Story

(I tried to login, but couldn't. Not sure why.)

I had the same issues you did and I was wondering if my memory was crapping out on me. Then life threw me a curve ball and answered that question: I'm fine. I'm American, but my wife is not. We decided to move closer to her folks and I found myself in another country with a language I knew zero about. I took over a year off from programming and focused solely on absorbing the new language. I'm still a horrible language person, but I learned thousands (probably more like tens of thousands) of facts in an intense 7 month time frame. (If you want details, you'll have to hunt me down.) I'm back to programming and job hunting and I'm still learning the language. My programming skills are still just as sharp but I find my memory is a hell of a lot better.

I think the problem is spending too much time in the code instead of doing other things too. I'm not saying you should change what you're doing. You have to do what is right for you. Pulling up my roots to live in another country is the single hardest thing I have ever done in my life and it is not for everyone. I am saying that you can pursue other (social) hobbies and do things offline. I think that can help... probably not the extreme it did for me, but it can help.

I think more so than anything else, I just wanted you to know that you aren't losing your mind. It's just an "underused muscle" right now. Oh... and stay physically fit. That helps too.

-- Common Joe