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So I was reading an article on Liam Neeson, and the interviewer was talking about memory, and drawing floor plans of houses he'd lived in previously. And Neeson drew a sketch of the outside of his childhood home (which was posted) but talked about how it was frustrating that he could remember some things (the location of a bathroom he never used) but not others (if there were flowerboxes under a window he used to crawl out of).
In the spirit of scientific research (and boredom), I decided to see what my brain could dredge up about the places I lived. What I found was surprising.
Because although I felt I had a good feel for most of the layouts, when it can time to try to put them onto paper, I could not get the scale to work out. Chunks of hallway were seemingly blank, with no rooms to account for the outside shape of the house. And though I remembered some things with crystal clarity (on Scott Place, the microwave was on a cart in a small room/alcove next to the kitchen, I remember spilling a hot bowl of cheese all over my hand there), some places I couldn't even tell you where the bathrooms were.
This leads to one inescapable conclusion: obviously, I lived in houses with secret spy rooms and folds in the space-time continuum. Obviously.
Present-2005: Current house. Have a pretty good handle on the layout there, though judging by the number of times I run into walls and doorframes or trip on the stupid stairs I'll understand if you don't believe me.
2005-1998: Townhouse on Haskins. Still have a pretty good memory of that one, plus a lot of pictures. That rental taught me a lot about what not to look for in a house, especially with regards to sink/dishwasher placement.
1998-1997: Townhouse in Missouri. That one is a little murky around the edges, starting to lose things like closet placement, but overall I think I could mostly pin it down.
1997-1997: Appartment in... uh, that apartment complex north of ... Trailridge! That was it. VERY hazy on those details, but we only lived there a few months, so understandable.
1997-1995: Apartment in Meadowbrook. Fairly clear on the big things on this one, though I can't quite get the scale right. Murky on the little things, like closets and applince placement.
1995-1994: Apartment on 15th. Hated that place, horrid neighbors. Can't quite place a few things, like closets.
1994-1993: Studio apartment on 5th. I think I have this on mostly down, though the scale seems off and I can't get the bathroom to seem right.
1993-1992: Dorms. I lived in three different dorm rooms, they were all basically boxes.
1992-1990: Leavenworth. I can remember the overall layout and a few specifics, but we're getting into areas starting to be marked with ????
1990-1989: Scott Place. Weird, weird house on base and while I remember some of the oddities, it's a bit blurred.
1989-1986: Rimrock. Three-story square, and while I know where all the rooms were, I just can't fit it together. Clueless on things like closet placement, even in my room.
1986-1984: Guam. Blank hallway syndrome. Is there a room I'm forgetting? There has to be. Otherwise it just does not work out. I do remember the location of the palm trees in the front yard, though.
1984-1980: Washington. I remember a surprising amount about the house, but I cannot, for the life of me, get the rooms to work out. Another place where the rooms just don't seem to add up on either side of the hallway!
Prior to that, I have no idea. I remember hiding under a desk once in Lawton, OK during a tornado, but have no other recollections of the place (or any places previous to that, of which I'm told there are a few).
It was an interesting exercise for me, probably a lot less so for you if you've lived in fewer places or lived in each place for very long stretches of time. I find a lot of my memories of the layouts are tied to specific events (not all of them pleasant, in childhood puking played a large role in remembering bathrooms...) where I can almost (unfortunately) picture myself back there.
In the spirit of scientific research (and boredom), I decided to see what my brain could dredge up about the places I lived. What I found was surprising.
Because although I felt I had a good feel for most of the layouts, when it can time to try to put them onto paper, I could not get the scale to work out. Chunks of hallway were seemingly blank, with no rooms to account for the outside shape of the house. And though I remembered some things with crystal clarity (on Scott Place, the microwave was on a cart in a small room/alcove next to the kitchen, I remember spilling a hot bowl of cheese all over my hand there), some places I couldn't even tell you where the bathrooms were.
This leads to one inescapable conclusion: obviously, I lived in houses with secret spy rooms and folds in the space-time continuum. Obviously.
Present-2005: Current house. Have a pretty good handle on the layout there, though judging by the number of times I run into walls and doorframes or trip on the stupid stairs I'll understand if you don't believe me.
2005-1998: Townhouse on Haskins. Still have a pretty good memory of that one, plus a lot of pictures. That rental taught me a lot about what not to look for in a house, especially with regards to sink/dishwasher placement.
1998-1997: Townhouse in Missouri. That one is a little murky around the edges, starting to lose things like closet placement, but overall I think I could mostly pin it down.
1997-1997: Appartment in... uh, that apartment complex north of ... Trailridge! That was it. VERY hazy on those details, but we only lived there a few months, so understandable.
1997-1995: Apartment in Meadowbrook. Fairly clear on the big things on this one, though I can't quite get the scale right. Murky on the little things, like closets and applince placement.
1995-1994: Apartment on 15th. Hated that place, horrid neighbors. Can't quite place a few things, like closets.
1994-1993: Studio apartment on 5th. I think I have this on mostly down, though the scale seems off and I can't get the bathroom to seem right.
1993-1992: Dorms. I lived in three different dorm rooms, they were all basically boxes.
1992-1990: Leavenworth. I can remember the overall layout and a few specifics, but we're getting into areas starting to be marked with ????
1990-1989: Scott Place. Weird, weird house on base and while I remember some of the oddities, it's a bit blurred.
1989-1986: Rimrock. Three-story square, and while I know where all the rooms were, I just can't fit it together. Clueless on things like closet placement, even in my room.
1986-1984: Guam. Blank hallway syndrome. Is there a room I'm forgetting? There has to be. Otherwise it just does not work out. I do remember the location of the palm trees in the front yard, though.
1984-1980: Washington. I remember a surprising amount about the house, but I cannot, for the life of me, get the rooms to work out. Another place where the rooms just don't seem to add up on either side of the hallway!
Prior to that, I have no idea. I remember hiding under a desk once in Lawton, OK during a tornado, but have no other recollections of the place (or any places previous to that, of which I'm told there are a few).
It was an interesting exercise for me, probably a lot less so for you if you've lived in fewer places or lived in each place for very long stretches of time. I find a lot of my memories of the layouts are tied to specific events (not all of them pleasant, in childhood puking played a large role in remembering bathrooms...) where I can almost (unfortunately) picture myself back there.
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