it, let alone charge like a wounded bull.
About 10 years ago just before I retired, I made a simple choice,, I only communicate by phone or email.
I do use an electronic calender these days only to record events that have or are occurring in the future, if nothing happened then there is nothing written. Like today we moved from CP to another its there, a good example we were in with cheryles specialist he asked when she last had an iron infusion, I went to our calender and gave him the information.
I can honestly say I was much of of a reader or writer during my school years and in my working career, if I could give that task to someone else, until I became a sort of computer geek, writing etc became a whole new world. Spell check was my best friend, I used to reply forum post, first with word and then cut and paste it to the reply box, now I direct entry it and wing it hoping it's all OK.
I think some of the handwritten problem comes simply comes from lack of practice in using one's hand to write.
When I attended university many decades ago, students took lecture notes by handwriting in their books or folders ie before common laptops or tablets. Regularly the long summer vacation could start in October and lecture classes resuming in late February of the following year. Some students did not spend their out of uni time doing any writing.
I clearly remember myself and many other class mates groaning in their exasperation by trying to take handwritten notes during their first few lectures on the return day. Our hand/mind coordination for writing had not been used enough during our holiday. At that time in our lives, I do not think we all had a decline in our mental abilities.
I agree watsea; Both my parents wrote beautiful "Copperplate" cursive letters right up until the end of their lives. In fact my Mother could write with both hands, one forward and the other in reverse (Mirror image).
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Possum; AKA:- Ali El-Aziz Mohamed Gundawiathan
Sent from my imperial66 typewriter using carrier pigeon, message sticks and smoke signals.
