I have a TERRIBLE memory. I’m not sure if it’s a defense mechanism because I was felt up at summer camp (I don’t even remember if I went to summer camp) or if I have a brain tumor that doesn’t allow me to remember things for more than a month at a time. But I definitely have a swiss cheese style recollection center. Maybe, like Sherlock Holmes feared, I have filled my head up with too much useless information and now there’s no room left for anything else. Why must we only use 5% of our brain power? What is the other 95% for?!?
Two years ago I started keeping a journal. And more recently, I quit drinking to try and help increase my powers of remembering shit! But because of my severe lack of memory, I take pictures of EVERYTHING. If you know me, you know this is not an exaggeration - to the point where it annoys some (most…OK likely ALL) people. If we have met more than once, then I probably had at least 1 photo of you.
Last night my memory took a HUGE hit. I lost ALL of the photos on my computer. About 20,000 photos. FUCK ME! I know what you’re thinking: didn’t you back them up? Of course I did. On CDs. About 3 years ago. So now I’ll just have a HUGE gap.
A few months ago my work computer crashed causing me to lose my journal from 2011 & 2012. I was super bummed, but then an I.T. fella did some I.T. magic and was able to salvage them for me. I now back the journal up about once a month to a flash drive.
I was so scared by this, that I bought an external hard drive to back up ALL of my photos and writing. I gave the drive to Joel about a month ago to put all of our shorts & web series episodes on it, with the intention of uploading them to our new Penalty Box Productions website. I should have it back this Wednesday…so of course I accidentally delete the photos 3 days before.
I can’t put into words how sick this made me last night. Let’s just say, I didn’t cry myself to sleep. I cried. Stopped. Then went to sleep. See, that’s different!
I bought my camera in 2005 and have upgraded twice since. The Nikon I have now is FREAKING awesome! So I have photos of pretty much every event in the past 7 years.
You know the saying, “A picture is worth a 1000 words?” Well that translates to approximately 3 memories for each photo. That means I was holding on too about 60,000 of memories on my MAC. Gone. I guess the joke is, I won’t even remember losing the photos in about 6 months. Which is kind of true. But man I had some great fucking photos!
Lost was every wedding I have been to in the past 7 years. Luckily we have ours because Julie keeps them in a different folder – which will be backed up this week. In the time Julie and I have been together we have been to over 50 weddings…so that’s a LOT of memories.
Lost is the photo album I wanted to make for my nephew Mason when he turns 18. Most of the photos would have been of him crying.
Lost are ALL of the cats Julie & I have rescued over the years. Yes we have more than a couple, but we have rescued and housed even more than the ones we’ve kept. I know Julie has many of these on her facebook - can you tell who the responsible one is?
Lost are:
Seven New Years Parties.
Six Kerryoke Parties.
Five Halloween Parties.
Four “Dirty” Cookie Parties (that one hurts the most! Suzanne - “COCKtivity is on Facebook”).
Three Web Series.
Two Canoe Outings.
And a video of me making an impossible shot with a piece of cheese into the shirt of The 2012 Renaissance Faire Queen, Jess Eppler.
I guess there’s something to be said about starting over. But DAMMIT! I had hair in some of those photos!
