Sorry, I got distracted. That’s the thing about living in the moment, it takes total concentration. And I started wondering if this was the best headline or not and I got off track. So, this moment, right now. That one I missed is gone forever and I’ll never get it back. Every distraction means moments lost in time. Like tears in the rain. Was that from Blade Runner? Hold on, let me Google it. Yeah, Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty: “I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.” Spoiler alert! Great movie. Did you prefer the version without the narrator? There was the original with Harrison Ford’s flat film noir narration, then the director’s versions without. I feel strongly both ways. Anyway, you can't capture moments. Moments are elusive. You can't just grab them and put them in your pocket. Save them forever, like a photograph. They must be experienced. If you’re seeing the world through a camera lens displayed on a small piece of glass, you’re missing the moment completely. And there’s the issue of image storage, whether you use cloud or buy a massive amount of external storage. Depending on your device and image resolution. And is higher resolution even necessary if you’re not printing anything? 48-megapixel images of two different packages of ramen noodles to send to your significant other for approval before purchase? How does that make any sense?  So, you need to stay focused on the current moment and not live like a squirrel. Darting from branch to branch, tree to tree, nut to nut. Willy-nilly, helter-skelter, etc.—hold on, I’m going to check Word Hippo for some synonyms to "willy-nilly." Fun fact for you: “Etcetera” is a Latin word that translates to “I can’t think of any more examples.” Not a lot of options to "willy-nilly." You know another term that doesn’t have good options? While researching "willy-nilly," I got sidetracked to “self-aware.” Word Hippo offers "oblivious" for the opposite of self-aware—not a remotely satisfactory antonym. So, “self-unaware"? Squirrels are notoriously easily distracted. Incapable of staying on topic. Constantly fidgety and randomly changing course. Speaking of squirrels, I feel like rats are very similar to squirrels, but are treated unfairly by the public at large. And the biggest difference is the tail. Rats have skinny, hairless, disgusting tails, while squirrels have glorious, fluffy tails. So—hear me out—my idea is to crossbreed the two to create modern rats with handsome bushy tails. It would do wonders to elevate their image. Something of a rat makeover. People would begin to put out rat feeders to attract them to their yards. It's a win-win. Squirrels are erratic and have no focus. Rats, on the other hand, are systematic and highly intelligent. Put a rat in a maze, and it’ll methodically reach its goal. If you put a squirrel in a maze, it will immediately jump out, then out an open window into a nearby tree. Well, create a Sqrat, and Bob’s your uncle! Adorable, smart, popular. They'd be loved and welcome into our homes and trees. Of course, there are ethical concerns. And it would probably require some kind of genetic engineering, which brings us back to Blade Runner. (Kaiser and Bear, J. F. Sebastian’s manufactured “friends” he created so he wouldn’t be lonely.) Anyway, FOMO is real, which is why we’re all obsessed with notifications and alerts telling us that someone, somewhere, is having more fun than we are at any given time. That's why FOOMOOOPM (Fear Of Missing Out On Other People’s Moments) is so frightening. Because it amplifies our anxiety about our current moments not measuring up. “Oh, you’re watching a sunset? Good for you. Well, I’m doing a handstand on a precipice above a 1,000-foot sheer drop on IG.” So, I was thinking about that and then I got distracted when I opened my phone and I saw a text with a video of a kitten making a hilarious face. Lol. But then I noticed something looked off. Weird-looking cat—is it AI? I decided I’d better do a little of my own research. That can’t be real. Yup, I was right, AI slop. Speaking of reality, it’s difficult to live in the moment when you’re not even sure if time exists. Maybe we’re living in a simulation and time itself is just an illusion. Am I looking at a sunset, or am I lab sqrat in an alien zoo being fed images from a long-dead Earth? But, to recap: Watching squirrels dart around in the treetops? Good, living in the moment. Daydreaming and imagining sqrats dart around in the treetops? Bad, not living in the moment. Being fully engrossed in a quality film in a theater? Good. Watching a crappy movie on your TV at home, you’ve already seen a dozen times while simultaneously scrolling on your phone and iPad? Bad. Watching a sunset? Good. Creating a sunset in ChatGPT for your own amusement? Bad. Reading a good book? Good. Reading a bad book on a Kindle? Bad. Spending six hours in a museum? Good. Spending six hours wearing a VR headset in a virtual museum? Bad. Hey, I don’t make the rules. Who does make the rules? Checking Reddit...