Monday, August 30, 2010

BUT NOT IN A CREEPY WAY…..I SWEAR

camera
One of my numerous SUPERPOWERS is my photographic memory.  You’ve heard of people with photographic memories, right?  There are individuals who live and breathe among us who have the ability to remember everything they see.  They can look at a page in a book and remember what it said……forever.   They can remember the license plate number on the get-away car.  Grocery list? No problem.  And if you can sit next to one in the casino, you’re a sure WINNAH!
 
Yeah, well…..that’s not the kind of photographic memory that I have.  My SUPERPOWER is slightly off-kilter.  My photographic memory is more literal.  I remember every photograph I’ve ever seen…….and nothing else.  *sigh*

I may not be that helpful at a crime scene but this special gift of mine has come in handy …..and then it backfires.  For instance:

I was once on a plane and spotted a man that I was sure I had seen before.  Does that happen to you?  You see someone who you know looks familiar but you can’t quite place where you know them from.  It drove me crazy.  I spent the entire flight trying to figure out if he worked in my office building.  Maybe he was a sales rep that visits my office.  Maybe he was one of my husband’s customers.   Maybe he was the fish guy at Publix.  Did we go to the same church?
 
Finally during a lay-over in the Atlanta airport restroom, I saw an adorable, blonde haired, blue eyed little girl with her mom.  They had on these really cute, Mommy and Me, Lilly Pulitzer dresses.  And that’s when it hit me.
 
They were the wife and daughter of the the guy who owns the pizza place in my neighborhood.  It was the Pizza Guy on the plane.  Just a few days earlier, I had stood at the counter waiting to pay for our pizza and admired the photograph on the wall of the wife and daughter.  I was so relieved to have figured out who the guy on the plane was. I strutted right out of the ladies room and walked over to the waiting husband/father/pizza guy and told him how I had figured it all out.  As he eyed me carefully while watching for his family, it didn’t even occur to me that it might seem slightly creepy that I recognized his family from a snapshot on the pizza wall.  Hey, can I help it that I have SUPERPOWERS?

And then:

I received a message on facebook a few months ago from an old elementary school friend.  He moved to Florida just before we made the jump to middle school.  He heard that MHS and I now live in his neck of the woods and wanted to get together some time.  I was overwhelmed with work, MHS’s business and life in general and promptly blew him off promised to make a plan in the future. 

Yesterday while leaving our local bagel place, I held the door for a woman, teenage girl and man who were mysteriously familiar to me.  It wasn’t until they were getting in the car that I realized I knew them from facebook pictures.  It was my childhood friend.  I felt a little foolish chasing down his car so instead I later sent him a message asking if he had been at the same bagel place that morning.  He had.

I didn’t bother to explain that the only reason I recognized him was because he was with the same people who are in his profile pictures.  I am nothing if not a fast learner.  We’ll just keep my slightly creepy, somewhat stalkerish photographic memorific SUPERPOWERS between you and me.

22 comments:

Liz Mays said...

Keep this on the down low. The waaaaaaaaaaay down low. You frighten me.

;)

Jules said...

Yeah, that is sort of creepy, in a good way :)

Welcome back :D
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

Brian Miller said...

your superpowers are cool....

injaynesworld said...

I'm in awe of anyone who can remember anything anymore. If it wasn't for wandering from room to room trying to remember what the hell I was doing there, I wouldn't get any exercise at all.

There must be a game show you can go on to exploit your skill.

Fragrant Liar said...

DANG, girl! That's some mad skilz you have! It's photographic memory for realz!

midlifeslices said...

Well well....you finally admit you're somewhat creepy. That's always the first step. :) *wink*

Midlife Roadtripper said...

Observant, I must say. I never would have noticed the photos.

Often times I'm in an airport and seems like many of the people look very familiar. Then I think that all in all, we probably all just look like somebody.

cheatymoon said...

That stuff happens to me all the time. I'm afraid you might also be a freak.

xoxo

Unknown said...

That is sort of a creepy skill SMB but you'd make a fantastic witness at a crime scene... not that I wish that on you but there would be some really happy dicks around. Take that anyway you like...

Deb said...

That is a little creepy but I like it! That takes FB stalking to a whole new level!

Kimberly said...

Stalkerazzi!

TONY LETTS said...

OK not creepy maybe but spoooooky!

Arkansas Patti said...

surely there is a use for that power, i am just having trouble thinking of what it could be right now.
regardless, own it and sharpen it.

tera said...

I am jealous. I can't even take a good photograph, let alone remember any of them. I have no super powers. Unless cooking is a super power. Secret Agent Man might say it is. Secret Agent Man has a super power - the ability to fall asleep anywhere. Anytime.
That jerk.

Heather said...

I think that is an awesome super power. I am real bad at faces and names, it's horrible.

Jason, as himself said...

I have a hard time transferring people in photos to people in real life, especially if I've never seen them in real life.

You never know, this just might come in really handy some day...

tulpen said...

I remember faces forever. And will drive myself insane until I figure out from where.

Anonymous said...

Just found your blog. Love your header picture, and what an amazing superpower you have. I used to win spelling bees because I could remember how words looked in books, but people are much more interesting.

Wsprsweetly Of Cottages said...

Hey, I think it's neat, SMB! I wish I had ANY kind of memory ability at all. Even a string tied around my finger...nothing!
I wouldn't even mind being called a wierdo...call me anything, just give me back the blamed memory I used to have!

JeanMac said...

This happens to me all the time - sometimes I approach the person, mostly not.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Pseudo said...

Isn't the word of FB a new and strange phenom? BTW You cracked me up telling me how cute I was in the photo you tagged the other day. It was a photo of Oscar Night with a Slumdog Millionaire theme. That scarf my daughter wrapped around me that night was barely hanging in there. I forgot she even put the photo up.

But we sure would have fun if we got to hang out one day.