CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
A local 40-year-old has today accepted the fact that he no longer has the ability to memorise anything off by heart.
This comes after failing to recall his wife of 5 year’s phone number while filling out an insurance form for a rental car.
Dale Mercer (email job, Betoota Heights) met his darling wife Sal nearly a decade ago, back when the smartphones were well in truly commonplace.
That means he’s never really had to rely on his own memory when it comes to sharing her contact details. Ever since that first moment they met, he’s had her number in his phone.
Sal’s phone number joins a long list of crucial details that a man from any other decade would be able to remember off the top of his head. Like his daughter’s blood type, or his own tax file number.
Unfortunately, as an early millennial who has relied on technology for mundane conveniences since his late-teens, Dale no longer has the ability to store anything in the top of his head.
In fact, he reckons he stopped remembering shit around 2004. And in a cruel twist, every piece of information he was required to remember before that has remained in his head.
But he still can’t remember his wife’s ten digit phone number.
For example, he remembers exactly who fought who in the WWE’s Six-Man Tag Team Title Match at King of the Ring 2000 (The Rock, Undertaker & Kane vs. Triple H, Mr. McMahon & Shane McMahon).
He can also remember every rap lyric on Dr Dre’s 1993 debut solo album ‘The Chronic’ which was released when he was ten years old.
But he still can’t remember his wife’s ten digit phone number.
However, as someone who has never picked up a skateboard in his life, Dale is most ashamed by the fact that he can still name the top 10 skateboarders of the late 1990s, all of whom were featured in the iconic playstation game Tony Hawk Pro Skater.
The ability to retain names like Bob Burqnuist, Chad Muska and Elisa Steamer offer no tangible benefit to Dale. Neither does the fact that he can also name the highest-scoring moves in competitive skateboarding. Or all of bizarre post-grunge songs that made up the 1999 video game’s soundtrack.
But he still can’t remember his wife’s ten digit phone number.
