NTs and time

[Natrushka]

They are usually pragmatic about the present, skeptical about the future, solipsistic about the past, and their preferred time and place are the interval and the intersection.

Does this apply to you? I had one of those "A-ha" moments when I read this not that long ago. I thought everyone dealt with time in intervals, From x to y, The Maxwell Years, the four years we were stationed here, the 2 there, the time I lived alone.

For those of you who do prefer intervals do you actually see time? As long as I can remember I've had an image of a calendar year in my mind, a circle, skewed with July (number 7) at the bottom because that was "summer" and it marked a change of time (End of School, Birthday, Summer). I can see which day of the week August 3rd is, or December 18th - for this year, for a few back, for a few forward.

These intervals are how I remember things that happened in the past; where did I live, where was I on that circle? I've found I need to use these tricks because my ability to remember things that happened in the past is horrible. My husband can remember every extra who had 2 seconds of time onscreen in the movie "Heat" and I barely remember who the main stars were. "Hey do you remember when we did this last summer?" NO. I don't. (And why does he?)

I can remember things that are very important, but small things that happen on a day to day basis get washed away. Is this part of living in the interval? Or am I a freak?

[curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Natrushka

Does this apply to you? I had one of those "A-ha" moments when I read this not that long ago. I thought everyone dealt with time in intervals, From x to y, The Maxwell Years, the four years we were stationed here, the 2 there, the time I lived alone.

I'd never voiced how I see time, but I think I know what you mean. The Nike years. The Gatsby summer. When I Was a Workaholic. That unmentionable period on Mt. Desert Island. The solitary decade ...

For those of you who do prefer intervals do you actually see time? As long as I can remember I've had an image of a calendar year in my mind, a circle, skewed with July (number 7) at the bottom because that was "summer" and it marked a change of time (End of School, Birthday, Summer). I can see which day of the week August 3rd is, or December 18th - for this year, for a few back, for a few forward.

I think I experience something similar. September 6 always felt like the start of a new year for me, not January 1. And it was September and October I could see in my mind. I could more readily recall big events if I visualized something related to them. It wasn't always a wall calendar. Sometimes it was a book or a note or an image of my Filofax calendar or a fleeting image of late afternoon at the beach.

I also did much better in tests while in school if I visualized that page of the textbook with the picture of the whatever [cell structure] near it. I could see the labels, and then I'd know what the answer was on the test. But I don't know if that has as much to do with time as the way I trained myself to remember things.

These intervals are how I remember things that happened in the past; where did I live, where was I on that circle? I've found I need to use these tricks because my ability to remember things that happened in the past is horrible. My husband can remember every extra who had 2 seconds of time onscreen in the movie "Heat" and I barely remember who the main stars were. "Hey do you remember when we did this last summer?" NO. I don't. (And why does he?)

I can relate to that. My husband calls it The Gift (my inability to remember something that just happened in a book I read or a movie I watched). I only remember things that are important to me, and I do see those things in intervals: Life before W, and so on.

I can remember things that are very important, but small things that happen on a day to day basis get washed away. Is this part of living in the interval? Or am I a freak?

I think you're just adept at filtering out from the daily assault of inputs to your brain what is meaningful to you. You are not a freak.

[Splittet]

Originally Posted by Natrushka

I also did much better in tests while in school if I visualized that page of the textbook with the picture of the whatever [cell structure] near it. I could see the labels, and then I'd know what the answer was on the test. But I don't know if that has as much to do with time as the way I trained myself to remember things.

I can so relate to this! If I have a hard time remembering something in a test I tend to think back at where I read it, imagine the page, because I tend to remember where I read it, and if I am patient enough, it tends to come back to me. It kind of worries me that now that I am going off to university, I can’t really use that technique, since I will have like a billion ton of pages to read, and not just 25 pages or something.

Originally Posted by Natrushka

I can relate to that. My husband calls it The Gift (my inability to remember something that just happened in a book I read or a movie I watched). I only remember things that are important to me, and I do see those things in intervals: Life before W, and so on.

Haha, yeah, I kind of suck at that too. I watch a couple of TV series on my computer weekly, but usually I am unable to remember what happened on last week’s show. Watching the show it usually comes slowly back to me though, if there is any continuity anyway. Remembering what I had for dinner yesterday and stuff like that doesn’t come very easily to me either. It’s kind of very blurry, and the sharpening process usually takes quite some time, but it works to a certain extent.

[Natrushka]

Damn, I so wanted to be a freak.

I wonder if the TV shows, The Gift, Heat, etc, has to do with devided attention? I know that there are times when I'm in front of the TV and I'm not really all there. Then again, there are books I read that I positively adore, that I think about for months after they're done, and I still forget entire chapters...

[curmudgeon]

It often amuses Mr. curmudgeon when I ask him to go back several seconds in a movie because I was daydreaming or just thinking about something else.

Books are weird for me. Some I remember them almost photographically, whereas others I can read again and again because I'd forgotten (again) the plot and the outcome. And others are just not worth remembering!

Two freaks?

[Wolf]

I maintain time associatively in my memory.

[substitute]

Sorta like in the OP, except I don't readily see 'sections' of time, it all just melts into one. At the moment, I barely know what day of the week it is. I have to check with the kids to find out if it's a day they need to take a swimming kit to school or something, they remember these things, I don't. If I remember something at all, then it might as well have been yesterday or ten years ago, makes little difference to how much I recall of it, or what significance it has to me. I don't tend to remember unless it's significant in some way. Which very little is, because at the time it's happening, it's 'present', and I'm never really engaged in the present without a huge effort of will.

There was a point when the only semi-organized activity I was ever doing, was producing the service leaflets for the Sunday Masses, and I came to think of time in terms of the liturgical calendar, so if you asked me what day of the week it was or what the date was, I had no idea beyond "three days since Trinity 12" or "five days since the 2nd Sunday of Advent" or "it's St Ignatius tomorrow" - cos those were the headings for the service leaflets! I figured out the date by casting my mind back to the nearest time when I knew what day it was - usually Sunday because the Mass is different than other days of the week, and think what the heading was on the sheet, or what colour vestments were being worn, and try to think how many times I'd been to sleep since then.

I quite liked living that way, actually. It got to a point where I'd do a double take when someone said the word 'September' or 'next Tuesday' or 'July 12th', like these words had become meaningless to me and I'd forgotten how important they were, haha...

I've never been very good with tracking time, either present or past. The future I track by knowing what the cue will be for it being 'time' for something. I just trust myself to notice the cue when it comes, and go with the flow. I even managed to run a business quite successfully like this, until I took on an ENTJ partner who made things a bit more regimented... though no more successful for it, for all that he insisted it was necessary...

I prefer to just run by my own mental equivalent of a biological clock/calendar, and it works for me. The only time I think of time like normal people (heheh) is when I have to come onto their level cos I'm working with them. And it feels sorta funny, novel and cool, almost exciting even... for a little while... I find myself chuckling almost apologetically as I say 'Tuesday', like it's a new word I'm playing with. I didn't realise I did this until someone asked me why I always laughed when I said the names of days and months

[OK Radio]

Originally Posted by Natrushka

Damn, I so wanted to be a freak.

I wonder if the TV shows, The Gift, Heat, etc, has to do with devided attention? I know that there are times when I'm in front of the TV and I'm not really all there. Then again, there are books I read that I positively adore, that I think about for months after they're done, and I still forget entire chapters...

I believe divided attention would account for your inability to recall minor occurrences on television shows you are watching, and I would believe your divided attention stems from focusing on personal concerns you think about instead of passively watching an episode.

Originally Posted by Natrushka

I can remember things that are very important, but small things that happen on a day to day basis get washed away. Is this part of living in the interval? Or am I a freak?

I suspect you're always thinking, which gets in the way of always remembering. You're turning over something that you want to take care of and have done with at all times. You settle in to watch a movie or show, and at some point, you get a little bored, and you spend time thinking about something that a) troubles you b) could trouble you or c) has troubled you in the past and BAM!, you've come unmoored from time like a Vonnegut novel.

It's not that you're nervous, fixated, or unnatural, you're just hyper-aware of possibilities and outcomes, and you give yourself to contemplation at all sorts of odd snatches of time whether or not you're aware you're doing it.

[Natrushka]

I suspect you're always thinking, which gets in the way of always remembering.

I do exactly that at times - I've caught myself doing it. However, there are some things I remember with uncanny accuracy.

If only I could harness my powers for the forces of evil good.

[Nighthawk]

Originally Posted by Natrushka

Does this apply to you? I had one of those "A-ha" moments when I read this not that long ago. I thought everyone dealt with time in intervals, From x to y, The Maxwell Years, the four years we were stationed here, the 2 there, the time I lived alone.

Definitely for me. I see my life as time intervals. High school, military academy, living in Europe, living in Texas, living in the Middle East, Gulf War .. and on and on. Some of them seem to stretch in an almost surreal fasion and seem longer than they actually were ... probably due to intense emotions involved during that time.

Originally Posted by Natrushka

For those of you who do prefer intervals do you actually see time? As long as I can remember I've had an image of a calendar year in my mind, a circle, skewed with July (number 7) at the bottom because that was "summer" and it marked a change of time (End of School, Birthday, Summer). I can see which day of the week August 3rd is, or December 18th - for this year, for a few back, for a few forward.

I see time as a expanding heirarchy of linear intervals ... each one expanding or collapsing for big-picture or closer inspection.

Originally Posted by Natrushka

These intervals are how I remember things that happened in the past; where did I live, where was I on that circle? I've found I need to use these tricks because my ability to remember things that happened in the past is horrible. My husband can remember every extra who had 2 seconds of time onscreen in the movie "Heat" and I barely remember who the main stars were. "Hey do you remember when we did this last summer?" NO. I don't. (And why does he?)

I can remember things that are very important, but small things that happen on a day to day basis get washed away. Is this part of living in the interval? Or am I a freak?

This is a mixed bag with me. I can remember details about certain things or people that interest me ... and totally lose those which do not. Music is an interesting phenomenon with me, as I place songs which I enjoy in a time interval. Hearing that certain song takes me back to that interval and I can relive some of the feelings and sensations from that time. That is how I'm able to place the year the song came out. Unfortunately, the more I hear the song, the more it corrupts the interval and the less I feel the sensations ... since they are being replaced by another interval now closer to me.