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Can't Remember!

I have trouble remembering what I did yesterday. Sometimes I can't remember what I did a few minutes ago. I have lost my wallet, three... maybe four times? Probably more, definitely more. My phone I've lost just as many times. My keys I have lost countless times.

I wish I could tell you more about all the things I've lost. But I can't, because I don't remember how many times I've lost them!

Sometimes while talking to my friends, they will say or do something, and then a few minutes later, I will have no recollection of what was said or done. While writing this, I just realized that I planned to stop writing about the times my memory has slipped after the last paragraph. Or did I forget? Did I plan to stop writing or did I not plan to stop writing? I don't remember.

Lembran Sar's Calendar Method

To complete my New Years resolution I'll be taking inspiration from Lembran Sar, who wrote a blog detailing his experience using memory techniques to remember something from everyday of his life, for multiple years.

The main method I'll be using to remember everyday of the year is his Calendar Method. His method works by pinning an imaginary image onto an imaginary calendar. The imaginary image is meant to give a reminder of what one did during the day. Pinning the image to a calendar gives a reminder of the day's date. By pinning an image onto each day of the calendar, one can remember each day of the year.

Here's an example of how I might imagine it:

First Mnemonic Image

A mnemonic is a device (e.g. idea, association, technique, pattern) that helps someone remember something. The imaginary images of the Calendar Method help me remember my day, so they are mnemonic images. Emotionally meaningful memories are strongest, so I want my mnemonic image to represent those.

The most emotionally significant memories today are when I:

1. Saw only my supervisor and me at work
2. Finished designing test fixtures for a document at my aerospace internship
3. Created this website during the last hour at work
4. Hung out with my cousin (she treated me to Boba with her son, then I worked on this website while studying cognitive science at her place)
5. Got a bag of chips from said cousin (I'll call her Beebee)
6. Got swarmed by Beebee's dogs
7. Listened to Beebee's friend (let's call her Elizza) talk about her workplace and friend issues
8. Discovered temporal processing research (the study of how the mind perceives time during an activity)
9. Stayed up till 2:00AM writing this blog (I am doing that right now)

Of today's emotionally significant memories, arriving to work with almost nobody in the office, getting Boba, sitting in a corner while Beebee talked with Elizza, and saying bye to Elizza before she drove home is easiest to remember. So my mnemonic image for today will look like this:

The laser eyes represent my intense focus on building this website and how I hung out with my cousin. I vaporized my cousin with the lasers, that is what reminds me that I hung out with her. The laptop reminds me that I was well... on my laptop. The desk helps me remember the feeling of strangeness, being at work with only two people in the office. The broken wall reminds me of how me, Beebee and BeeBee's son (Jayjay) said our goodbyes to Elizza as we all stood on the driveway.

Here's the image on the calendar: