Dear mouse,
This is not about the song popularized by
Barbara Streisand and adapted by Rico Puno
with that infamous line...namamasyal pa sa
Luneta ng walang peraaaaaaaa. That reminds me
of my friend mimicking the singer.
This is a sequel to my blog yesterday about
being absentminded.
And as I promised, I am going to give you
tips on how to enhance your memory especially
that part which you are losing because of
certain factors. Age is one of them. Haaa
hindi ko sinabing ulyanin ha. Makakalimutin.
O kaya SKAS. Si Kalimot AKO SYNDROME.
One such culprit that contributes to
memory loss is the multi-tasking.
Sa mga matatanda, ito yong habang naliligo ka
nga labhan mo tuloy yong mga pamunas...habang
nagluluto ka nga, pakikisulsi yong pantalon.
I did that last Sunday. While watching The Buzz,
I fixed the hemlines of my newly-
bought-slacks...can't resist...sale kasi....
And at the same time, I boiled some potatoes.
Kumustahin ninyo ang nangyari. Ano kanyo ?
Alin? Anong tinatanong ninyo. hakhakhak.
I got a toasted potato, a pair of pants
with uneven hemlines, so uneven that you think
one leg of mine shrunk.Not even my high cut boots
could hide the irreperable damage. Tipid kasi
magpaalter sa tailor. At least napanood ko
ang The Buzz and I was able to remember how
many times Rica Paraleja started her responses with
Acshually...
A neuropsychologist suggested mnemonics to
try remembering things especially in your to
do list. This is the practise of forming
a word using the first letter of each item.
Like, Garbage, laundry, Appointment, Dentist for
your important sked the whole week that you
do not want to forget or you will not be
GLAD in case you miss one.
I am for it but sometimes, you can't remember
what is the item that a letter stands
for especially if you have a kilometric list.
Some people use ASSOCIATION like a a fly for
garbage, water for laundry...etc.
But then it requires more memory bytes
from your brain since there are more things to
remember, the stuff itself and the associated word
for it. It works well for a few items but never for
more than ten items. If it will, it takes a while
like fly for the garbage.... what if you cannot
see one. O kaya this scenario, i know I have to
remember something if I see a fly. I just can't
remember.
This is the reason why information stored in
the computer are called bytes or small pieces
because just like our brain it can remember
in small groups or items. This is what is termed
by Dr. Francis Pirozzolo, a neuropychologist
as chunking.
Grouping the fifty states into subgroups
and applying mnemonics would be easier to
remember them, like CATS, for California,
Alabama,Texas and South Carolina; DOG, for
Delaware,Ohio and Georgia...etc.
But this exercise requires basic information
such as the names of the fifty states.
Me, I have a unique way of remembering
groups of things, abstract and otherwise.
I start with a basic thing that I
can associate that if I try to remember
it, it would like be a chain, like a door
for instance.
When I see a door, I should remember, my keys,
lights, eyeglasses, or whatever things I do not
want to forget bringing with me before I leave
the house. So you say, it's the same, it still
association. Yes, it is but I go more than that.
Like I try to imagine a picture. Weird. A door with
eyesglasses,running after me dangling the keys
while opening an umbrella.
O kaya when I go to the groceries, I think
of a awimming pool where the eggplant is jumping
from the board, joining the ampalaya and the rest
of the vegetables.
A word of caution, if you fail to remember the
veggie that jumps, do not ask the sales associate if
a cabbage is a swimmer.
However there are things that you should not
defer doing once you set your mind in it or you
forget.
Yesterday, I saw the manager in my former workplace
in the train. He approached me and kissed my
cheek. Kabaro ko siya mga ateng. We share some
beauty secrets, you know.
While implanting that kiss, he unceremoniously
yanked the protruding price tag and label in my
new cardigan, a task that I was trying to remember
before I locked the door. He chuckled.
Dahling, you haven't changed. You are a show off. You
want to see others how much your suit costs.
Subtle na show off daw. Hindi noh,kasi taped
over the original price is the 60 per cent
reduced price.
Alibi ko lang yon for my
poor memory.
So next time, before you leave, turn around in
a full body length mirror. You may never know,
baka may nakasabit na pusa sa likod ninyo.
When I was making turo sa unibersidad, I considered
it a mortal sin if I cannot memorize the names
of my istudyents. So guess what I did. I became
a copycat to a former professor of mine who
required us to submit an id photo that he
attached to our classcard. I did more than that.
I had a seatplan where I pasted their id photos
so I can remember the faces of the names but only
for a few weeks reference. To remember my isudyents,
I looked for distinctive marks in their faces. Sa akin
na lang yon ano...pero para sa mga makulit, ito...
tinitingnan ko yong ilong, yong mata na parang palaging
nagugulat o palaging antukin and I try to associate
them with a favorite
movie star of mine kaya minsan pag tumawag ako,
pangalan na ng movie star ang gamit ko. Like..
Aga Muchlach, go to the board and solve problem
one. Hindi ho siya kamukha ni Aga. Aga lang siyang
dumating sa klase.
Itutuloy.
The Ca t
