Forgettable?

[+ Lucky]

This inquiry is directed at posters over 60. Sure, everyone is welcome to participate, or not, but I specifically want to know if my peers of age are experiencing anything similar to this:

 

Two weeks ago I went to New York. Of the six shows and one Yankee game I saw in New York, I remember the game, the people around me, the new stadium, pretty much everything I want to remember, I do. Also, I remember 4 of the 6 shows that I saw.

 

One, The Singing Forest, doesn't count. I disliked it intensely and no doubt discarded it while leaving the theater. (Having a nosebleed seat didn't help.) But "reasons to be pretty" I liked, but now can remember nothing much of it. I even went to the website and drew a blank. It is about straight people and had no cute guys, but hey, I remember lots of straight plays. Am I getting senile or are some plays more forgettable than others? I have no trouble remembering the other ones, even the one other one that I didn't like. Of course, I remember West Side Story, Our Town, and Desire under The Elms. Do you forget shows (or movies) that fast? As for books, if I read for information I remember more than if I read for entertainment.

[+ newatthis]

I tend to forget many such things -- for example, the plots of books I've read. Doesn't seem to be age-related (except insofar as I might have been prematurely senile ); I've been like this for a long time. (The same applies, by the way, to remembering when things happened -- I recall the event, but often can't remember the year.)

 

If, however, my memory is reinforced early on by retelling the plot or event to someone else, I usually have good recall of lots of details.

[kjun]

Ditto in my experiences. I'm 64. We just have our brains packed with too much information.

[+ sf westcoaster]

Other than the names of the performers I rarely forget what a live performace was about.

 

Now books are another animal! It seems that two weeks after having finished a book I have difficulty remembering what it was all about. I think that has something to do with the number of books versus the number of truly outstanding books.

 

Normally remember the story line of the movies I have seen, but blank on the actors, unless they are as well known as the likes of Meryle Streep, Sean Penn etc.

 

Next week I am headed to New York for eight days of theatre and museums. Have tickets for nine shows, which should be a test of my ability to remember.

[Guest TNT Ted]

My comments are about movies only, and since I seldom go to a movie theater, they are mostly rented DVDs. Frankly, I forget most of them. I’m not sure it has much to do with age, since this has been going on for years and years. And it has nothing to do with whether or not I liked them.

 

I think Lucky touched on the reason in his comment about books. If it’s just entertainment, it’s easily forgettable. If I’ve learned something, it’s much easier to retain.

[Samai139]

For entertainment (whether it's theatrical, cinematic, print) to be truly memorable to me there has to be something more than just time spent "out of reality." For example: if I have sat in a movie theatre for two + hours, and be amazed that that much time has passed without fidgeting, etc. than I can probaby remember the movie and maybe some of the actors. The last movie I saw was "State of Play." I wasn't that keen to go, but friends invited me and I had no good reason NOT to go. Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck were both more than just "entertaining", they were believable. Helen Mirren was strangely different as a cursing newspaper publisher. So much for proving that I in fact remembered the film. And I was not aware of wanting the film to end NOW so I could up and leave.

Maybe I can remember the film, the actors and the plot because I don't go to movies that often, and almost never rent dvds. My last theatre experience was "The Jersey Boys" and if I try, I can remember some of the songs but not the name of any of the actors. So perhaps as we age our ability to take in a heavy dose of entertainment diminishes??? Maybe if you had gone to just one or two plays, you would have an easier time remembering??

I do think that as we age our ability to absorb scads of new material dimishes. But maybe you were just unfortunate in the quality of the plays you saw? Also, there are vast differences in the degree of aging of individuals. There are 60 year olds who look and act 20 years younger or older than their years--- a lot has to do with a person's state of health--mental and physical. Perhaps our minds adapt in older age to filtering out more of the "forgettable??"

[jackhammer91406]

Hope those of us WAY UNDER 60 can also reply...heheh

I think you hit it on the head when you contrasted entertainment versus more challenging material. I wouldn't worry about it. It's when you can't remember your own name that it's time to worry...or perhaps why that cute guy's body is SO appealing...then I would really start to get upset.

[Steven_Draker]

selective memory

 

I'm 106 years old and at that advanced age, I remember the smallest detail of that amazing show I saw 50 years ago,

however I can't remember even the names of two less than stellar ones I saw last month.

_______

 

Now, I forgot where I put my cane and my bifocal reading glasses ...

[Guest zipperzone]

I tend to forget many such things -- for example, the plots of books I've read. Doesn't seem to be age-related (except insofar as I might have been prematurely senile ); I've been like this for a long time. (The same applies, by the way, to remembering when things happened -- I recall the event, but often can't remember the year.)

QUOTE]

 

I have two problem memory areas (Probably more that two but I can't remember the others)

 

1: I can remember "interesting" information (often gossip) but I can NEVER remember who told it to me.

 

2: If I go to a concert or see/hear one on TV, no matter how much I enjoyed it, immediately afterwards I can not remember what songs were sung

[+ Lucky]

newatthis helped me understand why I don't remember "reasons to be pretty." I saw the show on my last night in New York, talked to no one about it, and immediately began preparing for and taking the trip back to California. So it just got lost in all the other activity- didn't it?

SFwestcoaster, I hope that you will share your theater experiences with us as you sound like a guy after my own heart with that theater loving.

 

Thanks for the responses, guys, I don't feel so out of it after all!

[+ Charlie]

A few days ago, I took a book with a vaguely familiar title out of the library, and read 86 pages, finding the new information very interesting. Yesterday I needed to find the date of something I did last year, so I went back through my journals looking for it, and found a reference to the fact that I was reading that same book last year, and enjoying it very much! I also found a reference to seeing "42nd Street" last year and enjoying it, though I have no memory whatsoever of the performance or even of having seen it it. But I can tell you all the details about performances I saw thirty years ago.

[AdamSmith]

Do you forget shows (or movies) that fast?

 

Still hanging onto the back edge of my 40s, so not quite in your age window yet. Nonetheless, you saw it: Couple weeks ago when you and I had dinner together in Phoenix -- where I had been for the past 4 days -- waiter came over and asked for our order in a thick Southern drawl. I sat there for several moments seriously thinking, What the hell am I doing in Dallas this week?

[+ Lucky]

Memories

 

Geez, Cooper seems to think that I was in New York, and you seem to have seen me in Phoenix. Rest assured, I haven't forgotten our pleasant meetings!

[Rick Munroe]

If it's any consolation, I find that Lucky's posts are pretty forgettable.

[+ Lucky]

A friend (?) sent me this today:

 

Just in case you weren't feeling too old today.

 

The people who are starting college this fall were born in 1990.

 

They are too young to remember the explosion of the shuttle Challenger.

 

Their lifetime has always included AIDS.

 

The CD was introduced two years before they were born.

 

They have always had an answering machine.

 

They have always had cable.

 

Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.

 

Popcorn has always been microwave d.

 

They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.

 

They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.

 

They never heard: 'Where's the Beef?', 'I'd walk a mile for a Camel', or 'de plane Boss, de plane'.

 

McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.

 

They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.

 

Pass this on to the other old fogies on your list.

 

Notice the larger type? (It was in larger type)

 

That's for those of us who have trouble reading.

 

That's for those of us who have trouble reading.

[MsGuy]

And Vietnam is almost as much ancient history as WWI was for me. Jane Fonda is the gal on granny's exercise tapes. It has been almost half their lifetime since the Yankees last won the World Series.

[+ purplekow]

And Vietnam is almost as much ancient history as WWI was for me. Jane Fonda is the gal on granny's exercise tapes. It has been almost half their lifetime since the Yankees last won the World Series.

 

With any luck it will be the rest of their lifetime before the Yankees win the World Series Again.

 

As for the college freshman, I feel sorry for them. From my vantage, they never had a time of innocence. Most never had to entertain themselves by making up games with the other kids in the neighborhood. It seemed to me there was always a push for these kids to grow up and little done to see to it that they got to just be kids. I don't have any children, and these are observations made while watching nieces, nephews, cousins and neighbors children, admittedly from afar and from listening to their parents who seemingly spent most of their free time catering to making things better for their kids rather than letting the kids make things better for themselves.

 

I for one am glad I got the Beach Boys and not the Spice Girls; Mickey Mantle and not Barry Bonds; JFK and not Clinton (Marilyn Monroe instead of Monica Lewinsky); lazy Summer days rather than ads for Summer's Eve;

Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots instead of Transformers, The Nutty Professor with Jerry Lewis rather than Eddie Murphy and Sean Connery dialing up my 007 rather than Roger Moore or Timothy Dalton.

[Rick Munroe]

The CD was introduced two years before they were born.

 

It was actually 8 years before (1982).

 

Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.

 

He started in 1992.

 

Popcorn has always been microwaved.

 

They still make air poppers and stovetop Jiffy Pop.

 

They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.

They never heard: 'Where's the Beef?', 'I'd walk a mile for a Camel', or 'de plane Boss, de plane'.

 

Not unless they have a DVD player or Nick@Nite/TV Land.

[+ purplekow]

I believe the quote was Jay Leno was always on the Tonight Show.

 

 

 

He started in 1992.

 

It just seems like the last time he was funny was 1990

[Rick Munroe]

It just seems like the last time he was funny was 1990

 

And that's being generous.

[+ Charlie]

The kids entering high school this year will often be too young to remember 9/11, and Monica Lewinski is just a figure they have read about in history books.