12. Rob, how come you remember so much? Rob,你怎么能记得住这么多事情？

{jcomments on}

I have a very good and sometimes detailed memory for things that happened to me. For me it is just like watching a movie in my head. Unfortunately I am not a talented writer and it is therefore very difficult for me to translate these images in my head into words.

As an example how detailed I sometimes can remember things, I could have written the story "Formally introduced" in a different way. Taking the moment I am helping in the fish and chip shop. I could have written.

I am frying the chips. Barbara is standing next to me taking the orders from the customers. It is busy, at least five customers are waiting. Barbara looks at the chips and says to me 'you have to take them out now'. I start collecting the chips with some kind of large spoon with small holes in it. I am trying to collect the chips in the spoon, I only can collect a half spoon full. Barbara says 'you're to slow that way they burn'. She takes the spoon from my hands and starts removing the chips herself. While she is doing this she says 'look you have to swirl it this way then you can collect more chips and it goes faster'. With the spoon she describes an eight in the cooking fat, taking most of chips out in one movement. She gives the spoon back to me and says 'do it that way next time or else they burn, you have to work faster'.

If I was going to write the stories this way I never finish writing and the stories will probably be very boring.

I don't think I have a special talent for remembering things. Someone told me that the first love always brings back the most vivid memories. Apparently for me that even counts after thirty years. But then again maybe I just a silly romantic person and other people just forget these things. Also the relation was not a normal teenage romance as the stories will tell. One thing was certain with Barbara "there was never a dull moment".

Rob,你怎么能记得住这么多事情？

我对于自己经历的事情有着很好，有时候很详细的记忆。对我来讲，回忆仿佛是在脑子里面看电影。 因此对我来说困难的倒是如何把头脑中的影像转化成文字。

我可以个举个例子来说明我有时能记得事情的细节。我可以把"正式介绍"这篇故事用不同的方式写出来。就以我在炸鱼薯条店里帮忙的那段，我可以写成：
我在炸薯条，Barbara站在我边上接待客户点单。店里很忙，至少有5个客人在排队等待。Barbara看了看薯条对我说，"你得把它们捞出来了。"我开始用一个带漏洞的大勺子捞薯条出锅。我极力要把所有的薯条都捞到勺子里，但是我只能捞到一半。Barbara说， "你太慢了，要焦了。"她从我手里拿过勺子，自己去捞薯条。她一边做一边说， "看,你得转着圈捞，这样可以多捞点也快点。"她在热油里划了个8字，一下子几乎所有的薯条都捞起来了。她把勺子还给我，说，"下回就这么做，否则会焦掉的，你动作要快点。"

如果我这么写得话，我 永远也写不完了，可能故事也会很没意思。
我不认为我有特殊的记忆能力。有人告诉我初恋总是能给人留下栩栩如生的回忆。 这种理论对于30年后的我仍然成立。可能我是个比较傻比较浪漫的人吧，而更多人只是忘记了这些事了。

另外，从我的故事中也能看出来我们的关系并不是普通的少年之恋。有一件事是可以肯定的，和Barbara在一起的每一刻都是精彩的。

Thanks to Natalie for the translation