Don't feel bad. I also have awful memory and despite seeking help for it (and flunking history multiple times!), I simply don't have the capacity to remember certain things.
My memory finally "improved" when I discovered that phone numbers need not be numbers but a pattern on a key pad. I couldn't, and still can't, remember much unless there are logical patterns and derivations. The year 1806 is random integers attached to an event.
Pattern-matching and derived memorization is looked down upon as something inferior to rote or "photographic" memory. I think this is sad state of affairs: regurgitating how-to doesn't help anyone understand anything. Being able to derive concepts and ideas offers a deep understanding and visualization of the world that no one trained into rote memory can ever attain. So, I consider the fact that I had to redefine "memory" in a way my brain can understand it a blessing, not a curse.
My memory finally "improved" when I discovered that phone numbers need not be numbers but a pattern on a key pad. I couldn't, and still can't, remember much unless there are logical patterns and derivations. The year 1806 is random integers attached to an event.
Pattern-matching and derived memorization is looked down upon as something inferior to rote or "photographic" memory. I think this is sad state of affairs: regurgitating how-to doesn't help anyone understand anything. Being able to derive concepts and ideas offers a deep understanding and visualization of the world that no one trained into rote memory can ever attain. So, I consider the fact that I had to redefine "memory" in a way my brain can understand it a blessing, not a curse.