Captain Chaos
Are you the sort of person who gets lost easily? Well I am one of those people, without a doubt. My life is littered with lostness (that ain’t a word) episodes.
There was the time when I was meant to be attending an alcohol and drugs conference in Melbourne and ended up at a Chaos Theory conference (wrong University – doh!). Deep down I think I was meant to be partying on with all those physicists.
There was the time when I was supposed to be going to a psychiatric clinic in South Brisbane to collect data forms for a research study on anxiety and (yes you guessed it) ended up at the wrong hospital.
I asked
“What floor is the psychiatric department on?”
and got
“We don’t have a psychiatric department! Who referred you?”
I suppose I looked a bit like a psychiatric patient in my scruffy jeans, Garfield t-shirt, and dirty sandshoes and the ‘I need some sleep’ look under my dark eyes.
There was the time I went to IKEA and ended up in a holding pattern trying to find the exit (and I asked for directions twice – arghhh). I will never enter another IKEA store, ever!
There was the time that I had bought myself a secondhand car (red holden HT with rust for $400, if I can remember correctly) and drove to work at West End in Brisbane. I was a lab assistant at a blood laboratory (I loved that white lab coat) in my gap year, before I went to Uni. I thought I would go for a drive in my ‘new’ car at lunch-time and got so lost I ended up on my way to Ipswich (another city).
Yes, there could be something wrong in the spatial/relations part of my brain 😉
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Note: thanks bluebee for the title (it all started with her wonderful poem on string theory :))
Gabe Feathers McGee 
Delightful post…but do remind me if I ever make it to Australia and need a navigator…not to request you assistance…just your company…cheers!
bwahahahaha – it’s a deal slpmartin 🙂
“who referred you?” LOL! A most enjoyable post all round, Gabrielle 😀 and I think “Lostness” is a great word.
I have the exact same sentiments about IKEA (and I rarely get lost) – been in there once – never again
It took me a while to realise that they thought I was a psych patient – haha – slightly embarrassing, but I have the excuse that I was a mere Uni student at the time.
You’re by no means alone, Gabrielle. I drove home from work one winter evening and became disorientated by a new lighting arrangement at a roundabout. One I was familiar with in daylight. I went round twice before I got my bearings!
haha – sounds just like something I would do Martin 🙂
What doctor would refer you to a non existent psych dept? (note use of question mark). I
Now, let me assure you there is nothing unique about becoming totally lost in Brisbane!
You are OK Gabe.In fact, that you got out of Brizzie speaks volumes about your sanity!
Maybe the wording was slightly different Stafford (re referral) but I knew they thought I was a psych patient (they looked very concerned for my welfare). Brisbane is even worse now for getting lost in, with all those tunnels and new roads – horrific.
Me too! I’m glad to find a “sister!” …
Well done …
Thanks sis 😉 haha
I normally have an excellent internal GPS directional system, but there have been episodes related to taking certain medications when it completely crashed and I was constantly getting lost while driving, having no idea where I was on simple errands. It felt very scary. I was always glad when it came back. However, I have a terrible spatial sense. I have no idea how to estimate the size of three dimensional spaces, like houses. You would think the two would be related.
They are supposed to be related squirrel (well at least according to the people who developed the dimensions of the IQ test)!
ayeee, took a wrong turn somewhere on the way to a bob dylan concert at the University of Massachusetts. lost for an hour, but upon finally arriving was able to walk right in w/o crowds or waiting just as he launched into ‘like a rolling stone’ and got to walk right up to the front because seating by that time was arbitrary and the friends i was supposed to meet were all in their seats further away – sometimes getting lost is good!
That’s an awesome story tipota and I am very jealous of course (love you Bob 🙂 ) – getting lost can have some advantages.
What interesting encounters your misdirection has brought you! I cannot say that I’ve ever had anything quite so interesting happen in terms of being turned around. I have missed the occasional exit and found myself about a fifty miles off track, but nothing wonderful happened as a consequence — except that I once drove Route 7 through Connecticut that way. Must admit it was very pretty.
You must have an inner compass for adventure!
Haha – it didn’t seem like adventure at the time. My kids are used to me getting lost – one day I was lost going to a friend’s place (which I had been to before) and I was getting very stressed – Tessa was patting me on the back (from her car seat behind me) and saying ‘just relax Mum, it will be alright, just breathe deeply’ (she was about 4 at the time – haha).
Thanks Gabrielle for this post. It made for a fantastic prompt. For a while there I thought I wasn’t lost anymore… but today is a brand new day eh?
Every day is a brand new day Brad – loved your lyrical post – here’s to finding our way.
‘Lostness’ – I like it. You sound less like you’re lost and more like you’re on a series of adventures. I can just imagine you with all those physicists 😆
Haha – my whole life seems like a series of unintended adventures – weird happenings seem to gravitate to my part of the world.