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Ritalin XR 18mg, day 1

I took 18 mg of XR Ritalin (check actual name w Dominic Weber) at about 8 am on 4th October 2021. I'd say that the effects lasted the full day and even had some good effects on the following day. Though they did definitely start wearing down in the evening, and I even got really annoyed at some point not realizing that it was the med that was wearing off and I couldn't handle my complete incapability to process two things.
Here are a few observations from this day:

Focus and attention regulation

I could focus so well, it was insane. I got a ton of stuff done during the day. Not only that, I also managed to sit through the really basic stats lecture with only very minor distractions.

Ability to talk while cooking

I could talk while cooking, talk while I was about to go put keys down, etc. I could multi-task. I no longer had the one-track mind. It was bananas.

Impulse control

I caught myself at multiple points of time during the day reaching for my phone without reason, realized what I was doing, and could stop myself. What a superpower!

Reading and writing

I could read and write so much better! Check the Ritalin XR 18mg, day 1#Visual search header for ability to perform smooth eye movements rather than big saccades.

Functional working memory

I could do groceries at Migros without any problem whatsoever. I didn't have to check the list incessantly. In fact, I managed to keep over 5 things in short-term memory for quite some time, going from sections as far as the dairy to vegetable to cleaning products downstairs to canned goods! In fact, I was so confident that I had gotten everything that I ended up straight at the checkout counter without checking off the items off my list and seeing whether I missed something. Felt (super)human, but only made me realize what normal people have all the time.

Object permanence

I had so much spatial awareness, and I thought of people that I hadn't talked to in a really long time. I caught myself multiple times finding things that I had just put down somewhere because I knew they would still be there; I didn't have to initiate the search process with zero knowledge, trying to track back my steps.

I think it also definitely helps with searching things in the background. Usually, I think the problem is that my eyes saccade from item to item skipping a whole bunch of things in the middle and I'm completely unable to find things. Here, I was able to and I think I even noticed myself performing a fast serial search.

Sleep

Could easily sleep at 10:30 pm. Woke up without my alarm, feeling super fresh, not at all groggy, and jumped straight into the bathroom, took a shower, put Kelly's tea on. Full of intent!

Born stupid, stay stupid

I asked a very silly question in the stats class, making Kelly look very stupid (lol). Given my question, the professor started naming all the symbols, "this is a paranthesis..."