Memorable

[ladysprite]

So I joke sometimes that my superpower is that, no matter where I go, I run into someone I know. And usually it's pretty straightforward - I'll see a gamer friend when I'm out to dinner, or a classmate when I'm at a charity event, or (on one memorable occasion) a client when I'm on the plane home from Rome. But now it's getting a bit absurd.

I was wandering around one of the local Open Markets with a friend today, and had stopped to check out a vendor who was selling beautiful steampunk accessories. I know I had seen their wares at the local SF convention before, but that was about the limit of my recollection.

After talking up her wares to my friend for a few minutes, the vendor stopped to look at me, mentioned that I looked incredibly familiar, then suddenly came out with 'Aha! My roommate sold you a hat! Five years ago, at Arisia, when it was back at the good hotel!'

And she was right (and it was a very pretty hat). But.... how the heck does this happen? I can't remember the faces of clients I saw five months ago, let alone five years, and I'd like to think I form a closer bond with someone whose pet's life I save than with someone I sold a hat to. And it's not like I stand out; all humility aside, I'm a short, freckled redhead. We're kind of a dime a dozen here in Boston. I don't even have any distinguishing marks; all of my tattoos were covered up at the time.

This may somehow be related to my secondary superpower, 'strangers talk to me extensively and tell me their life stories....'

Comments

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

I'm horrible at remembering people, too. Especially people's names.

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

I'm good with faces. Terrible with names but good with faces. I think it's a visual pattern matching thing.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Facial recognition/recollection skills vary all over the map. Russ is much better at it than I am, but even he gets the "okay, how DO I know this person who obviously knows me" reaction sometimes. Because we're convention dealers ourselves, a lot of people remember us, and it's occasionally disconcerting.

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

I once had someone come up to me at a dance in Boston and tell me (correctly) that they remembered the sign that I'd been carrying at a March on Washington, in DC.

[pryder]

I can easily see somebody remembering you. I find you quite memorable. One of my best SCA memories is that Gods and Goddesses play we were in.

What I can't imagine is anybody referring to the Hyatt as "the good hotel". The hotel where you couldn't attend half the panels you wanted to see because the rooms filled up? The hotel where almost nobody got to the art show because they didn't want to endure the half hour elevator lines to get there? The hotel where Arisia had to have a membership cap that excluded 10-20% of the people who wanted to come? That's the good hotel?

I will grant that it had a Dealer's Row, and that the room rates were lower. But that isn't enough to tip the balance.