Memory
Do you have a good memory? Do you do anything to improve your memory? Has your memory changed over the years?
Vocabulary
  • Planner (noun) - a document or software program that helps you plan something.
  • Recall (verb) - to bring the memory of a past event into your mind, and often to give a description of what you remember.
  • Abstract (adj.) - existing as an idea, feeling, or quality, not as a material object.
  • Concrete (adj.) - clear and certain, or real and existing in a form that can be seen or felt.
  • Post-it note (noun) - a brand name for a small, coloured piece of paper for short messages that can be stuck temporarily to something else.
  • Overflow (verb) - when a place overflows, or people or things overflow from somewhere, some people or things have to come out because it cannot contain them all.
  • Sieve (noun) - a tool consisting of a wood, plastic, or metal frame with a wire or plastic net attached to it. You use it either to separate solids from a liquid, or you rub larger solids through it to make them smaller.
  • Consequence (noun) - a result of a particular action or situation, often one that is bad or not convenient.
  • Algorithm (noun) - a set of mathematical instructions or rules that, especially if given to a computer, will help to calculate an answer to a problem.
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Questions and answers
M: Do you have a good memory?

R: I have a better one than I did since I started organizing everything in my head. So I organize my head and my life, and my days more effectively now. I have a routine and planner, and I take notes a lot, and that helps greatly.

M: Do you have a good memory for faces?

R: I have a memory for faces, but I don't have a memory for names or numbers. I wish I could remember names better, but for me, it's always a challenge. I suppose it's because I meet new people so often that it's hard to recall some names. Especially if it's a lot of people at once like new classes, for example. And the other thing I don't have a memory for is numbers. I don't even know my own phone number. I can't even remember that and there's no way except repeating it, like I don't know what's it called. Road to learning, maybe that would help me remember it.

M: Do you do anything to improve your memory?

R: Well, like I said, I take notes when people tell me things, that helps a lot in terms of sort of abstract concepts locations, and things like that. Sorry, more concrete things like locations. And, then I make sure the notes are displayed for I can see them. So I'll write something on a post-it note and then I can stick that on the appropriate page in my diary and then I can see it there, because it's a bright color that highlights what I need to do. That usually means that the notes section of my planner is like overflowing, but at least I know what I need to remember.

M: Did you have a good memory when you were a child?

R: Oh, not in the slightest. I had a memory like a sieve. And I'd have forgotten my head, if it weren't attached to me, probably.

Has your memory changed over the years?

R: Oh, absolutely. Mostly due to having to deal with the consequences of having a bad memory. So I used to get in trouble for forgetting things, for example. So after that I would reflect on the situation and think how can I prevent that from happening in the future? And what I would do usually is things like make a note in my diary or set an alarm, and you can set reminders on your phones. I haven't done that in a while, but that's one of the things that I do or did to change.

M: Is it important to have a good memory?

R: I think it used to be, since you couldn't record everything with as much ease as these days. But now we have computers and phones and other things to help us, well, to help us out, so that you don't need a good memory so much. You don't need it as much as you need good organizational skills, perhaps. So if someone tells you something, then you can write it in your planner or you could put it in your phone. I think actually some phones have this like algorithm or it's an automatic setting where if someone sends you a date, it underlines it and sets up a kind of hyperlink. So you press the hyperlink and it opens up a page in your planner on your phone, and then you can input all the details there. So it happens almost automatically by default on your phone.
M: Rory, thank you so much for your memorable answers.

R: No problem. Hopefully they'll be memorable... There aren't many puns for this subject.
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