It isn't so astonishing, the number of things that I can remember, as the number of things I can remember that aren't so.
My mind is playing tricks on me.
- Geto Boys
There’s been a lot of talk here about court cases the last few days and today I got an unexpected example of why eyewitness testimony is considered so unreliable.
I was sorting through some papers – a very late spring cleaning, if you will – and I was delighted to stumble upon a screen print of the Open Salon front page from March 11, 2009. It was the first time my ugly mug had appeared there and I had forgotten that I kept a souvenir from the occasion.
In case you’re interested, the top 10 most read that day were: Heather Michon, Saturn Smith, Cymraeg, Sandra No Longer Miller, Amy Tuteur MD, David Decker, Jodi Kasten, fingerlakeswanderer, 1_Irritated_Mother and mistercomedy. One of Scott Mendelson’s movie reviews was on the front page and OEsheepdog had just posted a comment.
But what made me gasp in surprise was: I had a different avatar. It was a caricature of me by my daughter Michelle, as my current one is, but it was much cruder. The pencil drawing was fainter, my nose was pointed and my hair was long.
I don’t, for the life of me, remember ever using that. I don’t, for the life of me, remember ever updating it. If you had put me on the witness stand and placed my hand on the Bible, I would have testified that I have used the current avatar since Day One. If you had hooked me up to a polygraph, I would have said the same thing and probably fooled the machine since I would have absolutely believed that I was telling the truth. Makes me wonder what else about my life I’ve remembered incorrectly.
The human memory is a frail and very inefficient storage device. Use that as an excuse the next time you forget your significant other’s birthday.
God bless the potholes
Down on Memory Lane
Hope some real big ones open up
Take some of the memories that do remain.
- Randy Newman
The original avatar:
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Susan Mihalic
Man Talk Now
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Comments
I doubt I would have remembered if you changed your av. I am sad that you lost your mouth though.
L
I just got home and exhausted but this avatar of yours is kind nifty.
HUGGGGGGGGGGGGG
"Oh no your Honor! Never!"
:-) / R
♥
I like the crude drawing too- it captures you in some profound way. It's the hippy Cranky. Michelle has talent.
We all have a little bit of "selective memory." Ya think?!
Perhaps human memory isn't an inefficient storage device. Perhaps it's too efficient, working very hard to capture what we --in the moment--deem important. Photographs have frames and focus to show point of view. Humans have biased memories. Personally efficient.
R
Unfortunately I can't remember why.
"Press FRed(tm) please send."
I look at my own brain-memory device as having a certain capacity. In with the new, out with the old. For example, songs I figured out and memorized on guitar in the past. Not only can I no longer remember how to play them; can't even remember that I once knew them, until I hear the old song used in a movie, or... etc.
Which brings up the antithesis to my theory. It's ALL in there... somewhere, deep down.. every danged moment, from birth. Ever have a memory of early childhood triggered by a smell? Certain perfumes, bacon frying, tomato vines... and BAM: vivid flashback of some scene from when I was 3 feet tall.
The brain is a strange and awesome device. Fun post.
Rated for Dewey decimal.