Pi r Squared, Cakes r round

Last night I added some more digits in taking me up to 140 in total. Taking it really slowly and reviewing more times that I would do normally just to make sure the system works right. I'm also stacking twice as many digits as I would do normally so it's taking a lot longer than normal.

On the plus side, it is proving to be very efficient. I have only used 7 locations to store 140 digits so far and on recall I've only made one basic error by skipping over one part of the stack. Apart from that, it's going very very well so will keep going, hopefully picking up speed as my brain gets used to it.

It feels really strange when recalling, it's a lot more manageable than my previous system. I review a short little story that contains 20 digits and then move on to the next spot, do the same, move on to the next location etc. which keeps everything in nice neat little piles. It's helping to eliminate the fear factor of huge numbers.

Onwards and upwards!

Anyone for pi?

Quick update guys. To practice the new system and to kind of prove to myself that it works 100% I've started to memorise pi as a bit of an experiment. I've done the first 60 digits tonight just to start and it works very nicely. I've only used 3 of my locations to store the info. I'm stacking 20 digits in each place because I'm not against the clock and can afford the time to extend it a bit more.

I think I'm going to go for 5,000 digits which will only take 25 rooms using my system. Not bad I say!!

I've reviewed the first 60 digits a couple of times and they are well and truly in there so not concerned about the next few hundred. 5,000 would kind of prove the point I think and my girlfriend has said if I do it with no errors I can get a cool pi tattoo :)

First card trial

I just had a quick go at 20 cards to see how the new stacking system works and I'm pleased to say it feels much better, more accurate and easier than my previous efforts. Although I didn't time it (don't want to get discouraged by a slower time cos it's all shiny and new!) it was almost certainly quicker than before and the recall was much easier. It felt like I was looking at 4 short little movie scenes instead of one huge epic as I was before. It also feels better because I'm seeing a whole pack of cards or row of numbers as little manageable blocks rather than one huge task if that makes sense.

Speed with come with practice of course but I haven't dropped any speed at the moment anyway, so I'm hoping it will just get better from now on. The nice thing was I only used 4 locations in a room that has 10 items in it to store 20 cards. Very pleased it seems to be working well.

I'll do a full pack later on tonight probably and make sure that goes OK before starting to time anything.

I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning

I woke up this morning, promptly fell to the ground followed by thought like "oh my god, I'm having a seizure!"

Turns out I've got some major blockage thing in my right ear which is messing up my balance something chronic making me feel sea sick all the time. It's days like today when you're not at work it'd be good to practice some memory techniques, however, I fear my ear will be my akilies heal :(

I think I'll end up dreaming up new routes or something and putting them in a logical order so I have a bit more storage space.

2 posts in 1 day?!

I've had a quick play with my new system and wanted to post the first results. I just memorised a 30 digit number in 60 seconds with no errors. I was very pleased with that for a first attempt with a new system. I don't think I could go that fast using my old method as it stands. Perhaps with a bit more practice though. It didn't feel cramped or like I had to stop also which was good. Felt like I could have gone a lot further at that pace.

It's highlighted a few things though. Because I'm putting 5 items in 1 place I've been counting on my fingers when I get to 5 so I know when to move on to the next part of my route. Perhaps if I was to do something like person-object-action-object-object or some variant of that I'd instinctively know where I was so could forget about my finger counting.

Anyway, I'll keep playing around with it and update as I go.

What have the Romans ever done for me?

For those of you that know me will understand what I mean when I say I use the Roman Room method for memorising information. Well, I had a eureka moment last night whilst practicing with some cards and realised I may have come up with something not many people have done before. At least, I can't find anyone talking about it on the Internet if they do use it.

I put a pair of cards in each place on my 10 stage route per room. So the total cards per room is 20. I figured out last night that I can put 50 cards per room by making a slight modification to the method.

I take the first point of the 10 stages in the room and link the first card to that. Then, the object of the second card is linked to the first card which means I've still not moved from my first point. I then take the object of the 3rd card and link that to the second object etc. etc. until I have 'Stacked' 5 cards in one location. Then, move on to location number 2, link the next card with that and so on.

Got quite excited about it cos I can basically get a whole pack of cards in one room meaning my storage capacity has gone through the roof! I also noticed that because all 5 cards were linked together I found it much easier to memorise because if I forgot one there were normally at least 2 cards linked to it in some way.

I have christened this method..........................................Roman Stacking

Now I'm off to go and giggle like a little girl cos I'm all excited about it.

Oh, please let me know if you hear of anyone else memorising like this. Would be keen to know what results they have been getting.

Ben and the squashed frog

For those that don't know, a squashed frog is a drink made from all manor of things that when combined, seem to resemble a squashed frog. It would appear that a certain Mr Pridmore has a bit of a taste for them.

A bunch of us went out for a great bash on Ben's birthday and great fun was had by all! We ended up eating in Nottingham at a place that does an all you can eat from just about every country you can imagine. I had Italian, Indian, Thai and Chinese before my stomach could take no more. Great place :)

I've slowed up on my training. Finding it a bit tough to get motivated at the moment for some reason. Getting a bit down and depressed about pointless things. I still work at it a few hours a week but really not as much as I planned to. I feel like I need something to work towards so am seriously looking to do some charity and publicity work over the next few months.

I feel a lot quicker, as in things are coming to me much easier than they were before which is great. A lot more comfortable with doing complex images with more than one person/object interacting with another.

Anyway, back to work!