Justin Timberlake has ADD/OCD- Swoon.
July 22, 2008
I’ll open with my standard disclaimer. I like me some pop. And JT won me over several years ago with his smooth beats and his D&^% in a Box skit. How could I not love him?
And two years ago, he was playing a club tour, warming up for the release of “SexyBack”. I was lucky enough to see him perform at my favorite venue, 9:30 Club, which holds a cozy 1200 folks. Mt favorite part of that show was watching some drunk sorority girls trying to flash their phone numbers with their fingers from the 2nd floor balcony- they kept getting the numbers wrong. “Neewwwwww, Bambini! That’s not threeee! Three is thiiiiiisssss many!” Then they’d laugh and cling to each other and “Woooot!” Awesome. Yes, I did feel old.
My excuse for attending was to take my fearless 14 year old babysitter, also known as right hand. But after a full two weeks of trying to procure entry, I found out the day of that it was 21+. I know. Why, Justin? Why? But that did not keep me home, oh no. (She forgave me.) And I’m glad I went, because he had a full eleven piece band that was amazing. Any doubts I had about him being a studio wonder were soundly dispelled.
And now I know how he works his magic! ADD and OCD. I was perusing the new ADHD Alltop site today (cause in case you didn’t notice, I’m pretty ADD- I now embrace it.) and I came actoss an Adult ADHD strengths site. (links to JT article.) ADD strengths? Hmmm. So I checked it out, and JT was talking about hyperfocus and how it works for him instead of against him in music.
Since I’m married to someone who routinely listens to the same song eleventy twenty times looking for some slight variation known only to his ears, I see how that hyperfocus could be a gift to a musician. The article called it a blessing and a curse, and darn snickety that’s true for me.
Blessing: Helping me bang out an article that’s due in three hours.
Curse: the entire two weeks prior when I should have been doing it, but was researching 1998 Volvo Station wagons on Craigslist. Had to be 98, after that Ford took over and everything fell apart. Not that we were buying one, I just liked to look at them. Hmmm. Could I be OCD too?
Knowing that other people have the same kind of wackadoo brain that I have and still manage to kick ass in the world makes me happy. I also really love taking what was a crippling thing when I was younger and turning it into something that allows me to do all of the things that I want, and actually finish some of them.
I haven’t been on meds for ADD since college, but manage it a million other ways every day. Sometimes it’s hard for me to tell where I stop and it starts, but maybe like my new favorite not-real person Dexter, I have a little room in my head. Except instead of a Dark Passenger that tells me to kill bad guys, like Dexter, I have a scatterbrained voice that tells me to check my e-mail every seventeen minutes and never, ever finish a drink. (My mom’s biggest complaint about me.:) “Would it kill you to just finish ONE?” as she collects the trail of 3/4 finished glasses around the kitchen.Yes, Mom. I think it would.
How do your daily neuroses get in your way, and how do they clear your path? Inquiring minds want to know.
Posted in Rock and Roll Mama
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July 22nd, 2008 at 11:26 pm
I definitely harbor some ADD/OCD tendencies myself, though I daresay not nearly to the degree many others do. I can definitely see where they’re both a blessing and a curse!
I’m so out of it here lately (and I don’t even know why!) that I don’t know what I have going and what I have standing in the way.
I am always weird, though, and I guess that must make for pretty interesting companionship from time to time. I hope. And every now and then, when I express that side on my blog….well, it grabs attention, at least! You’d think I’d have learned to display my weirdness more often.
I don’t know why everyone (just generally speaking here) has such a problem with JT. He’s hot, his music’s very catchy and unique, especially for mainstream pop, and he’s a pretty decent actor, too.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
I’m also ADD, and more than a touch OCD, though sadly, that doesn’t translate into sparkling-clean and organized kitchen cabinets. It’s more the compulsive checking email OCD. But the ADD, I think, can be a good thing. Maybe not when I realize belatedly that I’ve gone 20 miles in the wrong direction on the highway (sorry for being late today, orthodontist!) but I can often get 8 different tasks done at once. None done well, but at least done (except those kitchen cabinets).
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Chris, who is a bit dyslexic, discovered that many super genius entrepreneur types are also dyslexic. It totally changed everything for him, knowing that. Now he sees that it can be a strength and he’s really putting himself out there. I still have to spell everything for him, though.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Oh yea – I got me some ADHD issues going on I think!
Nothing diagnosed or anything, but my brain is going all the time, with a million ideas and projects. It can be great cause I have a ton of creativity and get lots of work done, but exhausting cause I take hours to fall asleep at night.
And I leave glasses of water half finished throughout the house too.
July 24th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Well, shit, where is the hyperfocus for my ADD husband? He was diagnosed with adult ADD at 23 (right after we got married and I literally almost killed him for losing the list…which had on it, “don’t lose this list”). I have yet to see evidence of the hyperfocus…oh wait, except for the 287 hours a week he plays Playstation 3.
My man, he puts his skillz to good use.
I kid, I kid (well, not really about the ADD. And the Playstation 3. But I don’t mean to make light about ADD – I’ve taught many students who really struggle with it).
I’d like to say my superpower is intimidating bitchiness. I’m slowly but surely taking over the world with a curled lip and well placed eye roll.
July 24th, 2008 at 8:56 am
LOL at MM’s husband- yeah, I’ve been him.
Janice: It’s kind of fun sometimes to go in a million directions, yes? Then I love that moment when a project clicks and it’s ON. There is no distracting me at that point, to my husband’s chagrin.
Susan: That’s so cool about Chris. My mom gave me a book called Hunters vs Gatherers, and it totally changed my views on ADD. And spelling is over-rated.
Sarah: LOL at the cabinets.:)
Belle:Let your weirdness shine! I want to see:)
July 25th, 2008 at 11:05 am
OK, so I hate to admit it, but I am also a closet JT fan. Shh, it’s our secret. Oh, and I totally have ADD and it gets in the way all the time.