You know you have ADD when…

There was once an excellent page on the site fdisk.com (yes, the internet is ephemeral) describing Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), linking a subpage where visitors could leave their memories of doing ADD things. Most of the entries were funny, but many were bittersweet. ADD is a genuine disability—both underdiagnosed and overdiagnosed—with a likely neurological and genetic predisposition that can destroy schoolwork, careers, and relationships. It carries an increased risk of depression and even suicide. Although most people experience some of these quirks, clinical ADD is different in kind and degree. It begins in childhood, manifests itself in multiple areas of life, and may persist into adulthood. Perhaps you will see yourself in an uncanny way as you read these.

Here are several hundred curated one-liners from a list (originally a list of thousands):

You know you have ADD when…

…suddenly you realize somebody has been talking to you and you don’t have a clue what they said.

…you get to work and find the remote in your purse.

…you have a cup of coffee at bedtime and get to sleep faster than usual.

…you listen to the same song 12 times because you wanted to hear all the words and STILL have no clue what they are.

…you’re talking to your kid in the back seat for 10 minutes after you dropped him off and wonder why he’s being so quiet.

…you go on the web to find an answer to help your son with his homework and two hours later you have to go and ask what you were looking for

…you find yourself at stop sign and suddenly realize it’s not going to turn green.

…you are stopped at a red light, you push in the cigarette lighter and when it pops out, you **almost ** start to drive off without looking to see if the light has changed.

…at your first ADD group therapy session, as everyone tells of their personal experiences, you find your head is nodding like a hungry parrot’s…

…when you tell others of your diagnosis and they reply, “let me get this right, you’ve got attention deficit disorder AND you’re a flake?”…

…you look one way when crossing the street, then the other, then have to look back again to make sure/cuz you forgot if a car was coming or not

…you could be doing nothing at all but when someone bothers/detains you you get pissed off

…you don’t want to ask a question in class because you’re not sure if the professor just said what you are wondering

…your 3 year old daughter is ready and waiting at the door for you to get it together.

…you realize that you’ve been standing in front of your T.V. set for the last ten minutes trying to change the channels with a calculator

…you get all the way to the vet’s office before you realize that you left the cat in his carrier in the driveway.

…you call your child by the dog’s name, twice in one week.

…while having hiccups somehow your thoughts go off and on in the same rhythm

…you think half of your thought then speak the other half out loud

…you buy something at the store, put it on the hood of the car while you put the baby in his car seat, then drive off with the item you just bought still on the hood of your car.

…being on time means 5 to 10 minutes late.

…you can hear clearly the sounds coming from the TV, the air conditioner, the traffic outside, the birds on the balcony, the refrigerator turning on, the air conditioner clicking off, the kids in the bedroom, the water running in the neighbor’s apartment upstairs, the fan in the CPU…

…your most vivid memory of elementary school is the shape of the windows.

…you go to the store for milk and come home with a weeks worth of provisions.

…people think you’re on drugs when you are not on your medication, and when you are on medication they think you’re normal.

…you keep important things in a place called “It’s in a Safe Place” and you have no idea which one it is.

…you figure you can write a ten page paper, shower, shave, cut your nails, get a hair cut, go to the post office, get gas, in about an hour

…you find the TV remote in the refrigerator AND it doesn’t surprise you.

…when you read in these submissions about balancing check books and suddenly realize what that extra booklet from the bank is

…when you promise yourself to figure out that extra booklet when you get home, but know that you will have forgotten by then…

…when your cat is only used to getting fed on an ad hoc basis

…as you pull into your driveway you remind yourself to bring the groceries into the house and remember them AFTER you’ve gotten undressed, sat down and wondered why you’re so hungry.

…you tell your medication doc about your new career and they stare off into the distance.

…you read your own e-mails to find out what you said.

…you turn off the radio/TV when a really annoying commercial comes on, and half an hour later you realize you forgot to turn it back on again

…you try to lite your cigarette only to find out it isn’t in your mouth and you’re about to set your nose on fire!!!!

…take the leash out without the dog.

…your neighbour downstairs keeps reminding you that you actually live one more floor up.

…you have to check that you brought the right kid back from kindergarten.

…you take your garbage to work.

…you notice every single spelling and grammatical error while reading this page and it drives you nuts.

…you go to pick your daughter up, lock the van and leave it running because the dog is in it, come back out and after checking your pockets, realize you have to call the locksmith because you are locked out. Then, after paying the locksmith, when you go to get in the van you reach into your pocket and pull out the spare key.

…you lock your keys in your car, but this time is is serious because you it was your spare key that you have been using a week because you don’t know where the orginal it. You used to have a spare spare key in your purse, but now you can’t find it either!

…you forget a person’s name a 1/2 sec after they told you

…you can drive and talk, or drive and watch for signs, or talk and watch for signs, but you can’t do all three.

…you go to the school nurse’s office to drop off your child’s Ri

…you accidently push the enter key instead of the backspace one, submitting a half done entry…anyway, you’re dropping off his Ritalin prescription, and start to walk out with the bottle still in your hand. The nurse reminds you. Before you can escape, she asks you if you are going to leave his lunchbag there. You had brought the lunch he forgot, but picked it up again on your way out.

…people who know you and your son have no problem believing that ADD is inherited.

…you choose a really crowded cafeteria in order to concentrate on what you’re reading…

…your children have to point out the fact that you’ve worn the same clothes three days in a row…

…you are playing golf and the foursome in back of you returns your golf club for the third time

…when you’re carrying on a conversation with someone, it ends, and you have absolutely no clue as to what the other person said.

…your best friend writes YOUR doctors appointments on HER calendar

…you are exhausted and can’t wait to get home from work relax, and when you get there, you go to hang up your coat and spend the next seven hours cleaning your closet

…your mom carries a cell phone with 1500 RoamAmerica minutes, and tells everyone that, in reference to you, it’s “cheaper than bail”.

…you get your brother and sister’s names mixed up all the time. they of course, also have ADHD so they don’t really mind

…you notice the box of summer clothes on the kitchen floor, that has been there for 3 months, and you tell yourself you need to finish organizing…only to find that 2 months later it makes a perfect display stand for your Christmas display

…you click on close of the pm that just popped up , and it takes 2 minutes to remember what you were doing and what you were submitting, and the phone rings…

…you are a bus counselor dropping off a camper…so when you reach the kids house, you open ur door, run all the way up the stairs to the door, ring the bell…and realize you forgot to get take the camper out of the car with you…so you ran down the steps really fast, get the kid out while he is laughing at you, run back up, and make it on time…remembering that the kid’s parent would not be home that day and has to be dropped of accross the street!:)

…you call in an answer to a radio show that’s the wrong answer because you only heard part of the question but they put you on the radio and give you a prize because it’s the stupidest answer that they’ve ever gotten

…you tell your friend on the phone to hang on while you fetch a smoke. An hour later you walk passed the phone and wonder why it’s off the hook.

…you stay late at the office to finish your work because you were on the internet all day. You go back on the internet. At midnight you find yourself locked in the building, crawl out the window and jump over a wall that’s too high. You land on your feet but fall over backwards and do a somersault. You’re 40 years old. Your hear a noise in the bushes and think “oh god, I’ve just embarrassed myself in front of a criminal. You sprint to your car and as get there, think “oh god, theres a CRIMINAL in the bushes”. When you get home you’re drenched in blood because you scraped your arm jumping the wall and your shirt is torn. Your husband doesn’t blink an eye.

…you get out of the elevator at the office and say “hey, they redecorated” and a stranger in a suit tells you your office is one floor up.

…you drive home and find your key doesn’t fit the front door lock. After struggling for ten minutes you remember you moved out of that house a month ago.

…you stop playing AD&D and realize that it is three in the morning and not only that, but it’s now the day after Valentine’s day and you soon to be ex-wife was waiting at home with a candlelit dinner.

…on your walk you see a small dog and greet it with, “Hello, Kittycat!” (true story)

…your friend calls you to pick her up because she missed the bus while you’re brushing your teeth and getting dressed and you show up with your toothbrush still in your mouth.

…you rush around the house getting ready to go shopping with your first grader but panic because you went to his crib and you can’t find your year old baby…only to realize after 20 minutes of searching frantically that you are holding him (true story!)

…you are reading a book and your mother asks you to do something and you look directly at her and tell her that you will do it. A half hour later, she asks why you haven’t done it and you have absolutely no idea what in the heck she is talking about.

…while driving your standard car down town during rush hour, you forget what gear your in and decide to make that quick decision…which results in throwing you nearly through the windshield, but does confirm you were in 4th gear.

…you are an attorney trying to a motion (due tomorrow), and you keep finding yourself looking out your 42nd story window wondering what the window washer’s across the way are going to do if it rains.

…you go out to the car to leave for work with your sandals in your hand. You realize you need forgot something in the house, so go back in. While putting the things into a bag, you put your sandals down. You drive to work. Halfway there you realize you are barefoot and your sandals are at home. You can’t be late. You walk into school acking the teachers who has spare shoes. You find someone to loan you a pair (that fit!) but not before your principal sees you and the news hits the teachers lounge and every staff member in the building…true Story!

…you go to your sons parent teacher conference and wonder what the big deal is when she tells you he fidgets, spaces out and doesn’t finish his coloring assignments.

…you show up for your ADD evaluation on the wrong day…the doc was convinced!

…when your husband ask you for an aspirin for HIS headache and you go to the bathroom get the aspirin walk to the kitchen get a glass of water , walk to the bedroom stand at the bedside of your husband and take the asprin yourself. motherbear -six-cubs

…you have 5 black handbags, backpacks, etc each packed with its own set of keys, book to read (all started and never finished), bus fare, tooth brush, and other essentials because you can never find “one” (eventually you do have them all in the same place because you always leave them in your car!)

…your favorite way of listening to the radio is hitting the scan button and listening to 20 seconds of each station

…you owe late fees at the local video store every time you rent a new movie

…your five year old constantly says Hello Mom can you hear me?

…your sister tells you her son (who is 17 and home-schooled) is going to Florida next week with one of his friends(who goes to an “alternative” high school) next week and you ask if it’s going to be for Spring Break and your sister says “In October?” (you really have to think about this, of course, cuz you never remember what time of the year it is!).

…your very with-it and well-organized boyfriend does some insignificant, but thoughtless thing while you are driving both of you in your car, and he says “I’M SORRY, I GUESS I JUST WASN’T THINKING” very innocently and without thinking you say “HEY, THAT’S MY LINE” and then you glance over at him and he’s got this look in his eye that says “I know, I hear it all the time, I just wanted you to hear it for once” and you know that it was intentional as were all the other **INSIGNIFICANT**, FORGETFUL** THINGS HE’S DONE ALL DAY! and he plays “Mister Innocent ‘I-don’t-what-you’re-talking-about’ “ when you call him on it, but of course, that mischievous look in his eye still gives him away, you know how intuitive you are!!!

…you re-read your submissions to this page and can’t believe how you just wish you had never sent them ! ! !

…you go upstairs to get something and at the top of the stairs you forget what it was so you just stand there trying to think of something to carry back down so you don’t look dumb to the rest of the family who is non ADD

…you type a final exam term paper on ADD experiences at the last possible second.

…your career goals are to write a novel make a movie start a business and build a web page-in two months

…you turn on the tv to see what the weather is going to be and at the end of the broadcast don’t remember what the weather is going to be.

…just have to look around the audience and try to make up stories about some of the people there before the speaker puts you to sleep, and while you are making up the plot, you have to laugh out loud and it is at the wrong time, you then feel everyone looking at you and that keeps you awake for the rest of the speech. Some people will come up to ask you what was so funny and you make the mistake to tell them!

…you’re a lawyer, in court, giving the greatest most impassioned argument of all time when the judge interrupts to ask a question and you totally forget what you were talking about, who your client is, and what the case is about and you realize that this is why every lawyer on earth always says “I’ll have to get back to you on that” because you don’t have a clue what the judge just asked you and stalling for time is about all you can do while you look at your notes, find your last point, start talking again and then realize that the judge interrupted to tell you NOT to go there – oops.

…it takes 2 full bottles of oxygen to cut and fit the pipe to build a boat trailer, because you keep forgetting to close the valve on the tank. And the welding supply shop gives you that knowing grin when you show up the next morning with an empty bottle that you just had filled the day before.

…when you go out to water the trees, and then rush to get to an out of town project. Three days later you come home to a lake in the back yard.

…on Christmas morning you stumble over the gear puller. That you used to fix the motor. On the vacuum pump. To finish freeze-drying a deceased pet. For your kid. Who wanted it stuffed and mounted. And it will take another 36 hours to complete the primary and secondary drying process.

…you are a camp first aid officer, and even the ADHD kids have to remind you to give them their medication.

…you get distracted from the very strong intention of cleaning your room to spend 2 hours looking up the worth an outdated Peso coin and several wheat pennies on the internet…and you don’t stop even though all clues are leading to “worthless” …

…you load your car up with prepared foods, serving trays, etc. and speed off frantically to a party (to which you are a host) only to realize and few miles down the road, that you have no idea where the person lives to whose house you are headed. (Sad, but True!)

…your mother eyes you suspiciously and asks if you’ve forgotten your medicine again

…you are going somewhere and you build in extra time for the trip to allow for when (not if) you get lost or make a wrong turn. But you still arrive late.

…after a party, one of the men there comes over to your house, tells you he knows you have a problem here, being a widow and all, and he’d like to help out. You thank him nicely, just the same, and tell him most of the repairing or gardening jobs that need to be done really can’t be done this late at night..

…you specifically go to a restuarant to eat breakfast with your boyfriend because he has a coupon for a free breakfast, and after eating you pay and drive home, only to find that the coupon is still in your pocket!!!

…you hit the submit button 3 times not realizing your comment was submited the FIRST time!

…you learn that abandoning popcorn in hot oil is a bad idea, but makes a neat sound when it bursts into flames.

…you learn that baking soda really DOES put out fires (see popcorn post)

…you throw things out in stages – first by the bedroom door, then the dining room, then the living room. Within a year, you finally throw that lamp away!

…your middle name is “Not working up to potential.”

…you have a sense of humor that could only be classified as “unique.”

…the total # of reading glasses you own equals the # of rooms in your house, purses you carry and cars you drive, multiplied by 3, PLUS the # stashed at friends and relatives houses, and you often can’t locate any of them.

…you get a big box full of post-it pads for your birthday…and you think it is one of the most thoughtful gifts of all!

…you get up out of your seat and start walking around the classroom while the teacher is talking.

…you got out of teaching and into tutoring because you couldn’t handle all those kids talking at the same time!

…you get “employee of the month” at a big company in your first month, then quit the next day.

…you can tell where you’ve done home improvements because there is no paint or trim.

…your plumber calls YOU (he feels sorry for your mate) to remind you to turn of the ouside water source before the pipes burst (again) in sub-zero weather.

…you find ‘umpteen’ scraps of paper with numbers written on them, but with no names. You call one of these on impuls and hear: “Hi! I was wondering when you were going to call!” and you still don’t have the foggiest notion of who it could be!

…your house is in a mess, yet you know where NOT to look for something, because you wouldn’t have put it in that one particular mess, and it is indeed, very logical to you.

…you personally own every known time management system ever sold.

…you go to tell a joke and people look at you funny because you include other topics that have no bearing with what you are trying to say…

…you go for your doctors appointment and find out it is not until the following day. Then get mad at yourself for not writing down the appointment date in your daytimer, then upon checking your daytimer, you did write it down. Your appointment was for the following day.

…you can’t think of a submission to add to this list because you pretty much covered my whole life here

…first places you look for your keys and wallet is in the bathroom, in drawers, and the refrigerator.

…look at your watch to see what time it is and then not even a second later someone asks what time it is and you have already forgetten so you look again at your watch but by this time ( feeling stupid and yelling at yourself for making a fool out of yourself) you forget that someone asked what time is was and never tell them.

…the school has you on speed dial because you keep forgetting your kids.

…you know none of these entries are made up because they have all happened to you.

…you don’t seek treatment because you are terrified the doctor will tell you you don’t have ADD and you really are just lazy, disorganized and incompetent.

…you’re on the phone with your boss, checking your voice mail from the fax phone, reading your emails, with the game on TV and your wife comes home and asks if you’re busy and you say “NO.” PLOG

…when you’re typing and you spell words wiht, hvae, teh and leave out words in a sentence because your mind is faster than your fingers.

…your daughter is reading her homework question to you after you agreed to help and when she says, “huh, mama” for the umpteenth time, you realize you completely missed what she said because you were counting how many seconds were passing in between your dog’s snores.

…your husband’s asked you for your opinion but you were too busy counting the kitchen tiles, the same ones you count every time he answers your “How was work hun?”.

…you are driving down the road deep in thought (of course) and you suddenly have absolutely NO CLUE where you are, or where you are going. Panic for a moment, then decide the best course of action is to keep driving since you might actually recognize something eventually.

…you have piles of papers, books and magazines on nearly every flat surface in your house, but this is your method of organization and you can find anything you need cause you remember which pile it is in much to the frustration of your non-ADD spouse who is driven to distraction by the piles and doesn’t understand WHY you just can’t throw the stuff away (It’s important…you might need it)

…when you are going down the street, (trying to stay focused) repeating to yourself “I need to turn right,I need to turn right”, and proceed to turn left.

…you are in a hurry, so you decide to use the drive-thru at the bank to make your deposit. When you get home, the bank calls to tell you that you don’t have an account there. (true story)

…you had to scroll down to the end of this list so you wouldn’t forget to add the addition you thought up halfway through it, then scroll back up and promptly forget where you stopped reading, so you start from the top again.

…you have to write your homework assignments on your hand just to remind yourself to look in your organizer so you don’t forget what your homework assignments are, but you know you won’t do half of them anyway, so what does it matter?

…you can’t get through a movie without rewinding it fifty times because you keep zoning out and miss the good parts…

…you tell your daughter you are going to cook dinner. She comes to the kitchen 30 minutes later to find out what happened to dinner, sees dinner half-prepared, and finds you in the back yard planting a tree (that had been in its nursery container for a year already).

…you wish you could get the email addresses for everyone making submissions to this list, because you thought you were the only one who did things like this every day of your life.

…the only people you’ve ever had a “normal” (to you) conversation with have been ADD.

…you are speaking to someone in a foreign language and inadvertently switch to another foreign language midsentence.

…you have looked up all the home tips and have a collection of “how to get pots and pans clean after scorching them”

…you hit the ‘cancel’ button if a web page takes more than 5 seconds to load

…you empathize with people who tell you they think they have Alzheimer’s

…you have to take 2 birth control pills because you forgot yesterday, and realize when you open the pack that you have actually forgotten for 5 days.

…you get depo provera shots because you can’t remember to take your “daily” birth-control pill. You miss the appointment for your shot, and remember it a month later! When the doctor says your pregnant with twins!

…due to numerous distractions, you have to make mad dashes to make it to the bathroom in time.

…your doctor tells you after 42 years of hell that women do, indeed get ADHD, which you suspected all along, and your mother throws her arms around you and you both cry because you both always knew you didn’t mean to be such a flake all your life. 😦

…your 4 year old ADD son has to say “mom” ten times before you hear him, and you find yourself saying his name ten times to get his attention later…and you are ANGRY

…you have portable stereo blaring in your ears at work and you get more done than without the music/ noise.

…you go to work and have twelve things to do but four people ask you questions the instant you walk in the door, leaving you so confused that you get *nothing* done for the rest of the day.

…you’ve ever yelled at your attention span

…you forgot why you’re at this site…reading ADD jokes…

…you write a statement (like the one above), you leave out whole words, and then when you re-read it to make sure it’s correct, and still don’t notice the missing word until it’s been posted. (And I almost posted this one saying ‘right’ instead of ‘write’ and if I hadn’t been so careful to TRIPLE check since I was writing about mis-writing, I would have missed it)

…when your husband gets left sitting on the toilet for ten minutes after asking you to get him some toilet paper. Somewhere along the way you get sidetracked and forget about him. As you remember and bring it to him, he looks at you and says, “It’s ok I knew at some point you would remember”

…you unwrap a piece of chocolate, throw the chocolate away and put the wrapper in your mouth

…you get out of bed when your almost sleeping because you don’t remember where your keys are and don’t want to be late the next morning, you find them and go to sleep, the next morning your late because you cant remember where you put them when you got out of bed

…you are leaving for a wonderful vacation in sunny Mexico and when you arrive at the airport, you realize you have forgotten your ID and they won’t let you get on the plane and your family leaves without you!!

…your analyst suddenly discovers that he now needs an analyst…

…your can’t even communicate with your invisible friend

…you haven’t filed your taxes on time in five years. You have even filed two years of taxes in one year because you missed a year.

…your best one-liners are when you’re being totally serious.

…your fantasies are so complicated you know each characters entire background, how they relate to each other, their hobbies, what they sound like…but can’t remember your own phone number!

…you’re standing in line to receive some award and have to say your name over and over again in your head because you know you’ll forget it the second the guy announcing names asks for it.

…you can never tell if you are putting your shirt on backwards because you had to cut the tag out (very irritating, those tags!)

…you have a hole in your sock & it’s ALL you can think about ALL DAY LONG

…you go to party , drink nothing and every asks how much have you had to drink? I think I need to call you a cab

…you go to starbucks and order a tripple espresso just to relax

…your reading this page laughing hysterically and have things for work that need to get done by tommorow..thats allready 3 days late

…you read a book completely, from front to back – for the first time in years – a book called “Driven to Distraction” about adult ADD.

…you start working on resolving things once you start Ritalin, and in your enthusiasm, you are EARLY to everything…annoyingly early, often by a day (presentation with boss) or a week (mother’s day).

…you have to carry an extra car key in your wallet because you regularly leave your keys in the ignition and lock all the doors.

…you are living in an apartment even though you earn enough to buy a house. You can’t get a mortgage for less than 13% because you haven’t filed your taxes in 8 years, have no idea where your records are, and your credit rating stinks because you forget to pay bills even when you have money in the bank.

…your constantly putting your little boy’s shoes on the wrong feet!

…you are printing these pages to take to your psychiatrist and therapist to prove to them you have ADD. Why? Because when they ask you why you think you have it, you don’t remember!

…you hear this high pitched squealing and realize you forgot to take out your hearing aids before getting into the shower

…Vivarin works better than Unisom for those sleepless nights.

…a full liter of mountain dew or dr. pepper and a large hershey bar help you get to sleep.

…you walk away in the middle of conversations and don’t even know it

…everytime you go out with a friend and come home when your house comes into view you see your car in the driveway and wonder who is there

…you get in the car (in the garage), go through the whole process of checking to see that you have everything you need, hit the garage door opener, and then back out INTO the garage door because you didn’t notice that it was already UP, and you punched the button to make it go DOWN.

…you’re in high school gym class, standing on base, when the ball is hit you make a mad dash for home plate, as you cross the pitcher’s mound realize you were on 2nd base instead of 3rd. (the rest of the team was hysterical)

…you look through a prospective new house, and because you get caught up with the whole thing you forget to go upstairs. Totally. Never saw it. Have to make another appointment to see it in order to go upstairs.

…you get to work and find the turtle in your purse.

…you start the Book Driven to distraction, it brings you to tears, but you just can’t seem to make your way to the end…

…wellbutrin doesn’t give you the shakes, it makes you sleepy instead…

…people are constantly asking you to find things (stapler, calculator, etc;) at work cause you’re naturally attracted to shiny objects

…you’re best friend is 2-year-old (you’re 25), cause you have SO much in common

…move out of your parents’ house (for the 3rd time), and you ‘look-up’ to your younger roommate —

…your boss offers you a half day in thanks to your recent hard work, and you immediately wonder why he is trying to get rid of you and what you may have done wrong. It never occurs to you that when he says “thanks for doing such a good job” he means it.

…the only people that seem to understand you are stoners.

…your electricity gets turned off for nonpayment and the money order you bought three weeks ago to pay the bill is still thumb tacked to the door post so you’ll see it on the way out

…you have one phone line, talking to a friend, and in mid-conversation (while you’re the one speaking) unplug the phonecord to put in the computer and wonder why your friend does not respond (done it twice)

…in order to stay awake at work, you amuse yourself by coming up with brilliant ideas about books you’ll write, inventions that will help humanity, etc. — every one of them brilliant, but after about 5 minutes, they become boring, you pick them apart for flaws, then get back to work because there’s nothing better to do.

…when it’s your turn at the bowling alley you throw the ball the first time, then someone has to remind you that you get to throw it a second time.

…your kids think nothing of watching you break a window to get in the house.

…your neighbours no longer looked shocked at the sight of you trying to fit through the cat/dog door because you locked yourself out of the house.

…you drive away with your organizer on top of your car. You don’t answer the phone calls from the lady who found it, because you don’t recognize her number, and she might be a bill collector. When she finally gets through, you realize that you haven’t seen your organizer for days!

…you smoke only because you have to be doing more than one thing at a time.

…you call in to get another prescription, ‘cause you lost it (again), your Doc makes you come in because he is “concerned” that you are abusing your meds, does a tox screen doesn’t find a trace of anything. While you explain that, yes, this did happen a few months ago and that you really like his tie, but just now got around to telling him about it. He immediately refills your Adderall, ups the dose, and refers you to a “specialist”.

…you are really “on”, the life of the party and everyone is laughing at your jokes and as soon as you get home you spend all night wondering if you made a fool of yourself (again)

…your adult daughter is diagnosed with ADD, and since she’s just like you, you have a good idea where it came from, and you spend hours with her laughing hysterically, yelling “so THATS why you…”

…you realize that the last submission on here was actaully WRITTEN BY YOUR MOTHER!!! (I love you, mom!!!)

…whenever anyone says anything you say “What?”

…when you measure a teaspoon of dog wormer, and realized you gave [it] to one of the children.

…your wife yells at you “turn the tv down!”, and you say I can’t hear it for the heat pump, the dishwasher, the refrigerator, the dog barking, you running the tub, and the car coming around the corner a 1/2 mile away.

…you start frying bacon on the stove, you hear the paperboy drop the paper on the front porch, you get them paper, sit down and start reading it, smell something burning, put down the paper and realize the room is full of smoke, call 911 and panicked can’t remember your address or phone #. while you’re talking on the phone to the dispatcher, you get the fire put out, but tell them to hold on while you get another call on call waiting…true story

…you smell something really bad in your bedroom only to discover the baby’s diaper under the bed from the time you were changing her and she spit out her binky, it rolled under the bed and you left the diaper there when you retrieved it. The worst part is you can’t remember when it happened.

…after pouring sugar and creamer in your coffee, than throw away the full cup, take the empty with you, as you walk out of the covenience store, without paying for the coffee, on your way to work.

…you show up at your friend’s house and he is still on the phone with you. You still don’t understand until he tells you “You told me to hold on a second and never got back on the phone”…click.

…you drive to the local shop, walk back to your home, go inside busy yourself with numeous things, look out the window and panic because you think someone has stolen your car.

…you work at a job for 2 years, fail to be on time the whole 2 years, and you only live 10 minutes drive away from the job, they sack you and you get angry at them for being unfair. (Sad and pathetic true story folks).

…you go to B&Q to buy a Christmas tree and come back with a packet of fuses

…you turn on the oven, forgeting that it has to be lit, then your boyfriend reminds you it has to be lit, but you forget that it’s been on for like a minute, and get 2nd degree burns all over you face and hands.

…you pull over on the highway to help another motorist, then realize you lock the keys inside, with the car running, and you stand there and watch it run out of gas.

…before every semester, you spend a good week debating with yourself whether to go with spiral or three ring, knowing deep down that it doesn’t really matter since the whole system will probably fall apart in a few weeks anyway.

…Concerta gives you A NEW LIFE without mid-day dosing to remember! Whoo-hoo!

…you constantly re-rent movies, forgetting that you’ve already seen that one…(true! one I re-rented TWICE!)

…you start to talk to your roomate about the weather conditions outside (which happen to be sunny); this leads to your remembering the beautiful sunny days at the beach last year, so you start to talk about that. This leads to remembering the seashells you collected at the seashore that year and you then launch off into a fantastic oral description of the beautiful color of the collected seashells which in turn makes you realize that all your colored laundry still has to be washed (usually you forget to put soap in the washer) and then this very creative monotone is brought to a wonderful finale by trying to remember what you were originally talking about in the first place!!!???

…because your impatient with the speed of your computer, you hit so many control and instruction keys that now your computer has ADD

…you sweep the floor and empty the dustpan into the washing machine

…you remember you are on empty, go to the gas station and put the hose in the tank, realize it is pay first, go pay for the gas then jump in the car and take off. Hearing that “clunk” sound stop to see the hose is spraying gas everywhere. Go into gas station and tell them to shut off pumps and admit you did it. Later at home, boyfriend wants to know why you didn’t go ahead and get the gas you paid for

…you are listening to someone talk and you are thinking of something else and you can’t wait for them to shut up so you can go do something else.

…you call the police to report your car stolen, only to realize (too late) that you parked it one space over.

…when your Father-In-Law without a moment of hesitation or discussion jumps into his car and drives 20 miles in the worst snow storm in 20 years to pick-up your medication for you.

…your 5 year old son interupts you making a “to do” list to say that your truck is running and you realize you started it 2 hours ago to warm up and came in to say good bye to your wife (true!!)

…you have two months to buy a wedding present–six hours before the wedding, you’re counting on your ‘not so great’ art skills to make a card and stick a fifty dollar bill in it, hoping that no one will notice (ya, right:(

…you ask your friend’s kid if he has seen a recent movie, and he says yeah, I went with you.

…as your teenage ADD son is struggling trying to finish reading a novel for school, you want to help him out with a term paper he has to prepare (he chose to do it on the ADD subject); but while looking for information on ADD through the Internet (you started Saturday at 9:00 p.m.), you have somehow jumped from neuropsychology, to pets, to gardening, to movies, to excercise websites (and read them), and as you finally noticed that you are “waaaay out of track” on what you were supposed to be doing (looking for information on ADD), you have found this page and can’t stop reading all these “You know you have ADDs..”, and it is already 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, your falling asleep, you know your son won’t finish the remaining 10 chapters of the novel unless you read them to him, even if you dream that someday he could finish on time by himself, but you couldn’t help getting so distracted, and as usual, you couldn’t finish quickly what you started, you haven’t done what you were supposed to (getting information on ADD), and while you were reading this page thinking you would read things that relate to your ADD son, you realize that most relate to YOURSELF! –Trust me, this happened to me right now.

…you take the kids to work because you forgot to stop the car and let them out at their school when you drove by it

…you come home from school and see your parents sitting at the table waiting for you. Before they say anything, you see what’s on the table, and remember…this morning, on my desk, was gonna put it away…oops.

…you put something in a “safe” place . . . . . . so safe you can’t find it . . . . . . until, of course, you’re looking for something else.

…your family (the Smiths) has so many undiagnosed ADDers in it that wildly changing conversational style has come to be called a “Smith switch”.

…your brother locks his keys in his STILL RUNNING car. (Yes, ADD is genetic!)

…you are “cleaning” for weekend company, lighting candles in each room when it is “clean”. On the way downstairs to light those candles, you pick up the kitchen trash to take it to the garage. Two days later, your husband can’t find the candle lighter. After 20 minutes of searching, you find it in the trash in the garage.

…you have given up and decided to use the handy pre-addressed, blank Thank You notes (from last summer) as bookmarks in the twelve ADD books you are reading.

…you drive to your previous home forgetting you have moved.

…you arrive home with your baby in the car seat but the nursery case on the hood.

…your students dread asking questions in lecture, because your answer is longer than the lecture

…after FINALLY going on Ritalin, you buy your wife a Valentine’s day card early, and then forget to write anything in it until 11pm on the 14th

…your dissertation committee cannot understand why you can explain your dissertation in detail, but cannot write it down to save your life.

…or for that matter why every essay you hand in has typos (like your posts) although you speak four languages fluently.

…there is a large sign on your ventahood that says “If you see your mother attempting to cook, please STOP HER” or smoke alarm will go off. – And it’s been there for 15 years.

…you open your microwave and find the coffee you had re-heated from 2 days ago.

…one morning to are about to put breakfast in the microwave…only to find last night’s dinner already in there!

…you go to take your tea from the microwave, only to find your cup of tea that you made before and never drank…no wonder you’re always thirsty…

…your friends CRINGE at the thought of attending a family party – cos while they;re used to you, a whole house full of brothers, sisters. aunts, uncles, cousins, parents & grandparents with the same thing is just too much for them to deal with!

…your cats and dogs live far longer than your houseplants because the animals complain when not fed/watered.

…you can’t have a pet that doesn’t ask LOUDLY to be fed…fish don’t live too long around here!

…you forget that you were only gonna have 2 kids because of the threat of bad genes and instead have 4 kids and now you ALL have it…

…you take a test to see if you have ADD and you score 83 out of 100…and all you can think about is who else in the family you can send this test to because every question reminded you of somebody…

…you can carry on 6 different conversations with 6 different people at the same dinner table, and everybody is looking at you like you’re nuts!

…you have no idea when you last period was, or when your next one will be, because in time you go from the bathroom to the calendar to mark it down, you have no idea why you’re standing in front of the calendar. Repeat this 4 x a day for 5 days until it’s a moot point again til next month.

…people get annoyed with you for having no patience, but you really only want the answer NOW because you will forget the question in another minute…

…you feel like you’re “bluffing” your way through your job & that if people knew how much you miss, you’d be out on your ear, & that it’s only your ability to get the gist from very little that keeps you looking like you know what you’re doing!

…you can carry on conversations with all the people in your family at the same time, and other people don’t seem to be able to do this with their families…they all actually listen to what the other person has said, and then think about what they are going to say, and then pause to make sure the other person is not gonna start speaking again, before they even OPEN THEIR MOUTH. Highly inefficient if you ask me. My family can cover dozens of subjects in a single sitting!

…go fold laundry while the water boils on the stove, forget about the stove, start watching TV, fall asleep, & set the kitchen on fire. Thank God for alarms!

…you are a teenager and your friends ask you to try drugs, and you say “No, thanks! I’m weird enough already!”

…your mom tells you that your big sister is gonna ask YOU to be Godmother for her first child, and it’s a very big deal, and when she asks you, you better act real excited about it. After she leaves, your mom gets mad at you and says I TOLD you to act excited! and you don’t have the foggiest recollection of her EVER having asked anything about it at all…even though Mom claims you accepted! thus earning you the lifelong monniker, Debbie Dumbbell.

…you take a test to see if you’ve got ADD, the key says if you have over 30 you have it bad and your score was 95!

…you get one of those electronic organizers and leave it sitting on it’s cradle at work.

…you have winter guard practice, and you are excited that for once you’ve arrived early, only to figure out (after nobody shows up) that you’ve gone to the wrong school…and you end up being 30 minutes late.

…your class notes are covered in doodles and few actual notes.

…your boyfriend complains that you never listen and you try to explain that you heard everything he just said…you just don’t remember any of it.

…your office looks like a tornado hit it…twice, but still folks think you’re SOOO organized because of all the techniques you use (online calendars, horizontal files (lots of ‘em) etc…

…your boss keeps saying that you need to “focus.” (Duh…)

…you’re afraid to get married because of the fear of eventually getting bored with your spouse…

…you’ve said that you’re going to go back to school for an advanced degree…at least 10 times a year during the past 10 years.

…folks are amazed at the number of windows you have open on your desktop.

…you make a call to a friend’s office, his secretary asks “Who is calling?” and you can’t remember your name.

…you make a call to a friend’s office, and you can’t remember HIS name.

…you can’t remeber your very best friend’s name.

…you can go out the night before and hide your own Easter eggs and not manage to find most of them the next morning.

…people are amazed at how many icons you have on your desktop

…on the rare occasion, when attempting to clean house, you do end up with a clean spot…suddenly you see an invitation to begin a new project in that space.

…you are a paramedic that, after being shot at, has the most odd sensation of calmness and mental clarity.

…it’s Passover so you go up to your room while eating matzah then you get a phonecall and forget all about the matza you left sitting on your bed. Then after your seder when you stumble into your room at 1 in the morning you hear something crack as you lie down and realize it’s the matzah, you get up to clean it off your bed and notice how disorganized your drawer is starting to look and start cleaning…your entire drawer out…at 1:00 AM…then yoour so tired when your done you lie down to go to sleep and lie on the matzah once again…what ME? ADD? -Mallory

…you walk into your boss’ office door (literally…bang!) with him in there…and he doesn’t even blink an eye (he’s seen your kluttziness before).

…you burn supper and then blow up the plate with burnt food on it by leaving it on a burner on high!

…you have to work really hard not to talk about work, inlaws, the weather, or T.V…while in the middle of sex.

…you enter in a big dialogue (monologue) than you remember you have to focus continuing making love with your husband

…your best thinking is done while having sex.

…you feel like the world’s number one champion of beginner’s luck. You seem to excel in everything in the first few tries–surpassing or at least equalling others who have been doing an activity for a long time–yet you almost always seem to get worse and worse as you gain experience. The idea that you’re simply bored with doing those activities and should give them a rest doesn’t cross your mind for most of your life.

…you have almost zero self-esteem as others keep on asking why you don’t live up to your potential, not realizing that you have moved on, and nothing it takes a hell of a lot of concentration on your part to pay attention. Not to mention that following the “proper” procedures tends to, more often than not, simply make things worse.

…the above post (“zero self-esteem”) sounds as if it should have been written by me.

…you, want to send copy of this to everyone You know, then realise if isn’t funny, Unless you’ve gotten some help…and cannot print 45 pages to add to other piles that do not solve it either…but REALLY want to!

…you take a test for add.. score positive for 17 out of 20 and thought your score was going to be low since you lied and answered no on three questions

…you jump out of your car to get something and you look back, and think someone is stealing your car, when you actually forgot to put it in park. (True)

…you are scrolling through this list looking for the mesages you put up a few months ago, and while looking see some you don’t remember, so of course now you have to read the entire list again. Even though you check it almost every day.

…you have an essay and 2 research papers due the next day and instead of working on them, here you are…

…you are talking to a friend while driving and run a red light and there’s a COP 2 lanes over, but he must have add too because he didn’t notice!

…if this a humor page – why am I crying??

…you’re walking across the office in the middle of the day when your Ritalin wears off – and you stand for 10 min trying to remember who/where/why you are.

…you want to give the person (who asked why they were crying if this was a humor page…) a great big hug…and reassurance that they are definitely NOT alone! (Welcome to the club!!!)

…you get mad enough to chew nails when some (who is definitely not ADD) claims that ADD is a made up “disorder” and that we all just want to be “lazy” and “get high” on Ritalin. (Shows what linear thinkers know about non-linear thinkers…absolutely nothing!)

…you look at your watch ten times until finally you decide just watching it is not engouth and that you need to read the time it says.

…you realize…that other ADDers…tend to use the three little dots…that I’ve over-used in this sentence…because we always have more ideas to say…and we don’t have time to figure out the correct way to punctuate…and we might add more later…:) …

…you lock your keys in your car, smash the window to get them and suddenly realise you keep a spare key in your inside pocket.

…you lock your keys in your car, smash the window to get them and suddenly realise you keep a spare key in your inside pocket.

…you click the “submit” button twice like that idiot above (me)

…you meet other ADDults and find you have LOADS in common — but think they are weird

…you have to take off your watch and rings while studying because they are distracting.

…you think you’ve been doing really well at work, but then you find out you’re in trouble for all kinds of “nit-picky” stuff.

…when you ask your 16 year old, if he has seen your 5 month old’s pacifier & he says “oh my god! It’s in your mouth mom” & lauffs at you for hours!

…you’re nearly 25 and you’re still attracted to shiny, glittery things!

…you search everywhere for the remote control, then you look in the refrigerator…and there it is.

…it seems that all of your friends are also “misfits” where you work. (And you consider all the other people just plain “weird.”)

…you think you have no pens…until you clean up…then you discover that you could have your very own stationary store.

…finally, somebody suggests you read “Driven to Distraction”…but…your attention span is not good enough to actually FIND it on the bookstore shelf.

…the library has a bounty out for that overdue book that you meant to bring back LAST year.

…you read this list and realize it sounds just like you!

…you go to a concert, make friends with security so you can go backstage and then have to explain to security and cops why you have to wait for the entire parking lot to be empty in order to find your RED car so you can go home (true story, circa 1981).

…your backpack weighs 20 pounds but you have no idea whats in there bc everything you nead for class is of course in your locker

…when you print out A.D.D. articles that describe exactly how you feel, hoping others will read them, drop everything and devote their whole existence to helping you find the right doc & meds…(sure…)

…you tell your 1st grader not to catch the bus, that you’ll pick her up at school, then you forget until the teacher has your office page you an hour after school is out to say your child’s still in the classroom waiting for you. She’s in the 6th grade now and I still feel guilty!

…you get a prescription of dex from your pediatrician so you can stay awake to study-it’s 1969, your freshman year in college and you make dean’s list the only time ever, and don’t find out why it worked until you’re 46 and diagnosed ADHD!

…you leave to go to your 52nd job in 30 years, only to realize you’re on the route to the 51st job which you quit 3 months ago!

…you’ve been on this job for 8 months, and YOU’RE PROUD OF YOURSELF!

…you check your car’s oil, notice it’s below the L mark even with the engine hot, eventually find the oil cap, unscrew it, and add 3 quarts to your engine and start it. Not long after, the gas station attendant points out that you might want to screw the oil cap back on.

…you’ve run out of business cards because you’ve used them for those phone #’s with no names,bookmarks in your self-help books, and lipstick blotters which are now all over the floorboard in your car!

…your friends are convinced that you are homeless, because your car and office are so FULL of STUFF…(and that you won’t let them come see your home, because it’s even worse).

…you have pointed out the irony that you play AD&D and you are ADD five times to your friends in the past hour

…your best friend describes his worst day ever and you wish you could have such a calm day

…every night you have a nightmare about teacher/parent/boss saying “I know you could do better if only you would try a little harder”

…you sit down in your sixth period class. You wait. No one comes in. You panic — WHERE IS EVERYONE? The bell rings. You are still alone. Then it hits you. It is fifth period, you already walked by the fifth period classroom, and you did the same thing yesterday. So now you have to explain to your english teacher — again — that you’re late — again — because you forgot about his class entirely — again. He threatens to medicate you.

…you lose your adderall perscription on the way to the pharmacy. Twice.

…you’re telling the shrink why you think you have ADD and he has to constantly redirect you because you lose your train of thought because you were staring out the window

…when you have been repeating to yourself “must not forget bike” for the past 20 minutes and wind up walking home, waking up the next morning and wondering who stole it.

…late one friday afternoon you think you may have locked your keys in your car,because they’re not in your purse. so you contact the dealer about making a new set, they can’t because it’s close to closing time, so they give you a loaner car for the weekend. during the weekend you find your own car keys in a pocket in your purse, by the time the weekend is over you have lost the keys to the loaner car and they never want to loan you a car again. (true story) 2antzy

…you can never remember to go to bed when you’re tired because it makes you distractable.

…when you’re playing basketball and you constantly have to remind yourself which basket you’re supposed to shoot at!

…you read all this, you recognize yourself, but not in all of them, and get paranoid and think that maybe you’re not adhd but only lazy, and now you’re confused and feel bad about yourself.Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!

…your concept of time includes “NOW” and “NOT NOW”. “NOT NOW” means “NEVER”.

…you write down your answers to the yes-no quiz in Driven To Distraction, and bring them to your psychological examination, but fail to bring the book, so all you have to show the doctor is a sheet of paper with yes’s and no’s all over it. (I swear, that alone guaranteed my diagnosis!)

…you are unable to read the next line without re-reading this one just one more time, (and the same for the next?).

…let the laundry machine start filling up while you go collect the clothes (which are scattered all over the room), and two hours later you happen to go through the laundry room and realize the machine went through the whole cycle with no clothes in it.

…you freek out when your 11th grade AP English teacher tells the class to not worry, becaus she only takes off pionts in our riting for mispelling “common” and “easy” words or for mixing up words like “there” and “their.”

…you notice every single spelling and grammatical error while reading this page and it drives you nuts. [gee, I was just fixing them as I went along]

…you put your hair in a cute bun with a pencil, ten minutes later you can’t find the pencil, and later on that evening you discover where that pencil went.

…you’re always paranoid that you forgot something when you didn’t forget something, but not paranoid about forgetting something when you actually did forget something.

…you have the kind of ADD that is more common in girls (you’re polite, shy, and not hyperactive), and your boyfriend is ADHD (talks too much, outgoing, and hyperactive), but somehow you manage to get along because you can understand each other.

…after a day at the beach, you put the cooler filled with half eaten food in your trunk, completly forget about it once you get to your house, and two weeks later, wonder, whats that smell?

…you know from experience that stepping on your laptop is very expensive, but stepping on your hotsych cradle *really hurts*. And both still live on the floor when all the other surfaces are full.

…you keep sets of car keys IN the car. That way, you may have to break the window, but at least you can start the car.

…submit 15 entries and then read the directions that say “please limit submissions” – SORRY :{

…you don’t have ANY cocoa to make a chocolate cake with, so you decide to make chocolate brownies instead, and you have everything in the bowl, when you finally realize, you STILL don’t have any cocoa.

…you attach your pager to your keys so that when you lose your keys you can page yourself. (Hope you remembered to put in new batteries!) [hey that’s a *great* idea! -ed.]

…you set a kitchen timer to remind you to turn off the sprinklers, realize you forgot something in the other room, get distracted, come back hours later, the timer has dinged and the front yard is washing down the driveway!

…you spend hours and tons of money downloading and printing craft ideas off of the internet, knowing that even if you get around to finding the supplies, you will never finish the project.

…you have a separate room just for all those great projects you spent money on, started, and then forgot.

…your house is spotless, it’s midnight, your term paper is due at 8:00 am, and you stop to dust that last book case before you get started working.

…you get annoyed when people speak/type/drive/ANYTHING too slowly.

…you’ve learned to recognize the glazed look on your friend/partner/child’s face that means you are saying something you just said two minutes ago and forgot. Even worse, you can’t remember the end of the story/joke/complaint/question goes, and…i’m sorry what was I saying?

…you print this entire thing on 3 hole punch paper intending to put it in a binder – then print the entire thing w/the holes on the wrong side.

…you put eye drops in your nostrils instead of your eyes!

…you “weren’t paying attention” and you accidentely use your Binaca on your contact lenses instead of your eyedrops! (Very painful!)

…you start to “zone out” if a greeting card has more than ten words

…it takes an hour and multiple drafts to write to a teacher to say “ Yes, I can bring brownies for the bake sale.”

…you go to the library to study, take a break after 20 minutes and spend the next 3 hours rabbit-trailing from one topic to another, to the dictionary, to the reference stack, to the magazine rack, and ultimately holding yet another book in your hand that you just HAVE to read…then forgetting to check it out because you got into a great magazine article…then kicking yourself because you REALLY needed to study for that test TOMORROW and told yourself this wasn’t going to happen again this time.

…you have to ask your five-year old where anything is, despite the fact that most of those things are in the same place every time you’ve asked her…and she says, “You’re silly daddy”…then laughs at you and shows you where it is kept.

…you take your kids to work with you because you forgot to drop them off at school on the way to work

…you email this web address to you psychologist in hopes it will help him understand you

…you have work to do and find pleasure in day-dreaming, but when you actually get some spare time to day-dream, you’re SO freaking bored, you could scream!!!!

…your neighbors call you before making a trip to Home Depot, because you probably have what they need in “stock” in your garage from all your unstarted/unfinished home improvement projects.

…you finally are forced to learn your fractions at 40 because your latest “hobby” is daytrading stocks on-line.

…you have a job interview, so you leave in plenty of time, but while you are driving you realize you have forgot the directions to the interview, so you’re late anyway. Then as you’re hurring in you realize you forgot the name of the person interviewing you so a secretary has to tell you the names of all the supervisors in the company to jog your memory. Then when you get into your car to leave you see the directions with the interviewer’s name written in big letters at the top of the page sitting in the garbage that you keeping meaning to throw out on the car floor.

…you have no notes for the class youre having a test in either because you never actually took any since you were too busy making a mental list of everything you were going to bring on vacation or wondering if that girl in front of you with the red hair has it dyed or if its natural…you can’t read the book since you never bought it because you knew you would forget to sell it back…so you take the test with no preparation at all and make an “A”

…you think about doing something so much (so you remember to do it) that after a short period of procrastinating, you start to wonder if you did it or not, and have to go look to see if it is done.

…you start reading this page thinking that your husband might have ADD and part way through he says, “maybe YOU have ADD”.

…you try to light a cigarette with a stapler and then, while your roommate is laughing at you you try to ash in your drink

…it takes you the entire Christmas break to write a paper (on ADD, mind you) that was due at the end of the last semester, and you still don’t finish it.

…you dream of having an intensely intimate and physical relationship that somehow does not involve letting your partner see your (messy) home.

…you’re walking down stairs, not too far from your dorm room, sprain your ankle, but keep walking to the store because you really need to get some stuff and know you’ll end up forgetting if you don’t go now. My ankle hurts now.

…making coffee in the coffee machine, you add filter, coffee, water and then find all the coffee on the floor because your forgot to add the coffee pot!

…you put your groceries away and find the toilet paper in the refrigerator two hours later

…you only read the first 5 “…” comments because the list is too long before you scroll to the bottom of the page to submit your own.

…you eat all your cereal with a fork before realizing why your “spoon” looks so weird.

…the only reason that the milk isn’t left in the cupboard on a regular basis is because the cereal doesn’t fit in the refrigerator.

…your roommate interrupts you reading to prompt to finish what you were saying.. and you can’t even remember talking to her!

…you get to the bottom of this list and you are crying.