As geeks around the world were celebrating Pi Day yesterday (get it? 3.14? hehe), it reminded me again of two things:
1) I can rattle off the first 25 digits of pi.
2) I used to be able to rattle off 50! But it's gone.... Gone!
I don't know which is sadder: 1 or 2. Haha! As for #1, here goes. Observe the sad geekiness. (It's awesomer to hear it all fast and stuff, but oh well....)
3.1415926535897932384626433
If you check it and I'm wrong, don't tell me. I'd like to think my 9-year-old self that memorized that is still in there reciting it. :)
As for #2, sometimes I'm tempted to go memorize the next 25 digits again, just to rekindle that 4th-grade feeling. But it's cheating. I mean, the fun thing about remembering things for years and years is that it's somehow stuck around, not that you have something memorized. It isn't fun to know the first 50 digits of pi—it's fun to still know the first 50 digits of pi. But it's gone. Whittled away to only 25.... When I'm an old lady I'll probably only remember 3.1 . . . what's next . . . ? But I'll be pretty sure it's a remnant from 4th grade still.
Also in 4th grade (I was on fire!) I memorized the greek alphabet—all of which is still there, but when I rattle it off I realize that 4th-grader me pronounced some of those letters all, all wrong. :) And I painstakingly figured out how to say the alphabet backwards, going from Z to A in about 1.4 seconds. Or something like that.... It's still in there, too.
My other favorite random throwback—why do I still remember this?—is a preposition list from 7th grade. Aboard, about, above, across, after, against . . . it goes on and on and ON and on. It can spew out of my mouth in about 5 seconds. If I take a breath, it's gone. But if I get it all out like it's just one word? Still there...!
Isn't the brain awesome? Funky and fun. ;)
Pi Day postscript:
I got a text message from Matt today that amused me. "So, I'm all depressed now because I realized that Pi Day garnered all sorts of press, but I've seen nary a headline about the Ides of March. :( Don't geeks get any training in the classics anymore?!!!!" I had to reply that, well, I've been thinking about the Ides all day but, yes, what about the children? Happy—or Spooky—IDES, everyone! :)
3 comments:
Just want you to know I thought about both. But we made a pie for pi day and I forgot to beware on the ides. Sorry, Matt.
Hahaha - I sent an email to someone referencing the Ides of March and laughed because it was an email with bad news :)
I memorized the alphabet backwards as a kid too! It's still an amusing parlor trick. :) I only have (and have only ever had) six digits of pi though, though there are other amusing mathematical facts that I can rattle off because of 4th grade. I can't believe you knew 50! And that you still know 25!
The ides of March just aren't as tasty to celebrate, Matt. The tastier the holiday, the more likely people will celebrate. That's my person motto.
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