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What was his name again? A fear of forgetting

My panic over forgetting names started with the '60s pop singer Trini Lopez.

For some reason, I find that pretty funny. I liked his rendition of "If I Had a Hammer" but it wasn't like I was a starstruck fan.

It happened sometime in the late-70s/early-'80s, I'd say. I was listening to a compilation album with a song of his on it and I suddenly couldn't think of his name. It freaked me out. I'm not sure why -- I was still a kid, so I wasn't thinking dementia -- but it just terrified me that I knew his name one minute, then couldn't recall it the next.

So from time to time, for years after -- and, frankly, even today on occasion -- I feel the need to recall his name. Just so I know it's there, I guess, safe and sound in my brain.

This sounds like OCD to me.

It's not just Trini Lopez, though. Same thing happens with others -- especially with the actor Dennis Quaid. Again, I like his work, I just wouldn't say he's my favorite actor of all time.

As with Trini, I panic -- it becomes an effort to breath -- when I can't think of his name. Sometimes I have to think of his brother's name -- actor Randy Quaid -- before I can recall Dennis.

In fact, as I wrote this, I couldn't think of Dennis Quaid's name and had to look it up. And I got very anxious in the process.

This sounds silly -- even to me.

But this fear of forgetting things, mostly names, has an impact. And I can connect it to a fear I have of forgetting moments, too.

I used to have more trouble with this than I do now, but sometimes after I did something fun, exciting, something I'd been looking forward to -- after it was over, I'd try to recall it in great detail. If I couldn't -- and generally I couldn't recall it in enough detail to please my OCD -- then I'd panic and be scared I'd forget it altogether. And it would be like I'd never experienced it.

One of the ironies, of course, is that I rarely have trouble remembering my OCD compulsions.

If OCD wants me to think a series of words over and over again, I'm great at that.

But try to remember Trini Lopez's name? That's a crapshoot.

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