planetdan

Tuesday, April 12, 2005 :::

A Requiem for My Short-Term Memory

I forgot my locker combination at the gym yesterday. I've been using the same lock there for almost two years, but somehow the secret combination completely slipped my mind. My initial reaction was total panic. I thought "How am I supposed to get out of here without any clothes on?!?" but then I realized I was wearing the clothes I had just worked out in, and I was confusing my own situation with that of someone whose clothing has been stolen while they were showering. There was no need to panic about any sort of nudity.

So I asked one of the bulky trainers at the front desk if they had some tool to remove the lock, and three of them jumped at the chance to display their brawn. The winner was the guy who got to the tool cabinet first. On the way back to my locker he said "Do you have any ID in the locker to prove it's yours?" and I said that I did. It took him a few tries, but he was able to use the ginormous cutter tool to remove my lock. Then I realized I had left my ID and wallet out in the car. I offered to run out and get it, but he said "Naw, just tell me what's in your bag," and I said "Um, underwear and a towel." And he said "What color?" and I thought it was really strange that he was trying to identify me by the color of my underwear. So I said, "The towel or the underwear?" which made me wince the second after I said it because it almost sounded like a come-on, but he said "Either." I told him the towel was white and then we opened the bag for the big reveal... and it was blue. I could've sworn it was white, but then I also could've sworn that I knew my locker combination. So I had to go get my ID from the car.

The weird kismet thing about this story is that two days earlier I was cleaning out a desk drawer and found an old lock. Suddenly an old combination from highschool popped into my head. I tried it out and it worked. So apparently I can remember a combination from 15 years ago, but not one from three days ago. My short term memory is hosed.

::: posted by dan at 5:42 PM :: [ link ] :: (10) comments

Comments are Closed On this Post

10 previous comments:

So here's a trick for when you get a new lock. You know how they come with a little sticky piece of paper that has the combination written on the back of the lock? Just tear off the first number & leave the other numbers there. That way you only have to remember one number. I too have short-term memory problems.

By

ab, at 7:01 PM

I read or saw on tv or something that some people remember color opposites. Like green for red and yellow for light shades of purple. Since blue is so light on the spectrum - it is possible that your brain just remembered white or didn't see the color field at all. It's not that weird, but it does make you look like you were trying to steal someone elses undies. I've read about that too or was that plot development in Law & Order?

By

brent, at 8:20 PM

And what if someone steals the little sticky piece of paper on the back of the lock?

By

Dan McCormack, at 10:08 PM

Then they would be stupid sticky stealing a-holes.

By

ab, at 10:33 PM

The sudden reappearance of the high school combination forced the current one out. You turned 30, and your brain reached capacity. Didn't you read your manual?

By

ptw, at 8:04 AM

I just keep using the lock that I got for my 9th grade locker; the combination to that lock is the only thing I haven’t allowed my self to repress from that time in my life.

By

Kristina, at 8:43 AM

It's time to purge your brain. Just don't purge the old locker combo.

By

katie, at 10:00 AM

Atta boy-
The same thing happened to me when I needed to enter the code to get into the workout room in my apartment complex. I'd been entering the same code for almost two years, and then one day out of the blue the code had disappeared from my brain. I had to ask the concierge. The saddest part? The code was 5-3-4.

I also had a problem with identification. I lost my coat check ticket at a club and was having trouble convincing the guy to give me my coat. He finally relented when I told him what was in the pocket. A certain brand of a certain sized condom. And presto! I had my coat back. Go prophylactics!

By

denverboy, at 6:25 PM

Welcome to my world. My dad used to say to my mom, "You'd forget your head if it wasn't attached." (Little wonder they're divorced now.)

I frequently wake up and forget where I am (and I'm in my own bed, thank you very much!) Lots of people do that. But once I woke up and just completely forgot not just where I was but WHO I was! True story.

By

tcarole, at 6:28 PM

How nice to know that gyms are the same everywhere - my gym also has a bevy of large instructors who love it when someone has lost the key to their padlock so they can rip it open with a huge cutting tool. Unfortunately, this happened to me recently when someone with even worse memory problems than you not only lost their key, but then thought my locker was their locker. I got back to the changing rooms find a gang of them breaking into my locker. Some people should be placed under house arrest.

By

Lubin Odana, at 5:38 AM

< Back to Blog