A moment

Figured I'd work on some things while I ignore Tia and Blake in the other room. Couples are weird sometimes, and Blake's been a little twitchy all evening... I need to do something other than paint or cuddle the puppy, anyway.

I've been looking at the binder full of notes I found in Marie's room while we drove. They don't seem to be in any particular order and the handwriting is worse than the chickenscratch I deal out on a bad day, but I'll work on deciphering them. There are worse things to focus on. I'm not sure how much I'll get done tonight.

First of all, there's a scrap of paper stapled to the first looseleaf page, with this excerpt typed out on it:
“Research is unearthing significant ties between memory and emotions or mood. Schacter (1996) credits Mark Williams and his colleagues as the first individuals to report that emotions can bias perception and memory. Williams’ research compared two groups, one in which people reported depression type symptoms, and another in which no such symptoms were reported. They found that the group with depressive mood symptoms would focus on generally negative experiences more than their counter parts: “They tend to encode (and therefore retrieve) everyday episodes through a negative filter that confers a kind of repetitive and pervasive drabness on all their experiences” (Ratey, 2001, p.211).”

Various parts of the excerpt are underlined with a red pencil, which I've replicated in the typed text to the best of my ability at the moment. What bearing this has on the current situation, I don't completely know, but it sounds like some of the things Doctor Chavez would say to me. I hope he's okay... The poor guy's put up with me for the past few years. I tried, at least. It was the responsible thing to do.

Anyway, there's nothing else on that page, other than a few scribbly stick figures and a doodle of a rose, all in the same red pencil. I'd scan it in, but I haven't unpacked the camera or the scanner yet. I really wouldn't take Marie to be the type who reads pyschological texts or journals, but I'm not going to make any assumptions on that. Assumptions are stupid and lead to mistakes that we can't afford.

I'm not sure why I'm rambling here, but I need to focus on something before I start painting or drawing people or those trees again. Besides, I'm a transcriptionist. This is what I do, I guess.