One of the many perils of social interaction.

Occasionally (that is, yesterday) I may meet a lot of people at once. And like any halfway savvy conversationalist and social interactor, I will get to know their names. “Hi Bushrang, I’m Grace. Hey, have you met, erm, Arashi, Dina, and Ovul over there?” So far, so good.

And over the course of the gathering I will get to know facts about my conversation partners. You play the guitar and like Fellini movies. You are visiting from New York and work in marketing. You commit white-collar crimes. You can’t eat spicy foods and went to college with you, who’s in a relationship with you, whose birth name I’m pretty sure is not The Rooster. So far, so good.

I know a lot of names of people and a lot of interesting facts about people now. And I think about it a bit and here’s where tragedy strikes: I actually haven’t been keeping track of which names and which facts go together!

Was Bushrang the guitar and Fellini fellow? Was Dina visiting from New York, or was that Madeline? Wait, Madeline’s the one dating The Rooster, and I feel like the part of the evening I talked to them was a different part than the one where I learned someone was visiting from New York. Ovul commits white-collar crimes, I remember that. I’m pretty sure. I think. Or was it Arashi? And who’s avoiding the peppers?

Once I realise this I feel stupid. My knowledge about each person is now much lower than it was before I realised this. Without a mapping of names to facts, each name and each fact is effectively useless.

(Okay, it might not be as bad as this. At least I’ve been keeping track of which faces have which names. Or have I?)

It gets worse. Although I don’t know anything definite about these people anymore, I know that I’ve asked them questions about themselves. And now I’m afraid of asking any question I’ve already asked somebody, because I might have already asked her that question before and then I’ll look like I hadn’t been paying attention. Or didn’t care.

(Usually people are kind enough to understand that meeting a lot of people for the first time can do this to you, and they’ll answer your questions a second time, and even a third time, with no hard feelings. Although the more socially anxious you are, the less likely you are to realise this at the time.)

Anyhow, note to self: come up with a way of associating faces, names, and facts to one another.