Lately I've noticed that I have a weird memory phenomenon going on from time to time. It's a lot like deja vu in that it just sneaks up on me without notice, and takes place entirely in my own brain, with no one else the wiser. But rather than thinking that I've already done something before, I'm randomly transported in my memory back to something that I actually have done before, sometimes a long time ago.

For example, I might just be sitting in front of the TV, and suddenly a vivid image of some random date from high school pops into my head. I think, "Wow, I haven't thought about that in years," and it's true. It could be a Scout camp, or a class in college, or a long-forgotten friend, or whatever. It's really weird.

Does this happen to anyone else?

I'm not talking about something that reminds me of these past memories. Their intrusion into my thought processes is totally random and inexplicable. They're not necessarily unwelcome--some of them actually bring a smile to my face. But I've just been noticing it in the past few months, so I'm not sure it's a normal thing.

Oh well. The thing is, it just happened again, just a moment ago as I was sitting at my desk, working, minding my own business. "Choose Your Own Adventure books," my thoughts suddenly said, unbidden. Immediately, I was back on the bottom bunk in my childhood bedroom. I can see and feel the very 70s animal-print quilt with fraying gold yarn ties on my bed, and the patchwork shag carpet that made for great G.I. Joe landscapes ("This patch is lava!"). And I am sitting on my bed, reading a Choose Your Own Adventure book, having the time of my life. I can even almost see the cover of the book. There's a kid riding on the back of a big yellow bird with googly eyes. I remember that book specifically.

Fortunately, I'm sitting in front of a computer. So I Google "choose your own adventure." The thing about random thoughts is that somewhere, someone has had those same thoughts and posted them on the Internet. And thanks to Google, it doesn't take much to find it. I stumbled onto a site of some wacko who has a brief review of most or all of the original Choose Your Own Adventure series. I begin to recognize some of the covers of the books I've seen. I scan down, looking for that big yellow bird in my mind. And then, there he is:



On closer inspection, I even remember the freaky monkey people at the bottom of the cover. Suddenly, I'm 9 again. Random thoughts, you've met your match in the Internet. Just about anything I can think up randomly, the Internet can deliver.* What a glorious age we live in.

* Of course, this isn't true for randomly thought-of long-lost friends with common names, like my high school buddy Michael Bradley. Can't Google him. Also, I tried Googling "Timmy," the late-80s or so silly radio sketch segment from one of the Salt Lake rock stations about this fat kid and his Pop, and I can't get anything about him. I had a T-shirt with a picture of Timmy on it. Any information about Timmy, especially scripts, would be a treasure to me.