I woke this morning at 5am. I lay awake for a few minutes and was just about to turn over and go back to the Land of Nod when ideas suddenly started flooding into my head. All sorts of ideas about all sorts of things. It was as if my Memory had suddenly been turned on. Now those of you who have known me for years know that I was born with a very poor ability to remember things. Facts and lists and information just don't stick with me which is why I loathe quizzes with a passion. I am totally hopeless. The children of my New Zealand Family loved them and were always trying to get me to take part (my other pet dread was Monopoly).
Having a good memory is regarded as one of the things that equates to intelligence. When I was reading for my first degree at University I was told by my course tutor that if I ever did any post grad study then do it by dissertation not exam. I was good at essays and research and always got A to A++ in my written work submitted (except for a notorious economics paper where I got a C and caused a laugh when I said that understanding economics was, for me, like going forward in reverse gear.).
My entire adult life has been a matter of lists and notes to remind me 'to do' 'to remember' etc. If I do not have my diary then I am lost - totally. If I didn't have my diaries going back to the year dot then I would have no memory - just memories. There is a subtle difference. The brain is a strange and wonderful place.
So I am sitting at my laptop at 5.20am feverishly trying to make notes and recall the ideas for blog posts that I was thinking about when I woke.
I love Blogland and blogging but life at the moment is so full of living that I've not actually been participating in commenting or writing blog posts. I have been reading where I can. I can do that on my phone when I'm waiting for someone or something but, as most people will know, trying to comment on a phone involves signing in every time one wants to comment which is a pain.
I can't promise to get up at 5am every day (or ever again for that matter) but at least at 6am I have had two coffees, fed the birds and the fishes and still have 6½ hours before I'm meeting my son for lunch.
I am clearly not most people because I do not know about having to sign in every time one wants to comment on a phone because it is not so on my phone. As for your memory I cannot comment except that I know you have a bad memory and I have a good one.
ReplyDeleteThat is me, Rachel. I have no idea why it appeared as Anonymous.
DeleteRachel, I don't have to sign in to read the blog but if I don't sign in then my comment appears as Anonymous. On many blogs Anonymous comments go to the Spam folder.
DeleteOn many blogs many comments go into Spam Graham. I know several of my regulars go into Spam and I have to check daily to fish them out.
DeleteMy memory fails sometimes but I cannot imagine how a memory issue such as you describe would affect my life. I do make lists for some things but often forget!
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, I have just blogged about a memory that cropped up here this morning. Great minds and all that!
Ah yes, JayCee, I just popped over and read it.
DeleteI pity the people who can never forget anything - that must be so tiring.
ReplyDeleteJanice, I recall a radio programme from years ago, where someone was describing just that. I recall it because I found how he described what he felt exceptionally upsetting at the time. I can't recall the details but I can recakll the emotions I felt.
DeleteLife getting in the way of blogging is not a bad thing (except for medical matters). I don't think intelligence and memory are related. "like going forward it reverse gear", made me smile widely.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Andrew, but I'm conflicted because I have enjoyed Blogland for so many years and would hate not to be part of it.
DeleteThank you, Graham, for defining periods of my life when “going forward in reverse gear” explains everything! I suspect that memory and intelligence are connected and having the discipline to keep a diary no doubt helps greatly. It’s good that you have a busy life and can barely squeeze in time for blogging. On a dull, rainy or foggy day we will still be here, ready to resume our online relationship at your pleasure.
ReplyDeleteDavid, I do hope that Blogland and Bloggers remain part of my life for a long time yet.
DeletePerhaps it was a new Graham Edwards who woke this morning, replacing the one with the hopeless memory. The new Graham Edwards might apply to be on "Mastermind", his specialist subject being - Ancient Sites on The Isle of Lewis. In preparation, perhaps we could have some illustrated reports about such sites in "Eagleton Notes".
ReplyDeleteNeil, one of the results of being a bureaucrat in a former existence is that I tend to research and then write boring treatises on such things. I keep thinking of blogging about my existence as a 'potter' which could be interesting if I didn't think in officialese.
DeleteGraham, you have kept half-promising to blog more about your previous life as a potter for as long as I've known you, I think :)
DeleteThat gave me a wry laugh, Monica. You are, of course, correct. Perhaps this winter! After all we've passed midsummer and the nights are drawing in again.
DeleteI love waking up when my mind is whirring away on a memory, or problem that had been troubling me when I went to bed the previous night. As opposed to that groggy stuporous state that makes coffee a mandatory start. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteDebby, I agree with you wholeheartedly. This morning is a coffee start! Obviously my brain couldn't cope with two good starts in a row.
DeleteMy memory isn't great. In fact, I also live life checking my diary and referring to lists. How interesting that you experienced an unexpected moment of clarity!
ReplyDeleteAlso, just to let you know, I have a new URL for my blog. https://alongthewaywithj.blogspot.com
Jules, I could do with a few more moments of clarity! Thanks for the heads up. I've just accessed your new URL.
DeleteMy youngest son has a memory that remembers everything he has seen or read. At least it seems that way because he always speaks with such conviction that we believe what he says. He just got his PhD last year. I do not have a memory like that at all! I make lists and have lots of reminders on my calendars.
ReplyDeleteI read an interesting article in the New Yorker the other day that questions our memories as often our imagination gets involved and we remember things differently than they might have actually happened.
Ellen, your final sentence was particularly interesting because I've recently had one or two discussions about that very thing. I wondered whether, in some cases, our brain changes our memories because a friend and I had totally different takes on the same incident and were both convinced in our own minds that our version was the 'correct' version of events.
DeleteYou found a way to cope with a challenge of memory difficulties.
ReplyDeleteRed, coping mechnisms are so important in life aren't they?
DeleteYet another thing we have in common! My memory is weak and my recall is subject to doubt, so I rely on lists and notes and my "journal" which I've kept for thirty-five years! This history provides me entry to another life, one I don't really remember but know is true because I've written it down in copious detail.
ReplyDeleteI can't leave a comment on your blog unless i click on somebody's Reply. Then I show up as Anonymous.
DeleteSorry Jill. Hope you are well.
Memory is selective. I can remember shoes, but not the person's name wearing them.
Enjoy lunch with your son
May at aka Salty Pumpkin
Jill, I think we are finding more things in common with every communication.
DeleteMay (do you prefer that to Maywyn?) I love you statement about shoes and the wearer. That made me laugh. Oddly I have always looked at people's shoes because you can tell so much from a person's footwear. This was more difficult in New Zealand where so many people simply wore jandals.
Looking forward to blog stories of some of the memories!!!
ReplyDeleteMarcheline, I wish thatI could re-allocate the time I have each day to spend more of it remembering stories. I was given a 'Memories' book for Christmas to start writing them for my grandchild. Hmmm.
DeleteIt seems many of us have memory issues. I have loved my lists for most of my life and would be so lost without them. Hope you are staying well and enjoying summer :) xx
ReplyDeleteMargaret, thanks for your good wishes. So far so good. My New Zealand family are over in Scotland because the oldest child is getting married and having a ceremony for the Scottish members of the family. They are coming to the Hebrides for a while too. So I'm a happy bunny.
DeleteI too have more problems commenting on blogs from my phone. And even on the computer it seems to matter "where I came from" when trying to comment. (I.e. which link I used, and from where, to get to the blog post in question to start with.) I've not quite had the energy to figure it ut...
ReplyDeleteAs for general quizzes, my brain seems not really to be made to store too much of that sort of info either. The rest of my family loved playing Trivial Pursuit. I nearly always lost. More personal memories seem to fall into another category for me. But especially these days, with the internet - why bother to remember long lists of things that you can just as well look up when you need them? ;-)
Monica, I have taken heart from your comment because I know that you must have the capacity for remembering things because you are multi-lingual. Something I once dreamed of being but, alas, 'twas not to be. You are absolutely right about looking things up though. I'd be lost without that facility.
DeleteI have never commented on or written a blog post from my phone so can't address that item. However, life can get in the way, as you put it of blogging and that is not entirely a bad thing. Like yourself, I enjoy blogging but find it easier to post than to read posts on a daily basis, so i try to catch up with recent posts on a weekly basis now.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice, I think I have just got to be more self-disciplined. You put a lot of research into some of your posts though. Either that or you have an incredible memory for detail.
DeleteI DO get-up at 5 am every day! I had a cousin (sadly murdered in Canada) who had a remarkable memory. He could read the most complicated books and memorise each page word for word. He passed all his medical exams first time, and became the most qualified doctor of his era. Sadly his cousin (me) didn't inherit the same ability.
ReplyDeleteCro, I cannot pretend that I am a habitual very early riser. 6.30 -7.00 is my usual time depending on when I wake. I often go to bed very late though. My maternal Uncle at 93 could recall word for word pages on school books. He had a photographic memory. I can only dream....
DeleteMy memory is not as good as it used to be, but I blame the typical daily overflow of information nearly all of us are subject to. In my working life alone, I have to handle so many different strings at once, learn new regulations almost on a monthly base and adapt to each and everyone of my various employers and clients.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, somehow my brain manages to store the most useless trivia - useful only when one participates in a pub quiz.
I have a good memory for places and faces. Once I've been somewhere, it is very rare for me to need a map for orientation, and once I've met someone, I know I have met them before - even though I can't always place them immediately, especially not when meeting them in a different context (i.a. work v. leisure).
Anyway, it is always good to read from you, Graham, but we all know how life has a tendency to get between us and our blogging time :-)
Meike, you have the great advantage over me of being naturally organised and focussed both in mind and in body. I, on the other hand, am the perfect example of someone who tries to do far to many things at the same time and thus spends far too much time getting things done.
DeleteI research things all the time and have found out so many interesting things! Sadly, they filter right out of my brain. I must start writing them down!
ReplyDeleteKay, if I don't make a note either in my "To Do Etc" book or my phone "Reminders" then the chances of me remembering something are pretty limited.
DeleteSounds like you still have a very full life there Graham and that is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteG'day, Graham...my mind comes alive each night when I decided it is time for me to go to sleep. My mind has a mind of its own, which can be very, very frustrating!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI love doing puzzles...and each day spend time doing same. Cryptic crosswords, general knowledge crosswords, sudoku (which drive me insane!) and other word puzzles. My addictions, I think!
Take good care... :)
Lee, I do the general knowledge crosswords on my own and with some coffee companions.I've never taken to cryptic crosswords. I did sudoko (people often think it's maths but, of course, it's just pure logic) until I'd conquered 'Difficult' and then I lost interest.
DeleteSounds like a good start for the day. Hope the memories keep flooding back. I love my photo albums for that reason.
ReplyDeleteDiane, it was a very satisfying start to the day. I have gradually been going through all the photos I've amassed. I took my first one at the age of 8.
DeleteMemory is a starnge beast for us all. Many memories are distorted by time or even made up.
ReplyDeleteMy memory of facts is determined mostly by how interested I am in the topic so it's variable, to say the least.
I'm glad you're living life!
Thanks, Kylie. Memories can certainly get distorted by time. and one's point of view of what happened. I agree about whether on is interested or not in that I intentionally discard things I'm not interested in and involuntarily lose the others!
DeleteI wonder if my memory might turn back on, too. I rely on lists to remind myself about just about everything but my memories of the past are possibly clearer than ever. My day to day memory has gone missing along with motivation. And energy. Thankfully I cling on to good health and happiness, as I hope you do, too.
ReplyDeletePauline, I am happy as a pig in the proverbial thank you. Energy is more questionable. I can't recall what my memory is like but it was always atrocious so I'd be surprised at an improvement. So long as we carry on carrying on!
Delete