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In Plain Sight

Have you ever looked everywhere for your cell phone only to find that it was in your hand the whole time? Or hunted high and low for your keys without any success because they were snugly in your pocket? I have a feeling that this is a near universal phenomenon, only because people can be thrown off pretty easily.

From what I understand, your brain optimizes so that it doesn't have to recall or process every last piece of information, and it's possible for things to fall into the blind spots as a result. If you've ever seen someone in front of a new laptop or computer, you've probably seen some variation of this. It's probably the same basic stuff, but it looks and feels different. That's just enough to throw off the mental optimization, and things grind to a halt.

Well, I'm no different than everyone else. I generally know where we keep the cereal, for example, so I look for the box of cereal in the usual spot. If I don't see it there, consternation follows. If I were to try to explain, in writing, my mental process, it'd probably look a little bit like this:

"Okay, I want cereal. The box should be on the second shelf, on the right."
"Hm, it's not there."
"It probably got moved. Scan the shelf for the box."
"No box on the second shelf, try the other shelves."
"Weird, the box isn't on the other shelves, either. Maybe we don't have any?"
"Let's ask the Mild Wife. Maybe she knows."

Of course, all of this occurs in a split-second, so it's not like I have the opportunity to analyze my thought process as it happens. I just react, and these thoughts pour out.

So, why is this amusing? On more than one occasion, the answer has been that the cereal or other object is in a clear glass container on the second shelf. Basically, it was exactly where it had been before, in as visible a manner as possible. In fact, I've heard the Mild Wife say that that's why she prefers that method: so you can see what's in the jar. Basically, my brain goofed.

Mind you, that explanation is usually followed by a lot of laughter. If I say I can't find the cereal and it's in a glass jar, it's entirely possible that the ensuing explanation will involve the term "clear glass container." In fact, I have taken to joking that the Mild Wife is "hiding" things from me by putting it in plain sight. Like I said, lots of hilarity ensues.

Well, the Mild Wife is a resourceful one. She has realized that this happens more often than it probably should, so she solved this problem:
Notice the glass jar on the left
Yes, I know what pasta looks like, and, given enough time, I would eventually find it on the shelf. However, the Mild Wife figured that a little bit of a visual hint couldn't hurt. Many of the jars now have labels on them, so that I can quickly identify their contents, even if my brain didn't previously cache that information.

You should've heard the laughter involved when she explained this to me.
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