# Can you remember dates and stuff for non-anniversary events in your past? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 21, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-remember-dates-and-stuff-for-non-anniversary-events-in-your-past/365453 "2006-07-21T05:55:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-remember-dates-and-stuff-for-non-anniversary-events-in-your-past/365453/21 "2006-07-23T01:08:37Z")
For the most part, I can not remember dates of notable events in my life, even when they occured in the last year. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-remember-dates-and-stuff-for-non-anniversary-events-in-your-past/365453/22 "2006-07-23T04:16:49Z")
What was this thread about again? Oh yeah! Barry Bonds. Now don’t even let me get _started_ on Barry Bonds… ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-remember-dates-and-stuff-for-non-anniversary-events-in-your-past/365453/23 "2006-07-23T06:12:48Z")
I can remember many dates from exactly fifty years ago. 1956 was just the most wonderful coming-of-age year! I turned thirteen that July. There was this wonderful music that was a combination of the piece _Moonglow_ and the theme from the film _Picnic_. It was on every record player and radio station for weeks. There are lots of dates I remember. _Silly stuff._ I could tell you which day a certain young man gave me some chewing gum, what kind it was and _where it is today._ I’ve kept that stick of Juicy Fruit gum for fifty years. Later that month, the Andria Doria sank. I was wearing a cross containing the Lord’s Prayer around my neck. And I remember the night in September that the Chewing Gum Kid bought me a coke and I remember the phase of the moon and what skirt I wore and the color of my sweater. I got my polio shot on December 11 that year. I walked with him downtown to get it. He wore a pink jacket with a big black snowflake on it. YIKES! > [@](#): > > **Annie-X** : “What was I doing on January 8, 1973? Let’s check.” I was unpacking from a holiday in Denmark. My principal allowed me to take sick days immediately after Christmas so that I could have a longer holiday abroad. The peculiar thing is that my ability to remember ended at about that time. Now my memory is so bad that I don’t even remember how I found the Straight Dope and began posting. It is as if I were born here. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-remember-dates-and-stuff-for-non-anniversary-events-in-your-past/365453/24 "2006-07-23T06:20:17Z")
I’m not yet 20 and I don’t remember the process of signing up for my SDMB account. I don’t remember the format of the page, what I was asked, etc. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-remember-dates-and-stuff-for-non-anniversary-events-in-your-past/365453/25 "2006-07-23T13:21:56Z")
I’m generally pretty good at remembering years, and even when I can’t remember off the top of my head, I can usually figure it out after a few seconds’ thought. What DOES trouble me is how often I find myself saying things like, “I went to see U2 in concert a few years ago,” then pausing and realizing, “No… actually, it was 1984, which means it’s considerably MORE than a few yers ago.” That happens a lot. “A few years ago” seems to encompass a very, very long time in my mind now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-remember-dates-and-stuff-for-non-anniversary-events-in-your-past/365453.md?page=1)