broskis

This is the story of how my little (now 6ft tall) brother is simply awesome.











Background: Like true Americans, my family has a rich tradition of loving Star Wars. And we have also all read the Harry Potter books, with the exception of my dad who - last time I checked - thinks Harry Potter might very well be of the devil.

My younger brother especially loves the far, far away galaxy. One day, I was doing homework in my room, and I could hear strange noises coming from the intercom by my door (it connects throughout the house). I went over to it to listen more closely and I recognized my brother's voice making explosion noises - "Pyew pyew! BABOOM!" I also thought I heard him singing...

Amused, curious and unable to concentrate on homework, I walked to my brother's room and found him playing LEGOs with both his Star Wars and Harry Potter sets. The sounds I had heard were the result of an enormous LEGO battle strewn across his floor, of which my brother sat in the middle, holding a triumphant warrior in each hand.

He then explained to me he had discovered something ingenious - that Dobby the house elf and Yoda the jedi master were long lost brethren, and they even had a theme song (which he sang for me and the chorus went something like "Two Bros! Out to clear the danger...")

I thought he was just a typical brother at the time but looking back, he was a creative little sucker. I mean, look at 'em, they have very similar features. Ahhh....I laugh every time I remember this :) My brother makes me happy.

Even better is that he could probably still sing me the theme song if I asked him to.

just take a mental picture

Autistic Savant Stephen Wiltshire Draws Rome From Memory

Genius. Many of us can't even remember what we had for breakfast.
So while not all of us can draw panoramics like so beautifully demonstrated by Mr. Wiltshire, I think we've all wished at one time or another that we could have more efficient memories. But just blaming your memory ("I'm sorry, I've always been bad at names...") isn't fair because we can train our brains to retain information more reliably. One trick that the experts give is to simply memorize something every day. Whether that's a fun fact, someone's birthday, a quote, scripture, or poem, you're memory will become stronger at holding information. Plus, you'll be muy impressive whenever you bust out that quote or remember where that person you met last Sunday is from. Specifically make a conscious effort to remember people's names. Remember that you won't actually get better at memorization unless you consciously try. No pain, no gain.

And if you're interested :
Statistically people remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, and 30% of what they see. http://www.wikihow.com/Improve-Your-Memory