Mount Rushmore Icons?

[vik_thor]

 Who are my personal icons?

This is actually a somewhat difficult question for me, in some ways…
Part of it is that I have not really examined my thoughts / life regarding this, which is probably not a good thing. I tend to live my life day to day, as it happens. I make plans, but not really long-term goals.

Another part of the problem, is that I think my memory works differently than most peoples. (I should probably see a psychist at some point, to figure out if my memory is actually unusually bad, or if I just think it is.)
One example: I could not tell you what color my husband’s eyes are. To tell the truth, I actually don’t even know what color my parents’ eyes are.

Another example: I know I went to see an 80’s Music tour @ the St Charles Family Arena. Howard Jones was the main act, along with Men Without Hats (the main one I wanted to see), Katrina (from Katrina and the Waves), and one other act, that I can’t remember without looking it up. I know it wasn’t one of my favorites. I know it was while Seph was working @ WalMart in St Charles, because he dropped me off, and then I took an Lyft from the Arena to WalMart to get our car, to drive home. (He worked overnight’s.) But I truthfully could not tell you if it was in 2016 or 2017.

That is pretty much my entire life. I know I did things, but the details…

 

After that digression:

Probably my biggest icon is Isaac Asimov. Mostly because of the breadth of his writing. I’ve enjoyed his science fiction, and his non-fiction. Over 400 books, and I believe I have read that he is one of the few people to have books in every one of the main 10 Dewey Decimal divisions. And I have a large proportion of his books, but nowhere near a majority.

Other than that… I don’t really know.

Probably a friend, TC. He is a little bit older than me, and we are similar in some ways, but he has done so much more with his life. Though he has had a lot more bad things happen in his life than I have, too. But he is always quite positive and helpful.

After that, it would be people I admire, but I don’t really think it would go up to icon status. People like Fran, Ursula Vernon, Brad Dowdy, George Takei, Presidents Carter and Obama… and my husband, Seph for putting up with me.

Comments

[murielle]

It doesn't seem to me that your memory is that different from mine. Which could be taken either way. I can't tell when things happened unless something else happened around the same time that anchors it for me. And names? Forgetaboutit!

I am sure I have read some of Asimov's work because he's so prolific, and because he created the standard for so many genres, especially Sci-fi.

Like your take on the prompt, and great to see you again!

[alycewilson]

A great list, especially Fran. She was one of the first people to write a really kind, thoughtful comment on one of my LJ Idol entries, and I loved her for it. She coped with so much and still found a way to keep creating. All admirable qualities.

[the_eternal_overthinker]

I am bad with dates and I can't remember them even if the occasion means a lot to me. And this was exactly the reason why I struggled to write my entry because there are too many favorites and they all aren't that favorite that I'd carve a sculpture out for them.

I like the list in the end and there are some of my favorites there :)

A nice read!

[thephantomq]

Memory is such a fickle thing, really. This is why eye-witness accounts aren't actually the be-all-end-all, because brains are suggestible and sometimes, the memories we have are just flat wrong or distorted. ;)

I haven't much thought about icons, either. I think it's just a hard thing to do, sometimes. :)

[tatdatcm]

My memory gets worse and worse as I get older. I use a lot of mnemonic devices to help.

[dmousey]

Sounds as if you have gathered some good people around you. That's an accomplishment! Thanks for writing this. ✌😊~~~d

[encrefloue]

Interesting ruminations! Thanks for sharing.

[rayaso]

Over 400 books? Wow! I can understand why he is an icon.

[bewize]

I also have a foggy memory. I've found it can be linked to depression, personally. May be worth checking out.

[vik_thor]

Thanks for the thought. That may somewhat be the kick in the butt I need to actually start looking at the options I have for psychist care through work...

(Because truthfully, if my mind / memory is typical of humanity in general, we truly are a miraculous species!)

[halfshellvenus]

My memory certainly isn't what it used to be, and I think this is true for most people? As we get older, there's more and more to remember, and some things (whole events or just details) get crowded out. Somewhat unpredictably. :O

I had never heard that factoid about Asimov! That IS breadth. :D

[vik_thor]

Thanks.
Yeah, he had a huge range of output!

(That is part of why I want to eventually get myself checked out... I have read that people tend to forget things as they grow older. But I don't think my memory for some things has ever been good. Especially visual type stuff... But, I can't be sure without some type of test, because we can't 'see' inside someone else's memories/minds... I hear people describe stuff they've seen, and I'm like how can you remember that level of detail. And I'm not talking eye witness detail type stuff of accident / robbery... They remember all their teacher's names, and addresses where they've lived, and friends they had in grade school, and can describe them...) and now I am somewhat rambling due to how late it is...

[halfshellvenus]

My younger sister (by about 16 months) remembers that kind of detail, but she has also always been more of a "living in the moment" kind of person than me. Same as with my husband's younger sister and him.

I used to have a tape-recorder style memory of conversations, and my grasp of characters' voices is what drives any fanfiction I write. But most people have better visual than auditory memories, so when I talk about not being able to channel a character well unless I can hear them in my head, most people's response is... o_O

:)