Last night I wowed a table when I remembered all 14 names after meeting 13 of them once a week before. This is a great victory for a guy like me. Someone remarked, "Tsk, I'm terrible at remembering names..." I just smiled and said, "Me too." I have a pretty good memory which should normally help, but strangely, unless I apply large amounts of effort, I can't even manage a simple exchange that most people can do with out thinking.
"I don't think I've met you, what's your name"
"Oh hi, I'm Rue"
"I'm so-and-so"
And this is the point at which I have immense amounts of difficulty: actually incorporating the name that they just said in a phrase such as, "Hi so-and-so, how are you?"
If there's one thing my oldest nephew inherited from me, it's the fact that he's a space trooper. And unless I'm most mistaken, he's a pretty smart space trooper. Paradox? The way I like to think of it, we are so focused on things transcendant to most people that it makes us seem to be a little bit dumb. Ever heard someone complain that you'd interrupted their train of thought? This doesn't normally happen to space troopers since they are always on the train when it leaves the station... unfortuanately, it's a different train from everyone else that happens to be in the station.
If there was one thing I noticed from the table to 14, my vague spacey expression seemed to make everyone even more interested in discovering from which planet I'd come. I think some of them thought I was serious when I said I learned my keen social skills at UW.
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