Posted 1/28/19
About 10-12 years ago, I got the unique opportunity to be screened to be on Jeopardy while I was attending CES in Las Vegas. I will take “Reasons Why Mark Applegate is Not the Right Fit for the Show”, for $800, Alex. I didn’t make the prescreening likely because of the whole “average intelligence” thing and possessing a face far better suited for radio. I did, however, really enjoy being a member of the live studio audience. I even got to ask Alex Trebek a question during the Q&A between segments. I asked “Do you enjoy the SNL skits about the show and how well were you represented?” The answer was a smug, eye rolly little “Well, it was good for the show”.
Mom’s good day/winning streak took a hit today. She fell again at 5am and ended up with a knot on her left to match the fading ones on the right. Interestingly enough, a year ago when Alzheimer’s was rapidly taking away mom version 1.0, she had a significant OCD stage in which she profoundly sought balance/symmetry/order in numbers and shapes of everything. Pictures on the wall, crayons in her box, etc…If there was three of this, there should be three of that. It was very odd and sometimes frustrating to try in vain to scratch that itch. She also always needed everything to be located in certain places (common for Alzheimer’s patients). Never elsewhere. Sadly, mom 1.0 then would probably chuckle inside and be somewhat satisfied with mom 2.0’s matching noggin lumps.
Another interesting, unintentional match my last several visits is her speech mirroring her piano playing. She says many, many words, often in the same tempo/emphases/”style” (help me out, speech teachers!!), but with completely inaccurate words. Like 2 toddlers conversing in nonsense sentences. Sometimes the train is heading the right way for several words, then changes tracks. Others the entire sentence is made of words that that are wrong, but she says them in a sweet way and pauses like she needs a response…so I say something akin to “Yes” or “Awesome ” or, if she seems sad about her statement, “That seems like it is hard”. I can tell when my answer is in the wrong format because, extremely (!) sadly, she tries again. It is not unlike me trying to speak English to my last Uber driver in Chicago…I really hate that she tries so hard and my answer doesn’t reflect a correct response option. 🙁
Word order, in Jeopardy and on conversation with my mom, means something, even when I fail at working through it. I Will Take “Things that Absolutely Suck about Alzheimer’s ” for $1,000, Alex.
#EndALZ
Update: in March 2019 Alex Trebek announced that he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. 🙁 Pray for him.