I first realized I had extraordinary memory skills when I was five and a half years old. My uncle had given me a calendar for the year 1966, and I memorized the entire year when I was home from school with an illness. Feeling too ill to play with toys, I lay in bed staring at the calendar and felt fascinated by it. Soon I began noticing patterns. If I knew the day of the week of every day for the first week of the month I could calculate the remainder of the dates by adding sevens. For example, if the first day of a month was a Sunday you could calculate 1,8,15,22, and 29 to get the subsequent Sundays in the month. I quickly found it easier to use rote memory and just repeat the sequences. I would say in my head several times two, nine, sixteen, twenty three, thirty, and do the same with each sequence. So now I was able to tell the day of the week of any date as long as I knew the first seven.. For example, if I wanted to know the twenty first day of the month I would just know when the seventh was because twenty one was in the same sequence. So if the seventh was a Saturday the twenty first would be a Saturday.

I further expanded my skills by using more elaborative rehearsal. Elaborative rehearsal is when you make an association of new information to old information. I had a favorite television program for every night of the week, what five year old does not. I began glancing at the calendar squares with a quick glance at the month first. Then I would repeat the date in my head a few times - then play the theme song for my program that night. For example: Wednesday October 5 - Batman, Batman, Batman. Saturday December 3 - They call him Flipper, Flipper. The prime time television lineup was as follows. Sunday - Disney, Monday - The Monkees, Tuesday - Combat, Wednesday and Thursday - Batman, Friday - The Green Hornet, Saturday - Flipper.

By making the association of the television show, it's theme, and the calendar date, I was able to memorize the entire year in two days. One question you might have is how I may have confused some Wednesdays and Thursdays because Batman was on both days. I circumvented this by picturing Batman on Wednesday's and Robin on Thursday's. Therefore I used both visual and auditory cues to make the associations.

Now that I had memorized an entire year in two days. I recovered from my illness and resumed my life as a child and a scholar. I began making mental notes throughout each day about events which occured in my life. Five to ten times each day I would notice what was happening and make a note of which date it was occuring on. For example - Monday August 1 - We went on our vacation to the shore. Friday September 30 - We moved to a new house. I remembered events on every date and not just the ones when significant events happened.

As 1966 ended I realized my range of dates was ending, so I began memorizing the new year. This was easy because I observed that each date advanced by one day from the previous year. For example - My birthday May 21 had been a Saturday then the next year it would be a Sunday. Except in a leap year, after March 1 it would move two days. May 21, 2003 was a Wednesday, but May 21, 2004 was a Friday because there was a February 29 in between.

When I was 14 years old I wanted to be in a talent show in school. As with any amateur talent show they were mostly interested in people who sang or did magic. However, I thought it would be worth trying out and displaying my memory skills. The vice principal took me out of the show the day before because he feared that the rowdier pupils might get nasty. Despite this I was motivated to extend my range. I made notes of which years were arranged the same and made the comparisons. For example - 1974 was the same as 1963, 1985, 1991, 2002 etc. By the end of that week I had extended my range of dates from 1752 to 2999.

As the years progressed, I noted on each day the date the weather, personal experiences, and news events. They say that the more you connect new information to old information the more likely the new information will be retained. My range grew and is still growing each day. I now know the Philadelphia weather every day for the past forty years, the calendar from 1752 to 2999. The Asian animal for each year for two centuries. facts about the Beatles, Marx Brothers, History of Space Flight, celebrity birthdays, and assorted other information. Besides making associations, I tend to hold thoughts for a few seconds longer than most people seem to. So I give a fact more time to go from short term to long term memory. It is rare when I actually sit down and memorize anything deliberately, I just think about things as I perform my daily routines, and it stays in my memory.