You Must Remember This

Mnemonics. Little tricks and rhymes to help you remember things. We all use them.

Some mnemonics are pretty universal, and most people have at least heard of them. "Thirty days hath September..." for the days of the months, "ROY G. BIV" for the colors of the rainbow. Leap years are evenly divisible by 4 but not 400.

Sometimes our references come from Pop Culture. Children's programs like Sesame Street have long used music to teach numbers and letters. Thanks to Schoolhouse Rock, there are thousands of thirty-somethings who can tell you about the Louisiana Purchase or sing the Preamble to the Constitution. I've heard songs that list all the 50 states in alphabetical order, the Presidents of the The United States in order, or all the Kings and Queens of England.

Some are more personal, something a teacher or a parent taught you that's a little different than how other people remember it. I can still hear my 10th grade french teacher whenever I spell professor - "It only takes one F to fail you." I've heard other variations, but in our house the planets were aligned in the order of "Mary's Violet Eyes Make Johnny Stay Up Nights Period."

And then, there are the inadvertent mnemonics. The family stories that you think of whenever a topic comes up that helps you remember a certain fact. Maybe you got only one question wrong on a test, and you always remember what cost you that perfect score. Maybe the correct answer was said or written in such a way that it became instantly memorable.

One summer holiday, we were sitting around the pool at my uncle's house, and the adults were playing Trivial Pursuit. (Quick, which decade was this?) My dad and his brothers and sisters liked to play in teams, and bounce answers off each other before giving the official answers. This also allowed the teams to ebb and flow as people arrived or departed, without disrupting the game. A precocious kid, I preferred to hang out with the adults, so I was the official card reader for both sides. (Oh, and by the way Regis? I came up with "Is that your final answer?" WAY before you did. You can make my royalty checks payable to LadyPatsFan...) The following question came up for my dad's team:

Who was the second person to walk on the moon?

Discussion ensued. "Well, of course, Neil Armstrong was the first." "Yes. And that was Apollo 11." "Did Apollo 12 touch down on the moon, or just orbit?" "I know Apollo 13 was supposed to and didn't make it, but was 12 scheduled to land?" "Who was in line for the Apollo 12 mission?" "Okay, now who would have been commander?" "Would the Commander have stepped out or stayed behind?"

I don't remember all the names and dates and assorted trivia that was tossed around during the discussion, but I remember it taking several minutes. And I don't remember the name of the astronaut that my Dad finally named as the second man to walk on the moon. But I will never, ever, forget the correct answer to this US History question.

me - "The correct answer is .... Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin"

.... long pause while everyone stared open mouthed at me ....

Dad - "Of course!" V8 head slap. "The guy behind Armstrong on the ladder!!!"

Ready To Run

There was an armed bank robbery in our city recently. Living in a major metropolitan area for the last 8 years, this is probably not an unusual situation. This particular robbery happened 1 1/2 blocks south of my office at right about lunch hour. Given that the "perp" fled north after the robbery, this put him at my intersection about 5-ish minutes after I walked through on my way to the library.

Did I see anything? No.

Did I hear anything? No.

Did I know anything about it? Not until I got back to the office and read about it on the local newspaper website.

So why am I so concerned? Why has reading about a robbery so close to me, at a time when I was out walking by, made me so nervous? Was it because I found out about it so soon after the non-encounter? Was it seeing the security camera picture of the really creepy looking disguise he wore? Or is it from growing up in CowPoke NH, and not yet being fully "city-fied"?

Whatever the reason, I'm thinking it will be safer to walk with OoRah or BizP in the future.

Wait a minute, you say. OoRah I understand, him being an ex-Marine and still large and intimidating. But doesn't BizP weigh something like 50 pounds soaking wet if he carries a 20 pound barbell? He doesn't exactly exude intimidation.

True. But like the hunter said while lacing up his tennies - "Dude, I don't have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you."

I Sense A Disturbance In The Force

Last weekend I flew home to NH for 2 days to surprise my Dear Old Dad on his 60th birthday. We didn't tell him he was having a party. We didn't even tell him that he was coming over to little sister's house for dinner Saturday Afternoon until Friday, so he wouldn't stew over it and start figuring things out. We thought we were doing really well at keeping the secret. Until Saturday morning.

DOD looks at my step-mom, NR, that morning and out of the blue says "You know, the only surprise the girls could pull off would be if LPF was there." NR managed to answer to the effect that none of us could have afforded that, how would I get away, blah blah blah. Outwardly calm, inside she's screaming "YOU TWIT! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FIGURED IT OUT!!" Hoping she diffused the situation, we continued with our plans.

Big Sis drove them over to the house, and when they arrived I handed my camera off to my cousin and hid around the corner where DOD couldn't see me. He comes in the house, and as he enters the living room he sees all the family gathered around. Then I came around the corner. His response? An emphatic "I KNEW IT!"



How did he know? He says he "just had a feeling."