I lose my wallet all the time. Once, I left it on top of a gas station pump. It was used about twenty seconds after I left it, to buy gas and food for someone else. Ah well.

Once, I lost it in a shopping cart at the grocery store. That is, I did not take it out of the cart when I left. I lost it twice in the space of two months once and had to get my drivers license replaced twice.

(By the way, I'm a woman who doesn't carry a purse. I only carry a wallet. I'm not sure who loses wallets more. Men? Women? I don't have any statistics and am fresh out of ridiculous stereotypes tonight.)

I have a system to help with wallet loss, but basically, it all boils down to 1) no cash in the wallet 2) no cash in the wallet. I mean, I'm bound to lose it again. I'm a human being. These things happen.

Get a system for keeping track of things. I like Cary's backpack idea, but what if you leave the backpack? Anyway, get a system and also, memorize the ways to replace things, the number for the credit card company and don't leave any pictures in it that you don't have copies of at home.

Losing the wallet is just losing the wallet. But the way you keep mentioning music seems a bit more pointed. Is there something there, between the dream job and music, that you're not mentioning?

Anyway, just an observation. Make of it what you will. As for social awkwardness, everyone has a touch of that. Unless it's debilitating to you in some way, I wouldn't worry about it. Do what they tell you in grade school: just be yourself and you'll find the relationships, both friends and otherwise, that work best for you. Oh, and get a good wingman/woman/person.

If/When you decide to investigate the possibility of ADHD, ask around to find a doctor who specializes in it. Not everyone who can write a prescription knows very much about it. The ideal is to treat just enough to keep the positive parts of ADHD - the persistence, your creative edge, and whatever else you like - while improving brain function so that you eliminate as much of the negatives as possible.

Humans are not well-designed for intensive tasks like debugging code. Our brains just aren't wired to focus that intensely for long periods of time. It's an evolved survival mechanism that protects us from large predators, like tigers. Thus, to do that kind of work well, we must create a rhythm, a flow of concentration, where we can enter, exit and then reenter a state of focused concentration in an efficient manner.

No one ever taught me how to do this, but I've found it's needed in my job, too. (I'm a science editor...) What's the best amount of time that you can code, or debug, efficiently, without drifting? Figure that out first. Then, block off your time into segments for that work, separated by other periods where you absolutely do not code. Email for 10 minutes, then re-enter the coding space. This may seem inefficient, but the opposite is true. You avoid mistakes and increase your overall work-rate by avoiding attention-drift. The key to this, though, is figuring out how much time is needed to recharge, and having your boss be comfortable with your rhythm. I would think that a good manager in software engineering would be well aware of the need for this. Personally, I've found that I do my best work at the beach...

BTW, this kind of flow is present in all aspects of life (speaking as a Taoist). Social situations are much easier when you recognize that and don't fight the current so much.

About the wallet thing? Take all the crap out of it so that it will fit comfortably in your back pocket. You don't need all of it. Really. Get a soft wallet that will shape itself to your butt.

The tools of organization fall useless from my fingers. I am all thumbs.

In my day planners you will find January 1st through January 3rd densely, dutifully, meticulously detailed. The other pages are blank or scribbled with doodles and good first lines. I use my hand held to play Bejeweled. File cabinets and accordion folders overwhelm me.

I try to make lists but can't find a pencil and if I find a pencil, there is no paper except that wide-ruled kind that I don't like. Clean clothes folded neatly in drawers don't get worn. If I want to listen to my Gnarls Barkley CD, I know I can find it in the Amy Winehouse case. I move through my dreamy ADD world and spend a lot of time fishing in the dryer for a matching pair of black socks.

I never lose anything. I do often misplace things. But a place for everything and everything in its place does not work for me. I learned early that I can only manage two or three "places" with any success. In its place on a shelf in my home office is a box. In that box is my birth certificate, passport, homeowner's insurance policy and mortgage contract, social security card, five years of tax returns and my living will. Things go in the box. The box remains in its place.

The place for things like utility bills, bank statements and credit card bills remain online at their respective sites where they can be easily accessed, in the moment, while I casually surf the web and happen to think of them.

My other place is my bag. Wallet, cell phone, lipstick, eyeliner, inhaler, business cards, keys. Everything goes in the bag. I love the bag. It's pretty and sturdy and expensive. I get compliments on the bag. The bag goes with me. It has a long comfortable strap that I loop across my shoulder. When I'm at work, the bag hangs from a hook on my office door, safely hidden because my door's always open. When I get home, the bag slouches on a squat, African stool in my tiny foyer where I drop it when I come in and pick it up when I leave.