I don’t know if it’s a sign of aging or the impact of smartphones and the internet.

My hunch is it’s both.

But I’m not as good at memorizing things as I once was.

I’ve talked about this a bit before, particularly in the context of play or musical dialogue.

And the way that I have learned to memorize dialogue now is I listen to it.

So I record all my lines.

It’s funny because I’ll do like, this is my line.

This is the other person’s line.

This is my next line.

And this is what the other person says.

And here’s my third line.

And I guess I do that so that my brain will know which ones are mine or not from the vocal difference.

And I also need to say the other person’s lines so that I know what my cues are.

Because memorizing what your cue line is is really important so that you know when to say your lines.

But it’s mildly annoying to listen to when you play it back, which is fine.

It is what it is.

But that’s how I memorize my lines.

The added benefit is, especially if I’m in a show that’s frustrating like the current one I’m in, I don’t have to take time to do homework per se at home.

I can listen to the recordings I’ve made on my way to and from the theater.

And then I can also figure out which scenes need more work and just listen to those on repeat and whatever.

So that’s been good and it’s helpful.

But it seems crazy that that’s how I memorize things now.

But it does work.

So that’s good.

Your Daily Lex I bring all that up because I’ve been listening to my entire back catalog and I’ve memorized every episode of Your Daily Lex.

So I’m going to start doing repeats but new recordings of them.

None of this is true.

Not one bit.

But so the memorizing rears its head in a variety of ways.

One, I don’t know, one challenging one slash frustrating one slash mildly embarrassing one is I do Rock Shop.

It’s just like the Rock Shop that Liam does except with less talented musicians because Liam’s not one of them.

But just about all of us use an iPad or paper notes.

The more annoying among us use paper notes.

But we’ve got an iPad showing what we’re playing in some way.

I use it for the lyrics and I use it for the chords.

I can do the lyrics on a song if that’s all I’m doing.

But if I have to play it and sing it, I like to see the lyrics.

And really, I know what I’m supposed to be playing, but I really enjoy having the crutch of seeing it.

And the crutch of seeing it means I don’t memorize it, especially like in simpler songs, which is ridiculous.

And, you know, given that I don’t really read music, although Duolingo and I are working on that, I’m usually just looking at chords.

And then like if there are keyboard solo parts or whatever else, those I just have memorized.

So like when we’re playing a mostly a Tiffany cover of I Think We’re Alone Now, I know the keyboard solos and I just play those.

I don’t have those written down anywhere.

But then like the verse chord progression, which is four freaking chords, maybe three chords because one of them is used twice.

I’m just playing them and don’t memorize them.

So I’m always looking at that sheet or the iPad and it’s dumb.

And I really I would like to train myself not to.

But there’s also like there’s so many hours in the day and I do a bunch of different things.

Right.

I got my work life and the theater crap and this music thing and then the other stuff I do for fun.

And I don’t always want to take time to memorize the songs, but I should.

Using an iPad is less cool.

The guy who runs Rock Shop is very funny about it because he doesn’t let the kids use any notes.

They have to memorize their things, but he lets the adults do it because he knows they’re old and stupid.

But he’s like, let’s not put iPads on music stands.

Like, let’s get attachments for mic stands to put your iPads in because that’s way better.

That looks cooler.

But, man, I do miss when I could just remember stuff.

And what’s crazy is, of course, I can memorize stuff.

And of course, I can memorize song lyrics.

It’s bonkers.

I don’t understand what the brain block is on these things.

I do have a crazily busy week this week, so I’ve been managing, keeping my head above water, getting things done, even carving out time to record important podcasts like this one.

A couple days ago, Lauren and I were on a walk.

And at the end of our walk, we see a guy who lives in this development because of us.

He was the DJ for two of my kids’ bat mitzvahs.

And one time when he was here, he’s like, man, I love this development.

I wish there were a house for sale.

And then a couple days later, a house went for sale.

And so I texted him, hey, this house for sale.

And he bought it.

But we saw him walking with his family.

And he stops me.

He’s like, hey, I heard your podcast interview.

And I’m like, oh, God, he’s going to confuse me with the other guy.

And that’s annoying because I’ve paid this man money twice.

So yeah, with your trainer?

I was like, oh, yeah, OK, I did do a podcast interview with my trainer.

And I guess he listened to it.

I’m like, oh, that’s funny, blah, blah, blah.

And then I mentioned that if he interacted with that post in any way, I was sure that my trainer could reach out to him.

He’s like, oh, no, he did.

That guy, my trainer, Ursuline, is always hustling.

Anyway, that’s all I got.

I hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday, May 21st.

And I hope you are excited to learn that today I’m at 192 pounds even.

My initial goal was 190, so I’m very close.

And my revised goal is around 185.

So almost there.

Almost there.

Finish line’s in sight.

Power.

Lex.