Memory by Association

I showed up at a sub job once. I hadn't been to that school in a while. As I pulled into the parking lot I had memories flash back to me of a book. The book "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!". I thought about why that book hit me. It's because the last time I was here I was reading that book. I often read a book during prep periods, study halls, lunch periods, and in this case walking to my car in the parking lot. The book I remembered well, and that day of teaching came back to me slowly.

Our brains often use association to remember things. We use it to remember birthdays (Shelley's birthday is mine squared and Emily's is my theoretical conception day), phone numbers (she's not the devil even though... -6666), names (Almost like Rainbow Bright... Riann B.). In those cases, we do it on purpose for our benefit. It's not always for a reason. Our sense of smell is closely linked with our memories. When ever we smell something we associate it with a period in time or person. Lilacs always remind me of my mom and our backyard.

I find that I associate parts of my art with what I was listening too at the time. Though it tends to only be with the ones I spend a lot of time on and worked on straight through. I always think of This American Life when I look at Tara's Hair in Tara in Portland. I think of the TV show Friends (seasons 7-9) when I look at David in Italy and Emily on the Beach. I think of the movie 200 Cigarettes when I look at Heather and Katherine.