Okay, I guess I have Hyperthymestic Syndrome

Here's a recent news article (I heard about it first on Neal Boortz) about a 42 year old woman in California who can remember almost every detail of her life since 1976.

And I'm like:

.... yeah ....????

Because for many many years I've said I could remember everything that happened to me since I was nine. I didn't know I should be in the news. Hey, if anybody wants to call Oprah or David Letterman and report me, feel free!

What makes me different from Ms. California though (and, I guess the reason no one would give a crap about me) is that she remembers news items and headlines, which I couldn't care less about. I remember things like [really]:

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In eighth grade Language Arts class, Miss Outten was my teacher, I sat behind Walter Rhee and in front of Sam Rockwell. (Whenever we had a substitute or a new school year, the teacher would call roll and say, "Samuel Rockwell?" and Sam would raise his hand and say, "Here ... but without the 'yule.'")

Miss Outten was also my coach on the girls' basketball team, along with Miss Syzmanski. {I could write a lot about basketball too, but right now I'm just discussing eighth grade LA so I'll try not to get derailed.]

When Miss Outten did a lesson on the basic structure of plot, with your exposition, conflict, complications, etc, she said, "Let's see ... what's a TV show I hate? Oh, Three's Company! I hate the dumb blond stereotype!" Then she proceeded to go through a typical [ie: the only] plotline in that show to describe each element.

Not sure why, but one day she asked us to write down on a piece of paper our name and the grade we thought we were getting in the class on our report cards next week. The next she started to say, "Well, I read what you wrote down for your grades and-" Walter Rhee (who was in the front row) mumbled something inaudible. "No! I didn't laugh!" Miss Outten said.

We studied satire later in the year. (Oh, by then my seat changed. I was sitting over by the window and next to Laura Boomer, who used to take out her mirror and brush her hair and stuff a lot at the end of class.) We had to write a satire of something and read it out loud to the class. (Mine was about how stupid most toothpaste commercials were, and I won't bore you with the content.) I started laughing in the middle of reading it, because I thought it was pretty good myself! Miss Outten commented to the class that some people would think that was a bad thing, but she didn't.

We also had to do a satire comic strip. Mine was about a dad telling a kid never to smoke pot, and then saying, "Now excuse me while I go get a beer." I remember all the comics were hanging up in the classroom and John Atkins and Bryon Garvin were playfully making fun of me because all my characters had huge heads.

Also, we read The Yearling and had to do a group presentation, and I ended up working with ... well, you get the point.

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Is that unusual?? Yes, I know it's probably boring and stupid as hell, but is it something most people don't do??

I'm thinking it is unusual just because over the years people have seemed surprised when I tell them things I remember. But to me it's perfectly natural and effortless to remember that kind of stuff. Not remembering it, to me, would be like someone saying, "What town did you grow up in?" and saying, "Hmm ... well, I don't really remember ..."

PSST! Okay, you can get your nose off the keyboard now and wake up. I'm done!