And your name is...?
I can't remember whether I've ever written about this before, but I have a terrible memory when it comes to people. For some reason, people ALWAYS seem to remember me, and I, err, well... quite often don't remember them. *blushes*
Take Lady Snoflek, for example. When we bumped into each other three years ago, she was the one who recognised me. She claims we met at a camp in 1992. She even says we wrote letters for a while after that and that she has some of my sketches of girls (stuff I doodle when I'm free & bored). All I can say is that her face looks vaguely familiar. Beyond that, I have no recollection.
A friend from church also claims to have met me at that 1992 camp. While I'm totally blank, she says she remembered me because my Chinese name is similar to her sister's. I figure that had to be me, coz that's something so specific it would be really hard to get wrong. But my earliest memory of this friend is meeting her in cell group back when I first joined my church in 1996. (I later left, and now am back again.)
At the wedding banquet I attended over the past weekend, I met a girl who instantly called out my name. She claims we met at a camp in 1993. According to her, we were roommates, together with two other girls. "You're the one who always couldn't wake up in the mornings!" she exclaimed. Sounds like me, all right :P Her name rang a distant bell, but that was all.
When I was going through my "desperate phase" in 2001/2002, one of the guys I got in contact with asked me if I was the Sunflower he knew -- from the same camp in 1993 as mentioned above. He said he remembered me for something I did to help a friend of his, who was also at the camp. Good grief. Not only did his name fail to jog my memory, he sent me a photo of himself and even THAT didn't help!
Then there was the time I contacted a guy over some issue and he said he'd met me before at a camp in 1995. "I remember you because your surname is so unique," he said. Again, his name failed to conjure up any images in the cavern of my mind, and when we finally met face-to-face, he recognised me but he could've been a stranger for all I knew! Imagine my shock when I dug out my old campbook and discovered that he'd left an autograph in it all those years ago. I never ask all & sundry to autograph my campbooks, so I must've spoken with him and considered him a friend.
However, all these are encounters from years past, so perhaps I can be forgiven for allowing these people to slip from memory. Today I was going through my mobile phone's address book, doing 'housekeeping' by deleting names of people I'm not likely to contact again (for example, business contacts I made when I was a journalist). I found an entry: "Ginny Chan-YA camp"*.
I couldn't for the life of me recall anyone named Ginny that I had met anywhere, let alone at YA (Young Adults) camp. Bear in mind that YA camp was only three months ago, and already I have no clue who Ginny is! I'm willing to bet that this Ginny remembers me, and that if I ever meet her again in future she'll totally remember everything I ever told her about myself while I'll be left floundering in embarrassment. It happens to me ALL THE TIME.
Both my housemates Emmy & Sock Hui think I need gingko biloba, a herb which is said to help improve the memory (among other things). Emmy & Sock Hui have also threatened to kill me if I fail to recognise and remember them in future!
*Name changed to protect the forgetful :P