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Remember first meeting people?

Tryphena Absent

02:08 / 05.09.02

I have been thinking quite a bit recently about my memory of the very first time I've met friends and people I've gone out with. I've realised that out of everyone I know I have vague recollections of meeting only three people. This made me wonder why it's them and not others who have influenced me just as much. It might partly be because I met most of my close friends quite a few times before they actually became friends but that doesn't quite work because there are some who I should definitely remember meeting and I just don't.

I was writing earlier, well I was trying to write, it was a sentence about forgetting a first meeting and I immediately decided it didn't work and the reason was that they were meant to be in a relationship with each other and surely shouldn't have forgotten how they met. Now the three significant people who I remember first meeting are all people I love in separate ways though I never dated two of them. There are other people though that I feel equally for but just don't remember in that way.

So basically I was wondering if any of you always remember the first time you meet someone significant or if you're as lame as me? Do you remember meeting people you love more or people you hate?

The Return Of Rothkoid

03:19 / 05.09.02

I don't always remember the first time I've met people. Particularly, group meetings prove kinda odd: I know I've met lots of people here at meets, but can't really remember exactly which meet it was, or the exact circumstances; if you know someone online first, it can be more difficult to remember the first physical meeting with them because a lot of times, you're already comfortable with them.

There is one particular person that I remember meeting, fairly precisely, though. Dodgy pub lunch was involved. Awwww...

07:29 / 05.09.02

Hmn. I think it's easier to remember meeting people you dislike, because in general you try to never meet them again. And there's usually a specific reason you dislike them, especially if it's fairly obvious from the start.

But people you do like, friends, family, lovers, whatever, are harder to pin down - because the people who become your friends you tend to see around more. And so they kind-of blur into history; they've always been around after a certain point. For instance: I can't remember first meeting most of my uni friends. We obviously did - but we've known each other so long now all I know is that I didn't meet them before October 2000. I've forgotten precise circumstances, with some odd exceptions - which are all notable for one reason or another.

And most of the time, we're programmed to like people. I mean, most people don't ASSUME dislike is the norm. It needs something special to make us dislike somebody. And I'd guess that's one reason why they're more memorable.

08:02 / 05.09.02

I don't know, my experience is diferent. If I put my mind to it I can get pretty specific about first meetings with just about everyone who ever meant much to me. The notable exception would be my parents.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

08:19 / 05.09.02

I don't tend to remember meeting people... I guess they don't seem that significant until you realise they are, and by then it's too late to ascribe momentousness to the initial meeting...
...either that or I'm usually pissed.

Murray Hamhandler

21:43 / 05.09.02

I not only remember meeting people. I can often remember when I first saw people that I later formally met and what my initial (and often completely wrong) impression of them was at the time. It makes for funny stories.

Matthew Fluxington

23:02 / 05.09.02

Oh, my memory of my own life tends to be pretty awful - of all the most important friends I have, I have no real recollection of how I first met any of them, only a knowledge of how I met them. I tend to forget a lot of things about my personal life, and I'm not always sure why.

23:19 / 05.09.02

I find that with a lot of people I know, I don't remember the first time I met them, or was introduced, but I do remember the moments when these people because significant in my life.