Ever memorized anything pointless?

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By that I don't mean that the thing you memorized was pointless, I mean the act of memorizing it was pointless, not needed for a job, studying etc. (but maybe still has its uses in recalling the memorized info in difficult situations.)
The most recent one for me, the elements of the periodic table in order of atomic mass. I'm sure lots of people have done that one. Anyone have any others? Pi to a large number of d.p? A chapter from a book?

Pi to 18 digits, once. Just because a schoolmate (not autistic) had it memorized to 66 digits, and wrote it out for me.

Completely different, of course, from remembering vast amounts of data because I find them fascinating.

The batting averages, home runs, ERAs, Win-Loss records, etc.. from my 1985 Topps set (When I was a kid, at least. These days I might get the year off on, say, Jay Buhner's HR total.)

Then I got strat-o-matic and started memorizing THOSE cards. Gah.

Quite a few things over the years, yes, but one that springs to mind was the intro spoken on a pop song in the 1970s. The song started with someone intoning a very long place name of a location in New Zealand, and it sounds like a primal chant. I actually set myself to learning the place name and chanting it as rapidly as on the song.

If I had applied half the energy I gave pointless little projects like this, to more important things in life, I'd be a lot better off...


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Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! I once memorized and still remember most of the scene from the first Harry Potter movie where Oliver Wood explains to Harry about Quidditch. One of the big things for me in terms of autism and obsessions is memorizing scenes from, things about actors, and things about movies just for fun.

Pi to six places (Mnemonic: "How I Wish I Could Calculate Pi")

The Periodic Table (and Tom Lehrer's accompanying song).

The dialogue to Oliver Stone's JFK (one of the worst great movies ever).

Probably others.

I memorized some of the algorithms to solve Rubik's cube.

Oh my gosh yes.

My poem of all the French Rulers, my poem of all the popes.

Every Tom Lehrer song.

Facts of every kind, things no one will ever need to know.

I thrive on it

Numbers of Americans killed in wars, and the country's population at the time of the war. That was a big thing for a while.

I mean, a lot of things. The first things that come to mind are the Fresh Prince of Bel Air rap and the Jay and Silent Bob rap

I can still recite both of them, though I'm no longer a teenager trying to be "cool", so I have no reason too haha

I spent half a day memorizing Pi to 50 digits just because I was bored

Cricket batting averages...that obscure enough?

Yes, the capacities of all professional hockey rinks in North America (in order words, not just the NHL). Doesn't get much more pointless than that!

The release dates for every Gene Wilder film ever made, including the direct-to-TV films (there are only 32 of them so it's not that hard.)

When I was about 16 years old I memorized the speeds (0-60mpg) and horsepowers of various exotic cars.
I memorized the 50 states in alphabetical order.
I tried to memorize all the characters from a Greek mythology Encyclopedia but didn't progress past letter 'B'. I couldn't imagine the characters (partial face-blind impairment problem) and their relationships to each other so I gave up out of frustration.
I tried to memorize the dictionary but didn't get past the first 2 pages of letter "A" so I gave up out of frustration.

I guess I wasn't so good at being Aspie LOL

But I did make lists. Lots of lists! And lists of lists

Lots of poems, scenes from plays, the kings and queens of England from William the Conqueror on, opera arias. I didn't have to do it but I liked the poems, wanted to be an actress or an opera singer, and got fascinated with the Plantagenets for a while as a kid. And I liked memorizing things.