Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for May 15, 2022

Been there, done that. But I’ve discovered it’s rarely worth the trouble to find the info.

I know I came into this room but have no idea why.

Her memory has caved in

That’s a LOT like wondering why you came into this room

She can actually look for things in her brain that she forgot? That’s not how mine works. I need to put the search aside and clear my mind before I can remember the detail later on.

At first I thought she was searching for the treasure of Oak Island.

while I’ve been trying to remember a girl I taught in 1967 but in Civics. It works both ways.

When she finally remembered the name she was looking for, she forgot the reason she was looking.

Where’s Roland Hedley Jr when you need him?

I have a similar problem – but in my case, it’s because, over the years {74 of em} i have accumulated so much trivia – my girlfriend and i were the most feared Trivial Pursuit team – that i have no room for useful facts.

Was it the answer to a security question that some websites with passwords ask?

Mrs. Ing (sounds like “ring”) ….. Kindergarten, class of 1965, 57 years ago. I cannot recall any other teacher’s names nor faces up until jr. high where I recall several, then none of my high school teacher’s names except for “Mr. Woodman” who taught metal shop (who could forget that?). How odd the way memory works.

The info is all in there somewhere, but the index has become so large that it takes awhile to sift thru it all.

Some of that info has become rather mildewy.

How well I know. I’m 83 & do this daily.

Memories should never be trusted if they’re 30 years old or older. Especially if sautéed in alcohol or other recreational chemicals.

It’s interesting what one does remember off the top of one’s head. I can recall the names of my first through sixth grade teachers, but for high school…

Well, I guess I can remember three of them. I’d have to dig for the others.

When I lose a thought or term, I try to relax and look at something bland like a wall or the carpet. Works sometimes. Trouble is, some days I am having to study both wall and carpet in great detail.

Often, what you’re searching for only comes to mind after you stop searching for it.

In ‘67 my English teacher was Caleb Wolf, a Brown University graduate. Two things I remember him for; 1st. He helped me understand the significance of MLK’s assassination. and 2nd. He introduced me to Tolkien.

My 90-something in-laws are staying with us for a week. This is an everyday occurrence here…

“Some call it multi-tasking, I call it doing something else while trying to remember what I was doing in the first place.”

I remember almost all of my teachers’ names. Is that unusual?

Yep.

(sigh) been there :-{

Yeah. I was never good with names, but now it’s much worse. At least with famous people, I can look up their history on the internet and see the name; I try not to do that, though. It took watching a whole movie before I remembered Edward G Robinson’s name. And every time Lee Marvin is in whatever old movie I’m watching, I cannot remember his name, either.

there’s always something you forgot.

I learned more about life from my first barber than I ever learned from a teacher

A curious mind is a wonderful curse. Read. Not just comics or westerns or biker magazines. Expand your vocabulary, save the expletives for when you REALLY want to make a point. A well worn lexicon is the most valuable book in your collection. And the best thing I ever taught…think for yourself

TIME magazine had very interesting article on forgetting: one main idea was that forgetting is necessary for a healthy brain . . . we really DO have a limited amount of memory. Which is why scientists are studying it: they hope to find ways to help people with PTSD—and also those with Alzheimer’s. . .

Geezus! There’s NOTHING about high school I want to remember!

Yup. I’m getting there. Good thing there’s a Google. Maybe by the time I really need it there will be a virtual reality implant that I can use to access Google and GPS so no one will realize I actually don’t know who they are or where I’m going.

This reminds me of Jack Benny’s vault.

Going down information rabbit holes predates the internet. It too is often more about the journey.

At that point in time, someone other than family was remembering her.

How about this … a question is asked, you can’t answer, but, 3 days later, in the shower, it comes to you.

‘67 was a great year…

If you can remember ANYTHING about High School, you weren’t having a good enough time!

Genius…but too true, unfortunately.

I actually understood this one! I have been doing the same!

A Mind is such a terrible thing to lose,or waste

A wonderful characteristic of the human brain is the ability to put it in “Search” mode. i.e.: You think about the information you want to remember and then wait for your brain to spit it out.

Lara Croft, the later years.

Mr. Rittenour. Some teachers you don’t forget.

Ran out of rope?

OMG me too!

At some point, you look around and realize there is no one left who shares those memories, no one left who can answer your questions about that time. When that happens, feel free to make up a name so you can keep the memory. Usually one searches for a memory because of the feeling that goes with it. Recapturing that feeling is the important thing. It doesn’t matter if it was a Mrs. Jones or a Mrs. Rutabaga — no one is around to disagree. So, make up a name — have fun with it.

With me it’s not so much a pit as a maze…

The depths of which have no borders or ends…….

Eventually, the time comes when your brain-spelunking rope just isn’t long enough anymore…

When I’m trying to recall something I go through each letter of the alphabet. That usually works. I was trying to recall the island near downtown Tampa so I slowly said A . . B . . C . . D . . . Right then Davis Island popped into my brain!

" You might have heard my footsteps

Echo softly in the distance through the canyons of your mind…"

.

These days, all my butterflies are elusive…

https://youtu.be/tqolSS0plrM

And

https://youtu.be/kAqssappnxs

And of course y’all should bookmark these so you won’t have to try to remember where the hell you heard them before.

Dibs on any marbles found. I seem to have lost mine.

Who back in the day would ever bury treasure as deep as Oak Island and why ? Never going to use it ? It’s just a scam to make the show. Right up there with Bigfoot and Skinwalker ranch. Idiots will believe anything.

I remember actually doing some spelunking as a Girl Scout. It was fun and we even slept in the cave. :)

This would have been funny 10 years ago.

“Sigh”, as I realize I too was in high school in 1967.

I graduated high school in ‘61. By the time ‘67 rolled around, I was married and had two children.

I don’t have much trouble with going into rooms. My usual one is being on the computer, thinking of something I want to look up, then by the time I open a new tab and open a search engine I have forgotten. Sometimes I can go back to what I was doing and think of it again, other times not.

These days I think a lot about the hereafter…. you know, when you find yourself in a room and wonder, “What did i come in hereafter?”

“Mama” Lanford, my HS Spanish teacher. ;-)

I can recall the name of my High School English teacher – Max Kelly; he was very encouraging, too. My Biology teacher was a nice guy, too – Dennis Smith. Can’t recall too many of the others except for a pig of a man who took assembly, and kept on calling the toilets the “ablutions block”. Obviously a frustrated sergeant.

Been there.

My High School English teacher in 1969-70 was Miss Elenore Dingledye. She took a taxi cab to school every day, even on a snow day. when they closed the school at 9:00 am. I wondered why not other teacher would give her a ride to school.She had been teaching at the school since the 1940s. Her wardrobe was straight out of the 1940s, resembling Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Miss Dingledye was the finest teacher that I was privileged to have known.

This sort of thing is one of the reasons I started an autobiography (of sorts). Started it at the end of 2018 and it’s all of 76 pages so far… but most of that is still in bullet points that need to be fleshed out to actual information and maybe put into some sort of order besides the major changes in my life. Twenty four turning points (so far) over the course of 66 years (so far) and there is so much stuff between those points to fill in (before I forget the lot 8^)

It’s just another room to walk into…

OUCH.

I remember my 6thgrade teach. A Mr. Moore. Verbally abusive. Sarcastic. Ex Marine. Should not have been in charge of 6th graders. My 11th and 12th grade Science and Bio teachers, Mr. Deering. Sarcastic but only to the ones who were coasting. Ms. Marciello. Always willing to help, didn’t broke no laziness. Mr. Mulvehill. 12th grade English Lit. Had my brother 8 yrs prior. Remembered him. He asked if I had a brother named Bill. When I told him, he just made an evil laugh. I was in trouble from the git-go. He was fun. John Juergensen. 8th grad. Junior high Dean at the parochial school I went for 3 yrs. Good man. Force of nature. I made him a new ‘Board of Education’ when his old one broke. Except for Moore, I had a lot of love and respect for them.

Oh, this is SOOOO relatable!

sigh… been there

Curse you, Wiley Miller! 1967 is when I graduated from High School, and now I’M gonna have to go look up MY English teacher’s name!

Gee, I never forgot my “encouraging” HS English teacher… Trauma does that for memory. Then again she had an extra decade to forget.

“Brain spelunking” ROFLMAO