Memory Is Queer… And Mine Is Jacked (Part 2)
Catch up here: Memory Is Queer And Distinct To The Individual
As far as the soldier goes, I have been wanting to ask him about something for awhile.
The soldier has an extraordinary memory, this is a Taurean trait. I have a terrifically poor memory but this must be qualified.
I realize there is probably just one of you (if that) who believes my memory is akin to the Drew Barrymore’s in 50 First Dates, however it is as all my close friends would attest. That is one lousy memory however I make up for in certain ways.
For example I can write conversations, VERBATIM that happened 30 or even 40 years ago but in whatever case when it comes to the soldier and I, he is the one who holds most of our memories.
When he tells me about things there is a sort of jog of delay and then the memory begins to dawn and winds up some degree of crystallized but the degree is not very high. ::laughs::
In other words he may have to remind me of something a few times, maybe even 5 times before it starts to be real and it may take even longer for me to integrate the memory to the point where I can come in with my own version of events that are independent from his. This process takes at least a year but more typically 2 or 3 years.
People have various theories as to why my memory is so poor (and grand) but whatever the explanation is, this is the situation so I let him lead when it comes to recalling things.
It’s been a great gift in both directions and something my friend, HQ picked up on very early on. “He’s got your memories,” he said. “That’s going to be fun for him,” he said a few years back.
It was (is) hard for me to grasp that but HQ was right. It has been fun for the soldier. He holds a lot of power as he can unfold things when he wants and how he wants but I do have some memories and I mean memories that he has not had to restore.
I have visceral memories. This is something I’ve not talked about in a long time, maybe 5 years or so but I am a highly visceral person and I mean to a degree that is just off the page. I do hold these type memories which he knows nothing about.
I have a few (precious few) other memories of real events of conversations and while it is probably hard to imagine this, I cherish them.
I don’t talk to him about my independent memory because it’s just so slight. It is slight to begin with but in comparison to his it is just this small tiny sliver so perhaps you can understand while I might want to hold on to it.
To be continued.
How is your memory, particularly in comparison to other people’s mental processes?
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18 Responses to “Memory Is Queer… And Mine Is Jacked (Part 2)”
My memory is good (Taurus Sun/Mercury). I think this is the reason why I’m disturbed when someone reminds me of something huge and I don’t remember it…I worry I’m losing my mind. Then the other person says “Well forgetting is normal” but I don’t think so!
My sister is also a Taurus but her memory is terrible. She has lost huge chunks of her childhood which we both attribute to trauma.
I’m with Kashmiri - Taurus Sun and Mercury.
My Dad told me I have a photographic memory, which I doubt, but I do recall a lot of things in “images”. At the office I worked in I was the go-to person for finding any information, and most of the time, if I had ever seen it, I could find it again.
I have strange memories, though, of things in my childhood that nobody can verify. As a child (12th house Sun) I lived in fantasy a lot, so I wonder if some of the fantasy implanted as “real” memories?
I can remember things that I’ve read a lot better than things I’ve done. It’s one of the reasons I keep a diary.
Mine is rubbish… a fact which was underlined when I joined facebook and had people recounting all sorts of supposedly shared things which I have no recollection of at all. I tend to have impressions/feelings of things rather than detailed memories.
I’ve had to delete alot of memories to make space for chinese characters. I know thousands of hanzi but I can’t remember what day it is ever and I have no concept of time. I have a terrible time recalling order of events.
It’s kind of weird for me. With numbers/codes my memory is amazing. I pick up patterns really well. I don’t know if I’d call it a photographic memory but I can a lot of the time remember things like clothing worn, music heard, food eaten, etc etc the most random, unimportant things from years and years ago. Conversations too, but this has mostly been with my significant others, tell me something once and I will never, ever forget it!!! 
BUT, when it comes to things like my purse, atm card, wallet… lmao I am horrible. I can’t count the number of times I have left my purse or wallet someplace (but surprisingly, I always get it back without anything ever taken out of it… I think it’s good karma haha)
way better than most people’s.
if it’s something important.
but not words. my memeory for conversations is pathetic. i’m far better at visual and visceral memories. i remember things through pictures and sensations (& emotion) not what people say. but i can reconstruct a whole lot just by playing the little soundless movie in my head.
I think my memory is similar to yours though certainly not to the same degree. I remember very specific things from years ago and sometimes more current things that no one else noticed or recalls. I have to take careful notes on the dogs I groom so I remember them. It takes me several times of grooming a dog before I remember the dog and it’s owner. It’s frustrating because my boss remembers everything and is amazed at how little I remember.
I also get snippets of old songs out of the blue which I attribute to 12th house moon and neptune in Scorpio. The things that come through in the moment are intense and pertinent. And fleeting.
scorp mercury sextile virgo pluto you think my mind would be a steel trap but neptune is involved so… it is seesaw-ish.
I have good recall for inane trivia.
Embarrassingly good memory - Taurus Ascendant. Hubby’s is not as good as mine, but he remembers completely different things - Scorpio Ascendant. Our 36th Anniversary was yesterday.
Then how can you recall stories/conversations verbatim?
as Kashmiri & kiriecat — Taurus Mercury/Sun + Venus. Pachydermic long term memory! Short term memory totally blows — except for dreams which I’ll recall effortlessly n for years too. Exact words, usually not, unless I also felt strongly… Numbers… I occasionally fumble when asked for my phone number which can be embarrassing.
Definitely strong photographic (& spacial) memory, I think that’s taken for granted unless it’s repeatedly witnessed & pointed out by others. Also tactile (guess that’s the Earth) and ofalctory tho since the later is the most ancient of the senses (in the reptilian part of the brain) smell has the most staying power for everyone, wether or not we’re aware of it or have the vocabulary for.
Doesn’t trauma always leave some holes unless it’s been processed? Regardless of the specific traits of one’s memory?
furiana, I don’t know but I can do it, I’ll tell you that. I just sit there with the dialogue in my head and my fingers fly.
I can’t remember EVERY conversation but the conversations I can remember are exact and start from the time I am about 8 or 10. For example, I can write my sister and my dialogue from when we were kids and this is just how it is. It is also why my stories are full of dialogue and why it is so good (people say). It’s because it is real / actual.
one time I wrote a whole story in dialogue, my sister and i telling a 3rd person about something because this is what we did and rather than tell the story, I told the story as we told this other person so it was as if you were in the room that day. I was enamored with that piece because I knew it was unusual. Anyway, I don’t know how I can but I sure as hell can do it and I wrote a whole book this way.
grr - yes, for some. There is a debate around my memory and some people think trauma explains it, either psychological or physical ie brain damage or possibly a combination of both.
There are other ideas as well however I don’t think we will ever really know.
I have really BAD memory! My memory for conversations and details is pathetic. Im better using my visual and visceral memories.. remembering things through pictures and emotion.
I always think in broad and general terms and words may not come easily to me. Please dont ask me “What exactly do you mean?” . (:P hehe)
I tend to remember and perceive things in terms of whole situations and groups of very individual feelings. My ‘detail’ memory is so bad that usually I resort to pictures .
When im ”remembering” I just can’t resist exaggerating things! I can blow up the tiniest detail until it is out of all proportion.
The good thing is that i’m a keen learner and not prone to make the same mistake twice… since i never forget them:)
Sun, Mercury ,Saturn,Uranus, Sagittarius
Moon, Leo
Jupiter,Mars,asc Pisces
grr I have a great time remembering dreams from years ago. I stlll remember a dreams I had in kindergarten.
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Terrible short term word memory! It’s a bit like having a photograph of a memory in my head but the word balloons are blank. It’s funny because anybody could put any words in those balloons at any time - switch ‘em round and about and I would always believe those words were spoken!!!