“Hey, remember when…” NOPE!

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!