Imagine this

You're driving along the road in your fabulous car. It's a perfect day. Warm sunniness encapsulates you. The windows are down, and the breeze is good.The traffic is light, the music on the radio is (for once) all good and free from commercials.
You're almost at your turn when you see it.
The Detour.
Orange and flashing, big orange signs and the traffic cones direct you away from where you're needing to go.  You have to take an alternate route that adds considerable time to your trip.  Your "chi" is totally thrown off.

It's jolting.

Ugh.

Well, reader, I have come to The Detour. It has been smooth sailing for me academically. I have twice the credits I need to graduate from High-School, (which totally shocked me, bytheway!) and now I'm attempting to sign-up for classes.
...it's unconventional, I know, to be hoping for classes at the last minute.
...it's a long story.
Let's just say that it turns out the the classes I want this semester are full to the max, and there is no room for me. Tomorrow is the last day for anyone to drop their class and for me to snag a seat. 

If nothing pans out, maybe there's another game plan for me.  Maybe I'm supposed to take a semester off and do something greater. 

The beauty of the detour is that it takes you an alternate route, a way you might not normally get to go.
The detour may take you to some beautiful places. You never know...

We shall see.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also, yesterday, I found an old paper written by me a few years ago.
It was funny in a painful way.
I don't think a 6-page report on jellyfish (why did I pick those as a topic?) is supposed to be satirical. But...
I noticed, in my paper, when I wrote, that I'd include random and superfluous bits of information.  I still have this problem.

I have these ideas pop up, and I don't take the time to format them into a nice flowing transition. Those thoughts need to come out right now.

Or else I'll get bored with my own words.
It happens.
I bore myself with my blabbing at times, so I've got to keep it fresh.

When I was a few feet shorter, I had this problem of going on thought trains during conversations.

 You know about those, right?

Yes, they are literal.

If not, I'll give an example:

Say that we're talking about college classes. You start monologuing. My thought process goes like this:

College classes. 
Hmmm. 
That makes me think about college sports. 
I haven't been to a game in ages. 
Maybe I should get tickets. 
Tickets, where can I buy those? 
Ticket hawkers, but that's ridiculous. 
Wouldn't it be strange if people did that with random things? 
Everyone would be like an auctioneer, with that sing-song voice.
I wonder how much auctioneers practice their selling chant. 
Is it like an instrument that must be practiced? 
Instruments. 
I need to practice my guitar. 
Should I play on street-corners for money? 
Maybe I'd be discovered!


...and by this time you're asking me a question about college classes and I'm thinking about touring the country with my music.

The absent-minded thinking has happened to me more than once. It's embarrassing, but it's not like it's the speaker's fault for failing to hold my attention.
It's not personal.

I'm just...different.

A...a...dreamer!

You get the point.

My sisters and I would collaborate on thought trains when we were on long car trips.
It may seem silly, but it was fun.

Anyways, I've learned how to focus a bit better in writing and conversations, but I still have a bit of that "hey, look at that unimportant-to-what-I'm-doing thing!" thrown in there.

Reader, do you have any tips you'd like to share?
I've read countless books on writing, planning, focusing and re-editing (I could quote them, but that's dulllll) but practical advice is my favorite. So, if you have some, please share!