Did I say that?

Well, I was tempted to look at all my previous blogs. All 54 of them. Because I wanted to say some things but I wasn't sure if I already said them.
I go through this a lot lately. I'm 57 and realize that every single thing I'm about to say may be a rerun. Hell, even what I just wrote may be a repeat. Sorry about that.
My girlfriend just smiles at me now. She puts up with it. Most of the people in my life don't say a word. This begs the question, "How do you know you're repeating yourself if no one points it out?" (And why do we say "beg" the question? What's the connection between asking and begging?)
But I digress...Anyway, I get these echoes...As I'm telling the story, something sounds familiar. I say to my girlfriend, "Did I say this once before?" She'll smile and say, "No, dear, you said it SEVEN times before. But I still love the story."
And then there's the whole subset of TV. Virtually every interaction I have these days seems to remind me of a scene from a sitcom, generally from 1964-1983, with the occasional 50's clip from I Love Lucy or The Honeymooners thrown in. Or to show I'm not a total dinosaur, the 90's. Some friend will be talking fast and I'm tempted, every time, to say "Hey, do you remember the classic 'Slow Down' scene from Taxi? Where Iggy is taking the written driving test?" And I'll start describing the scene, only to see this glaze over my friend's eyes. Taxi, M.A.S.H., Cheers, Mary Tyler Moore, All in the Family, Seinfeld, Frasier...not a day goes by when I don't run classic scenes from these shows in my head. My most common thought, 'God, did I already say this'?
I'm tempted to take a vow of silence for the rest of my life. But then, I realize that my memory used to be excellent. Above average, I dare say. I used to remember faces, names, important points that people tell me. The only thing I remember these days is trivia. I can remember baseball rosters, lyrics, and pretty much anything geographical. I can tell you every interstate highway in America and it's terminals. In short, I remember everything that no one else is the least bit interested in. But names and familiar faces? Unlikely.
I've developed something I call the "Jeff" theory. Which states that any familiar male face I see is probably named Jeff. My brother is named Jeff. Many of my friends over the years too. When I was living in Nashville, seems half the songwriters I met were Jeffs. If not Jeff, then Mike. But what's great about the Jeff assumption is that if I slur the name "Jeff", it can sound like any name beginning with a J or a soft G. That covers at least 1/3 of the male American population.
Women, however, are more difficult. I get especially frustrated with the following combinations: Katherine/Kathleen, Melissa/Melinda/Melanie, Janet/Janette/Janis/Jan/Jane/Joan/Jean/June. Do women do this intentionally to confuse men? Hell, it's hard enough remembering what I told to whom.
Maybe what I need to do is to take notes. Get myself a tablet of some kind. After each interaction, just log in what I wrote, when I said it, and who I said it to.  That way, before I'm about to speak, I can just bring up the person and all the conversations I've had.
Certainly, other people must have the same problem. My girlfriend almost never repeats herself. On the very rare occasions that she does, I get an incredible rush of self-satisfaction. Aha! I REMEMBER this. If I'm really focused, then I can even remember WHEN she said it. Which I'll point out, of course.
Well, that's all I have to say.

Did I mention that I repeat myself?

Thanks for reading.