The Dynamic Duo

So, speaking of Alice in Wonderland, it got me to thinking about the useless things I have memorized in the course of my life. When I was younger, memorizing came easily to me. I was a good test taker, though sometimes I only remembered the info long enough for the test. But I memorized other things just because; things that were interesting or intriguing to me. I still have a good memory for song lyrics; it’s kind of a joke in the family that one shouldn’t begin singing around me cause I usually pick it up and run with it, completing all the verses. Jealous family members will roll their eyes and say to the song starter,”Now see what you did.” But I have a very limited capacity for remembering numbers! That’s pretty good since I work in a bank. It’s fascinating to see some people who can rattle off their account numbers, telephone numbers of everyone they know as well as all of their children’s social security numbers. I believe that is why pencil and paper were invented, cause we know we don’t need them to write our posts since we have computers!
Okay, back to Alice in Wonderland, have you ever read the wonderful poem “Jabberwocky”? Here, I’ll recite the first verse from memory: (I could have recited them all, but I’m taking pity on you)

Twas brillig and the slivy tobe did gire and mimble in the wabe

All mimsy were the borrogroves and the mome wraths outgrabe. Beware the Jabberwock, my son, the jaws that bite, the claws that catch Beware the JubJub bird and shun the frumerous bandersnatch.

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Great stuff, huh? And then there is Old Father Williams:

“You are old, father Williams” , the young man said, ” And your hair has become very white And yet you incessantly stand on your head Do you think at your age it is right?” “In my youth,” Father Williams replied to his son “I feared it might injure my brain But now that I’m perfectly sure I have none, Why I do it again and again.”

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The Walrus and the Carpenter:

The moon was shining on the sea, shining with all his might
He did his very best to make the billows smooth and bright
And this was odd because it was the middle of the night.

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You get the point. With all that useless drivel in my head, I have no room for things I SHOULD remember,
like to stop at the store and pick up milk; like my account number; like my sister-in-law’s birthday; like how to play the card game that someone just taught me a week ago. And its getting worse. Why do I remember things I learned 20 years ago, and can’t remember something I read just this morning? Is my brain really full? I REALLY wish I remembered more of the Bible verses I memorized, but I only seem to have the ones I learned when I was young.
Anyway, I don’t think I’m the only one who has accomplished monumental usless memorizing. I was reciting Jabberwocky to impress my niece, Sara McDonald the other day, and she shot right back with the full and complete Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven.
So, I was thinking it would be great fun for everyone, all of our hundreds of readers, to search the cobwebby corners of their memory banks and dredge up the arcane, useless, but very interesting, at least to you at one time, poetry, Shakespeare speeches (“The quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain of heaven upon the place beneath”), etc. and share that captivating information with the group. Come on, you know you’re just dying to show off.
In conclusion, I’d just like to say, a la Ogden Nash;
“God in his wisdom made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why.”

Poetically yours,
UltraMom