Bring on the Night

Today it just came to me how much ridiculous info we humans keep inside our heads. I bet you know what I mean. Read on.

I can’t remember what tasks I finished yesterday if my life depended on it, but somehow the lead actors in Nightrider and Airwolf came scarily easy to me. It’s just one of the crappy facts I don’t know why I remember. The Airwolf/Nightrider stuff happened this Friday when a colleague mentioned some old-school 80’s crappy series including the two. I haven’t seen Airwolf or anything involving these actors for a decade, but apparently they are still buried inside my grey porridge under “worthless but memorable data”. The names just flew out my mouth, before I sensed that I knew.

If you should wonder the correct answers are:

Night Rider: Michael Hasselhoff Follow this link if you are a hardcore fan. If you’re not, turn back now.

Ok, that one was easy, since we all (hopefully!?) frown at Michael Hasselhoff (if not for being a mediocre actor, then for sure his singing “career”). But Airwolf is a bit scarier. Especially if you keep in mind that I am not American and haven’t seen other movies/series with these guys that I can remember. Oh, and the main actors in Airwolf, was:

Jan-Michael Vincent and his sidekick Ernest Borgnine (who apparently have made a shitload of movies, I just found out now as I made the link).

But hell, who would want to remember those names? Not me, and that’s the problem. I did and it makes me a tad worried for the human race.

Unfortunately this not a single incident of stupid info I have been known to dig from nowhere. It’s worse that that. I can never remember such stuff on command, or memorize many things by seeing them one time. I’m miserable in that regard. I’d probably flunk that part of the IQ test with no trouble. When it comes to remembering, my brain is selective and only chose crappy facts. It never asks me before storing and mostly it doesn’t even tell me when it stores at all. It can’t be forced either. I’ve tried and failed. There is only really one justification to it. I hear voices!

Ok, maybe not. But it sure beats any rational explanation I can come up with anyway.

I’ve noticed that many of my colleagues actually think I am a bit weird about this “skill” (or lack of same), and I have to agree to some extend. All in all I have an average memory. The problem is that it’s just the wrong things that stick, while it make the important stuff fade away. There is no red thread through what I can remember and what I can’t, but the most close would be that I remember things that annoy me best.

One more thing I have been blamed for (with good reason) is that my eyes go blank when someone tells a story. In my head I actually envision the situation in pictures and quickly build on this if a joke is required. Pair this with a vivid imagination, and you have an endless source for stupid remarks. Taa adaaa! I’m the office idiot….

I know people think/remember differently and that my way is just one of many. I think I am the only one like this in my department, which basically makes me an easy target. For example some of my colleagues have picked up on this, and have their fun with me at times. They just describe stories a bit more graphical than normal and there I go: Blank eyes and a face expression that fits the vision inside my head. Not always a pretty picture.

During the weekly help-me-my-computer-sucks-phonecall I get from my relatives and friends I can mostly “see” the windows and buttons in acceptable detail inside my head. Woooohhooo scary right? And that is when I am nowhere near a computer. Spookey stuff. I don’t have a photographic memory, which is why I always keep my camera in my pocket. Sometimes seeing pictures is helpful. For example: how many here else can disable vsync on your nVidia graphic card in Windows by pictures, menus and buttons popping up on request inside their heads? On the other hand, how many would want to?

The downside is that I can’t remember half of the things I agreed about with my friends yesterday. Maybe I borrowed money and good luck getting those back soon if you can’t remember for both of us. Whatever I decided with a friend some days ago have good chance of being gone by now. It’s not that I don’t want to remember, and if I am reminded it always comes back to me. This stuff just doesn’t stick well enough for me to bring it up by myself. I am extremely dependant on my Outlook calendar at work. At least I can remember to put tasks there if I’m fast. My memory is like ying and yang and I can’t explain it. Something does not fit.

Am I becoming a light version of Rainman or am I just degenerating as the world watch?

I don’t know which way it goes, but my memory sure hasn’t been getting better the last years. On the contrary my random Pictonary memory has improved. Or maybe I just notice it more.

If this way of thinking/remembering could be moderated to fit my life I would like to convert it to something useful like:

• Remembering to put the seat down after a visit to the toilet
• Remembering that used clothes should go in the wash bin and not on the floor
• Remembering what plans I made yesterday and not have to write it on my mobile/Outlook calendar
• Remembering special dates and birthdays
• Remembering. well, you get the picture and so do I apparently.