26 Jul 2010, 3:23 pm
My sense of time is liquid, so I have a whole bowl of issues with it.
When referring to an event in the very recent past, I usually say things like "the other day", "about a week ago", or "about a month ago" - vague phrases that have a limited time frame but aren't exact. If I need to be exact, I really have to concentrate and use mnemonic markers, of which the best for me are visual or kinesthetic.
...much like DonDud and Antares:
DonDud wrote:
Antares wrote:
Yes, my perception of time seems to be much cloudier than other people's, I usually need to date things by where I was living at the time they took place.
I remember dates, where I lived at a certain time, other happenings, etc., by video game release dates. I guess it's just a good visual marker for me, since you see it when you boot up the game. Donkey Kong Country was released in 1994, and I know I got that the first year I was living in a new state, therefore I moved in 1994.
If I want to remember what day someone called me the week before, I'll have to be able to relate it to a static visual image that corresponds to the call, or more likely in a memory of this sort, something I did. For example; Monday night is when the garbage goes out. If I remember the call was after taking out the garbage, then I know it happened on Monday
26 Jul 2010, 9:06 pm
26 Jul 2010, 9:16 pm
26 Jul 2010, 9:19 pm
ladyrain wrote:
This is true for me as well. The past is accessible with incredible clarity and detail, but almost no sense of time distance. I use vague general guesses to refer to when; recently, some time ago, ages ago, etc.
My memories are more like holograms which can be re-experienced...
Random memories pop up in response to associative prompts, and I have often been asked how on earth I can remember the things I do, which was how I concluded that most people don't remember much at all, especially detail. But if I'm asked to date them, I'm stuck. I have a very poor sense of time really.
Yes, having a phenomenal memory has mostly been an advantage, even if other people thought I was some kind of walking computer.
capriwim wrote:
Each memory is like a page in my brain, but they are not in any order, and the only way I can tell when an event occurred is by referring to where the memory took place. For instance, I can put my childhood memories into chronological order because we moved house every year or two, so each childhood memory I have is related to a specific setting, so I can order them that way.
My memories are more like holograms which can be re-experienced...
Random memories pop up in response to associative prompts, and I have often been asked how on earth I can remember the things I do, which was how I concluded that most people don't remember much at all, especially detail. But if I'm asked to date them, I'm stuck. I have a very poor sense of time really.
Yes, having a phenomenal memory has mostly been an advantage, even if other people thought I was some kind of walking computer.
Mine is really close to this,, but retrieval is like going to a filing cabinet and then playing a film, not all the time, sometimes the film just starts up on its own.. Sometimes the memory is black and white, other times it is in colour. I even say things, when people ask why my eyes close sometimes when they ask me something, that I had to go and retrieve the information, same thing when placing a thing (I say thing, because at that point, to me it is not a memory - like if I have to call someone, or I have learnt something new, I put the thing away to be used at a later date) that I know I will need to recall.. not for everything, but some things.
capriwim wrote:
ladyrain wrote:
I have found that remembering things about other people, especially conversations from years previously which they have forgotten, tends to make them very uncomfortable, and I get called spooky sometimes. And I also realised that some people assume that remembering something in detail from years before means it must have great significance, and they cannot understand that it is no different to something that happened the day before.
Yes, I find this. People can think you're obsessed with them if you remember details about them from years ago, so they get creeped out. And if you remember things from years ago, they often see this as meaning you have no life, because they assume this must have been the most significant thing that ever happened to you! So I've learnt to be cautious in mentioning things I remember.
I have been trying to learn not to bring up things I remember for years and have not learnt that yet. Why do humans ask if you recall something, if they are going to get freaked out or act like there is something wrong with an individual for remembering more then they do?
But even worse it seems, is when someone comes up to me and starts talking to me like that have known me for years, or years before. There I am standing there trying with all my ability to sort out whom they are and I have no clue. Then if I say something like I am sorry, but who are you, can you refresh my memory? They either get all huffy about my not remembering them, or when they explain how I know them and I bring up a memory around them - more times out not, they don't like it when I say "Your the one that did....? Or some other thing that was in their mind, not something they would want to be remembered for and most definitely not in the depth I did.
No winning with some I guess.
DonDud wrote:
Antares wrote:
Yes, my perception of time seems to be much cloudier than other people's, I usually need to date things by where I was living at the time they took place.
I remember dates, where I lived at a certain time, other happenings, etc., by video game release dates. I guess it's just a good visual marker for me, since you see it when you boot up the game. Donkey Kong Country was released in 1994, and I know I got that the first year I was living in a new state, therefore I moved in 1994.
I do not remember dates, but I kind of do what you do. I will associate it with a film that just came out, or music and yes, in some cases games. It is one of the things people call my 'guy traits' *shrug* - like a 'friend' will ask something like, do you remember where/when we saw the (something) went 'ofriend' got engaged? I want to get one but can't remember what store had it' My mind has to sort out, when 'otherfriend' got engaged and when/where it was we saw thins thing.. dothack was what I was playing and I needed a new notebook for map building, the thing was at the shop next door to where I got the book.
Smells are also a way I place a 'date' on a time period - pussywillows = spring, snow=winter, strong wood smell=fall etc.
There is a couple others.
ladyrain wrote:
Me too, once the information is there, it just comes out, and then I end up with the aftermath. So one little comment turns into an interrogation, why did you say that, why is it relevant, explain yourself, etc etc. 
Bigmouth Strikes Again.
(And I've got no right to take my place with the human race! )
Bigmouth Strikes Again.
(And I've got no right to take my place with the human race!
) I refer to that as my 'hoof in mouth disease', 'friends' started to call it that as well a couple years back. I do not know which is worse though, me saying it, or that sometimes when others start in on the 'interrogation', I start to laugh or at least look like I am trying to stop myself from laughing. Occasionally if a 'friend' is around when this happens, they may start laughing and I think it confuses the interrogator.
ladyrain wrote:
Even so, I still try to be me at all times, because if I only behaved in ways which made other people comfortable, then I might as well not exist. For every person who thinks I'm a bit strange, the truth is it's mutual, if they don't get me, then they're strange too from my viewpoint. And my viewpoint is just as valid as theirs is.
This statement completely fits, I love it. I am here partly to learn more and understand more, but mostly I can not and will not keep trying to squeeze myself into 'socially exceptable normalish box' even if it is slightly bent and misshapen, it still does not fit me. And I am tired of doing it.. it is friggen exhausting and nobody should be made to feel that they have to. I feel like I have lived 3+ lives in one lifetime.
Hell.. they all thought I was strange to begin with.. I can't wait..
27 Jul 2010, 1:51 am
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CockneyRebel
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