Thank you for posting this. I hesitate to identify myself as having OCD because my repetitive and ritualistic behaviors are relatively mild and usually only appear when I'm under stress, although I still guard against them. There is still much I can relate to here as coping with depression and a lack of attention span will be a lifelong challenge for me.

and then the good bits fell out through the sieve that is my short-term memory.

It's remarkably difficult to not be 'normal', or something approaching it. I absolutely hate it every time I have to tell someone that I don't have a day job nor do I have kids because they inevitably ask some variation on 'so what do you do?' Every job, every schedule, and every set of workplace politics quickly become so physically and mentally stressful that... well, it makes me tear up just thinking about working right now. But how do you put that in a more socially acceptable context? I look able bodied enough, after all, and that makes it all the harder to accept it myself.

Tied into that is the painfully honest admission of "I forgot" when I've missed yet another appointment. In a work situation it's an untenable position, at least outside of work it's merely embarrassing. Notes only help when you haven't completely lost track of time, after all!

Sorry, as this is a bit tl;dr, but thank you again for writing this out. Makes me feel a little less crazy. :)