There was this health-food-ish organic bakery that I worked at that sold vegetable soda. Like, celery and stuff. I actually tried some. Yes, it was as bad as it sounded.

Umm I love Dr. Browns Cel-Ray tonic. I have a feeling that the taste for it has to be acquired young.

It proves once again that I could remember phone numbers if I could just put them to music

Bob was talking to an acquaintance last night who placed tenth at the national memory championships last year-- he recalled 60 40-digit numbers, I think. Apparently the trick he learned is associating an animal with each two-digit number.

What I thought was REALLY interesting is that these memory tricks-- they also have to put together names and faces, memorize cards and stuff-- don't help with general memory. His memory is no better, he just as a skill that he can use to memorize things.

yeah, it's here in Boston area too.

867-5309

Jenny, Jenny, you're the girl for me....

My memory is OK, but if it's something I'm really interested in I can remember all sorts of stuff without making any effort. Like, I can I can identify most all American cars from, say, 1956 to 1975 by make and model (and get the year exact or close to it). As a kid I had books called "American Car Spotters Guide" and I'd just page through the books and found I'd remember all sorts of details that identify specific cars.

eta: Looking at it now, I think this is sorta' an aspie thing.

I read an article somewhere about the memeory arts and the tricks peopel use to memorize lists of things. One was to imagine a familiar street and to put visual clues along to street to remind you of each item. To try it out, I did it for a timeline of library history in my Information in Society Class, it worked really well until the 19th century where there were just too many dates and events. I did scary well on the exam for that class.

Hey, how many people grew up with five-eight-eight two-three-hundred... empiiire?

It's on the Boston channels.

One was to imagine a familiar street and to put visual clues along to street to remind you of each item.

Exactly-- first you have the animals but then you have a familiar street or house to put them in sequence. There's a bear in the Starbucks, a rhino in the furniture store, etc.

There's a bootleg of Spamalot up on YouTube.

In college I had a psych class where the prof told us a memory trick. She said if you remember what she (the prof) was wearing when she talked on certain subjects it'd make it easier to remember them during exams. She even told us she'd never duplicate an outfit during the semester to make this easier for us.

Psych is one of those subjects I find so fascinating that I remember everything in the book and lectures. At the beginning of the semester she told us it was impossible to get an A in the class without studying - I proved her wrong. So anyway, I didn't have to use her outfit trick.

Before the notes were lost, I could recall really obscure tidbits of US history based on simply seeing the doodles I'd done around the edges as I took notes. Hell, I still remember some of the doodles (and attendent facts) without seeing the actual pages!

Only really worked for that class (junior year of high school.)