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Monday, August 13, 2007

Taking a stroll


Anymore, my strolls down Memory Lane require a walker. I used to have an incredible memory. Now I have a so-so memory. I was dropping some shirts off at the dry cleaner last week and the clerk asked me for the last four digits of my telephone number. I can normally recall my entire telephone number, but I was having a hard time just isolating the last four digits. Of course this could just be the way my brain stores information.

My personal theory about memory is that, although we have tons of excess brain capacity, the librarian in the brain gets sloppier and sloppier about where he or she files things. And the older we get, the more crap we have to remember. So although all the information is there somewhere, it sometimes takes awhile to find it.

“Okay, where did I put my bank card pin number…I think I left it over by the name of my pet parakeet when I was in 5th grade. No, maybe it is there next to my SAT scores. If that is the case, I’ll never find it…wait there it is, right next to my junior high locker combination.”

Sometimes I try and recall my first memory. I used to think it was sitting on a blanket in my front yard as a baby with our dog Lucky sitting nearby. But I think the real reason I think that is my earliest memory is that it is one of the first photographs I have of me.

I actually think the best memory is a photograph. I remember things better if I have a photograph. I think we will remember things better now that we have the digital age and can snap photos with our telephones.

But then again there is also Photoshop and we’ve all seen what Photoshop can do when placed in the wrong hands.

But I digress.

One of the ironies about our computer age and the ability to store more and more memories in hard drives that have more “memory” (I saw a portable drive last week with 1 terabyte of memory or a trillion bytes) is that we still have to remember a password to access them. Then we have to remember what we named the file and where we stored it. Then by the time we find the file we forget why we wanted it.

Oh well, there was a point to this post when I started out. I just can’t remember what it was.

14 comments:

Lights in the wake said...

So, did you remember to pick up the shirts from the dry cleaners?

Time said...

Lights,
I'm just waiting for them to call me when they are ready....wait a minute....shit.

Isabella said...

LOL...I forget what I was laughing at now. I'll come back when I remember.

Hayden said...

love the photo, sez it all.

oh wait, I remember, there were words, too. right. I even laughed.

Hummm, I still think a lot of the forgetting is about stress. that enables me to place blame elsewhere, and that suits me just fine.

Isabella said...

Ok...I've got over my fit of the giggles....

It's no wonder the more elderly citizens can't get with the modern age. All the bloody passwords, PIN numbers, codes. You can't even hire out a movie these days without having a password. Why bother giving you a card if they have to punch in a password anyway.

My memory won't let me find ANYTHING and neither will my handbag. Just ask anyone who has ever seen me trying to find my keys.....even the kitchen sink gets lost in there.

Whitesnake said...

I had intended to post a comment but I forgot what I was going to say!

Whitesnake said...

Oh Yes now I remember I was going to say......
Shit man I forgot!
No that wasn't it!
It was something...........Oh well it can't have been important....

Sigh, old age me thinks!

BlazngScarlet said...

What are we talking about again???

Isabella said...

I don't know Blaze but I think Tim has forgotten where his blog is or hopefully he's just gone to pick up his dry cleaning.

Time said...

Isabella,
I see you remembered to come back.

Hayden,
I snapped the photo on the Washington coast years ago. I loved the irony of it. I like to think stress is the culpret for me as well.

Whitesnake,
A brain is a terrible thing to waste.

Blaznfyre,
Try to remember the kind of September and follow, follow, follow, follow.

Isabella,
I remembered, I've just been too stressed to blog.

Anonymous said...

My son-in-law tells me my memory problem is directly linked to the holes all the diet pepsi I drink is eating into my brain cells. Jeesh, educate them and the next thing you know they're getting a smart mouth.

Isabella said...

Hopefully a big HUG will relieve some of the stress....(((((HUGS)))))

Anonymous said...

That has got to be one of the most depressing photos you've ever posted. And, no, it's not just because your face isn't on it.

Time said...

Kat,
It is a know fact that Diet Pepsi actual increases brain cells. Diet Coke is another story.

Isabella,
I've forgotten all about my stress.

Kristy,
Missed my face, huh? But a person who posts pornographic images of sock monkeys really doesn't have much room to talk.