First off, this isn’t a blog about “Senior Moments”. You know, like when you get up and go into another room and the second you enter the other room you can’t for the life of you remember why you’re there.
drz.orgThe annoying part is that the only way to remember why you went in there is to go back to the room you started in. As soon as you do, you immediately remember why you got up in the first place.
“Oh right. I really have to pee.”
No, this blog is about memory and memories. Why does my brain work the way it does? Why do I remember some things and not others? Let me explain. I went to college. I was a biology major and pre-med. I took lots and lots of science courses; biology, physics, math, and chemistry. I got good grades. All A’s or B’s. I learned lots of stuff. I knew calculus. I knew what a derivative was. No, not the financial thingies that caused the global crash of 2008, but equations that started with dy/dx, or something like that.
Notice the past tense in these last sentences? I “knew” all these things. Today, all that information is gone! Vanished, like I never took any of those courses. Actually, I do remember that there was something called the “Krebs Cycle.” It had to do with respiration or metabolism. I know it’s something we all do that’s very important. If we don’t do it, we die. But that’s all I remember. Yet, with no effort at all, I can recite all the words to the theme song to the 1960’s TV show Mr. Ed!!!
Youtube.com
“A horse is a horse of course of course, and nobody can talk to a horse of course. That is of course, unless the horse, is the famous Mr. Ed.” I could go on to the second verse.
But I won’t.
Hell, I can even recite the words to “Car 54 Where Are You?” And I didn’t really watch the show that often!
Youtube.com
“There’s a hold up in the Bronx,
Brooklyn’s broken out in fights.
There’s a traffic jam in Harlem that’s backed up to Jackson Heights.
There’s a scout troop short a child.
Khrushchev’s due at Idlewild.
Car 54 where are you?”
I swear I wrote those from memory. They flowed effortlessly from my brain, like crap through a goose. I didn’t Google them. Which brings me to my next point.
We live in an amazing age. We have all the knowledge of the world literally at our fingertips. Any question you could possibly think of can be googled. It’s gotten so easy that you can type the most rambling of questions and still get the right answer. For example, a while ago I got into a conversation about time travel and it reminded me of a movie I’d seen a long time ago. It was about an aircraft carrier that went back in time to just before Pearl Harbor. I couldn’t for the life of me remember the name so I typed the following sentence into Google:
“There was this movie a long time ago about an aircraft carrier that goes back in time to just before Pearl Harbor and ….”
At this point Google popped up “The Final Countdown.” It listed the cast, the plot, and where I could buy it. All before I could finish typing a full sentence! Wow!
imdb.com
It made me realize something. I could use the internet to bring back all that science knowledge I once had! But I don’t. I use it for far more important stuff. Mostly, finding out the name of the actor my wife and I are currently watching on TV. We know we’ve seen him or her on some other show, but we can’t for the life of us remember either his/her name or the show’s name. Google it! Go to IMDB!
“Oh, right! She was the head doctor on that show we used to watch back in the 90’s!”
“Right! She was married to … what’s his name? He was on … what was the name of that show?”
Back to Google. So in the end, I still don’t know why my brain works the way it does. If you’re interested, here’s a link to the Kreb’s Cycle.
en.wikipedia.org
When I started reading it, I actually remembered most of it. Although I gotta admit. It was pretty dull. Mr. Ed was a lot more fun. Hmm, maybe I do know why my brain works the way it does.
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Categories: Humor, Movies, Television, Tom Curley
CAN’T REMEMBER ANYTHING? GOOGLE IT – TOM CURLEY 
TECHNICOLOR DREAMS AND GENETIC NIGHTMARES – BY TOM CURLEY 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
It’s called “rutcitis” as in when you are caught in one (Rut, that is) remembering some innocuous music theme, or song, from some, equally innocuous, TV show. But HEY!, the composers of such things, knew that the only way to insure they’d not be forgotten would bee to infect your brain with some, nonsensical, ditty the only purpose of which was to drive you crazy, just when you’re trying to get some peace and quiet. Try this one on for size, the opening to Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, or was it the 3rd.., no matter, because those 3 notes (Tah, dah dah daaahh) live on in your head forever. The thing about “Car 54”, or Mr. “Ed” is that it will be in your head for the rest of the day. How about the “Leave it to Beaver”, or “Howdy Doody” themes…, Ok, sorry…, I’m going off here as those have been in my head for years…, somebody please HELP me.., puuleeeze!
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Bro, I remember “Say, kids —what time is it?….’IT’S HOWDY DOODY TIME, it’s time to sing and cheer, ‘cause Howdy Doody’s here…”
There’s no help for us, Ben. We are recidivists in this Trivia stuff. We can’t turn our lives around. We are headed for….The Big Sleep.
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Ya Hadda remind me, right?
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So, I am currently taking on-line math and science courses. And, yes, I do remember it as I relearn it, unfortunately not before 😉 You would think that once I remembered one little bit that it would all flow back, but no. On the other hand, I can sit down and play a song on the keyboards that I have not heard since I was 16, go and search out the video to discover that not only did I remember it more or less correctly, but I played it in the right key, because that is the key I heard it in my head….
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The doctors say that when someone has Alzheimer’s, music the the last thing to go. You may forget everything else, but for some reason, music sticks. This is why some very old singers still are able to perform when they don’t do much else, but if their voice or performing ability is intact, they can still do it.
If my hands weren’t so arthritic, I can still play pretty well and I remember pretty much every piece I ever played, from the earliest stuff when I was four or five to most recently when I was exploring Scott Joplin. I don’t play it as well as I did when I was practicing, but I can still play it. My fingers remember.
Why is an interesting question.
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For some reason our brains are wired for music, it is so much a part of us, even more than language. I do have some “muscle memory” for music I have played in the past, but it isn’t good as my inner ear. I can still sit down and my hands just start playing old things, but there are other pieces that I try to relearn and it is so difficult!
I agree, why are our brains so wired for music? That is an interesting one.
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Trent, WHY…why are you taking on-line MATH and SCIENCE courses? Are you planning to go where no man has gone before? I salute you!
I had a difficult time with Math and Science in school. Just couldn’t wrap my brain around the numbers, equations and theories. I finally MEMORIZED key things for Summer School and a second chance to pass Intermediate Algebra in High School. I didn’t understand the stuff — just memorized it and, fortunately, passed the final exam. It’s all lost now in the misty mid region of my aging brain.
I sing lyrics from old songs, first heard maybe 60 years ago or more. The parts of the songs I never knew, I still don’t know.
I’m Ace Eli when it comes to movie trivia–trivia from obscure b-films that matter only to movie buffs like me. I can almost instantly identify bit actors from movies released in the early 30’s. Impressive, eh? But–But –I forget to put water in the coffee maker. It’s happening more and more. It’s part of my daily routine. On late afternoon kitchen cleanup, I put up the coffee for tomorrow, telling myself “Put the water in, Garry”. There are more and more tomorrow mornings when Marilyn says, “Garry, you forgot to put water in the coffee maker”. Dammit, I’m POSITIVE I did. I even reminded myself to do it.
It’s like WHY did I go into bathroom as Tom Curley mentioned. No, I didn’t go into the bathroom with Tom. My body usually reminds me just before things go awry. And, when I remember WHY — my brain is recalling some obscure 1930’s film.
It’s NOT — Top of the world, Ma –anymore.
Where’s Toto?
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I’m a bit like Tom in that I studied math and science in college – I started in engineering but ended up as a math major. I never really sued it, but…
I lately I have been watching a lot of physics and astronomer videos. It fascinates me. But I know enough to know that I am only scratching the surface. Unfortunately, for things like astrophysics, you need to understand calculus, and since it has been eons since I studied it… well, that’s why I’m doing it, and if Elon Musk hires me to go to space, I’ll go 😉 Well, after he stops blowing up a new spaceship every couple of weeks….
I do have a lot of odd ball trivia stored, but mostly it is music. And, yeah, I do forget every day things, though I’ve only forgotten the water in the coffee maker a handful of times. So far.
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Okay, Trent, I am OFFICIALLY impressed with you endeavors. Best of luck, my friend.
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Thanks, Garry.
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I was singing right along with you–didn’t even need your words! But I could not remember Toody’s first name. Googled it–Gunther!
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That’s good memorizing! I remember all the songs, but forget everything else.
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I’m pretty much the same….
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Marilyn, I’m like your Mom when it comes to singing some of those favorite old tunes. I sing the same lyrics — usually the beginning or end of the song…over and over with huge chunks of the song – gone with the wind.
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Lois, it’s a matter of pride with me. I gotta remember it from my memory. I put the little people who work in my brain — on overtime until I come up with trivia.
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