Go to From The Observation Deck
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- Go to 'In one ear and out the other' now has a whole new meaning . . .
Re: Jimmy
I get ya, Naut! One mental file cabinet is over-stuffed, while several others go completely unused. Like you said, why that is nobody knows for sure. But when it comes to some of those cabinets being empty simply because of a 'lack of interest,' that's a whole other topic of conversation! My brain has a NO VACANCY sign set in place just for those occasional boring factoids . . . 
posted by
JimmyA
on May 3, 2014 at 10:09 AM
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Jimmy
Okay! We don't exactly know how much storage space we have, but most people who have studied these things are convinced that we have far more than we ever use! Aside from a gazillion of reasons for 'forgetting' things (among them what I shall loosely call Freudian ones), and in principle, the main one appears to be lack of interest...
posted by
Nautikos
on May 3, 2014 at 8:22 AM
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
Ahhh that's lovely to read.
posted by
Kabu
on May 2, 2014 at 6:55 PM
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Re: Re: Re:
Will do, Kabu, although I rarely need an excuse . . . 
posted by
JimmyA
on May 2, 2014 at 4:55 AM
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Re:
I don't blame you, TAPS. And I have a feeling that many others don't either. That's probably why they program their smart phones and cell phones to call up someone's phone number with just the touch of one button! But just like my CD track numbers, after a while, people will forget the actual number and say "I have your phone number under button 2 or button 5," and let the phones remember them for them. I'm not sure if that's entirely good or not . . . 
posted by
JimmyA
on May 2, 2014 at 4:54 AM
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Re: Re:
give your lovely wife a hug from me.
posted by
Kabu
on May 1, 2014 at 8:50 PM
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The worst for me is passwords and PINs, and new telephone numbers. I usually remember the phone numbers of people I have called for years. But, I don't want any new ones to memorize.
posted by
TAPS.
on May 1, 2014 at 6:14 PM
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Re:
I know exactly what you mean, C C T. I too have 'nasty flashes' from time to time. Unfortunately, most of them are truer than life! I believe some people refer to them as 'regrets.' And they seem to pop up at the strangest times! Having a decent memory is one thing. But there are many things I wish I couldn't remember . . . 
posted by
JimmyA
on May 1, 2014 at 1:39 PM
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Re:
I'm sure it does, Annicita, and mine seems to kinda go back and forth. Sometimes I retain things instantly, and can relay them to someone else the next day. Other things just don't seem to register. At the same time, I can tell you about something that happened to me in grammar school 45 years ago, but probably couldn't tell you what I had for dinner last Sunday! Weird . . . 
posted by
JimmyA
on May 1, 2014 at 11:43 AM
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The trouble is Jimmy as one gets older well it does to me I keep getting flashes of incidents truer than life, I think 'now what made me remember that, go back you nasty memory, back to your kennel. ' Well that's the way memory seems to go. You are probably the same as Arthur. He seems to know everything about most things. I remember when I started learning short-hand it was so easy, but that is how it is early in life.
posted by
C_C_T
on May 1, 2014 at 10:52 AM
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i read something about that...it has to do with long term vs short term memory
posted by
Annicita
on May 1, 2014 at 10:41 AM
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Re: jimmy,
I know what you mean, jean. I worked at a book publishing company for over three years as a graphic artist, before moving on to a company that creates labels for cylindrical products ( where I worked for the next thirteen years ). I sometimes wonder, if I were to have returned to that previous job, how much knowledge and hands-on experience would I be able to recall, and could I do the job again? Just like if you were to now put down your gardening tools and pick up those doll-making items, how much of that past knowledge would you be able to recall? Perhaps a quick "relearn" would work, but it's hard to say with any real certainty . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on May 1, 2014 at 7:27 AM
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Re:
I understand completely, Kabu. It drives my wife mad sometimes when we come across Jeopardy for a minute or two, and I answer some rather obscure questions. Her first comment is "How the heck did you know that?" And all I can say is, I heard it or read it once, retained it, and was somehow able to recall it! Just don't ask me exactly where it was stored all that time . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on May 1, 2014 at 7:21 AM
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Re: JimmyA
It can't be that bad, Sir Wiley! Something tells me you may be exaggerating a tad! But, we retain what we retain, and the rest falls by the wayside. Such is life, I guess . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on May 1, 2014 at 7:18 AM
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Re:
I have a feeling, FSI, that this can happen to anyone at any time or any age! There are times when I read something, and a half an hour later, I couldn't tell you anything about it. The other times, I come across something on the History Channel or the Discovery Channel, and some little factoid stays with me forever! Bizarre . . .
posted by
JimmyA
on May 1, 2014 at 7:16 AM
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jimmy,
good post. i agree with everyone, my memory is like the memory in my computer where i get little messages pop up saying "memory full". but dont you think that like everything else what we like and what we are doing changes and do does our memory for that thing. i stopped making dolls years ago, i cant tell you much about it now. but i am taking up gardening and that is easier than trying to remember my doll making.
posted by
jeansaw
on April 30, 2014 at 8:33 PM
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I learned in University that the brain noramlly concentrates for 10 minutes maximum on a given subject and then switches off. IS why it is good to listen to tapes of a lecture later and to take good notes. Plus now my short term memory is gone with the Wind or something and I cannot remeber all sorts of silly things.
posted by
Kabu
on April 30, 2014 at 3:19 PM
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JimmyA
Forgetaboutit!!! Can't even remember the post...........
posted by
WileyJohn
on April 30, 2014 at 3:01 PM
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I found that tended to happen when I was in school. My brain would be at times too full to take on new information, and I had to work really hard to learn it.
posted by
FormerStudentIntern
on April 30, 2014 at 10:33 AM
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