My mind is on auto-pilot

Sometimes when i am distracted I can go on auto-pilot. It happens a lot when I play video games. I can have a full conversation and later have no idea what we talked about. Television does it to me as well -- my wife says I get "sucked in". It happens other times when I have most of my focus trained on one difficult task.

This weekend I was helping someone move out of their apartment into their new house. During the move, while i was wrestling with a large piece of living room furnature, a friend asked me, "Are those new sneakers you're wearing?".

** sweat pouring down my face
** muscles straining under the weight of the furnature
** body overheating under the afternoon sun
** my mind, barely able to focus on the question, reaches back for the most logical answer

"They were new when I bought 'em." It made sense to me at the time.

But what was really going through my mind at the time was something like this, all in slow motion:
Of course she can see by the scuffs that they weren't brand-spanking-new-right-out-of-the-box-yesterday, right?
Or does she mean, did I get them recently?
Does she think five months ago is recent?
Ouch, i wonder if anyone could hear that pop in my back.
Is she making a statement on how I am not wearing Converse All Stars?
Does she know that I run regularly now?
Is she making fun of my shortie-socks?
How could she interrupt me while I am so obviously engaged in something else?
What was it that she was asking me?

"They were new when I bought 'em." It was the best answer I could muster under the circumstances.