It was during my junior year of high school. I was taking my final semester of Japanese. Our final assignment involved a partner. We were to create a short script about whichever topic you choose. It has to be in Japanese and act it out in front of your classmates. My partner and I chose to write about going to a Japanese restaurant and ordering things off a menu. I was the customer and my friend was to be the waitress. I worked so hard on it. Our teacher said we shouldn’t read off the script and was expected to have it memorized. I studied the script we created for days. I could memorize it word for word, while I was in the shower. I thought I was ready. My parents’ even thought I was ready for it!

When the day finally came, I was excited and nervous at the same time, but ready. The script was still fresh in my mind. As it was finally, our turn to act out the play, I just totally blanked out. I don’t know what happened to me, but I couldn’t remember a single line. It was the first time it happened. I stood there like I was some silent customer who couldn’t make up her mind. I’ve done other projects in the past and I was fine with the memorization. I failed my partner and most devastatingly failed myself. I was so confidence that I would ace it… I felt utterly embarrassed and ashamed that I unintentionally let down my partner, my teacher, my classmates, and most of all telling my parents, I had failed the performance. I wanted them to feel proud of me for doing a job well done. They tried to cheer me up, but I was still ashamed.

Because of this experience, I tried not to rely entirely on my memory. I can always look at my notes or index cards, but never try to read off from it. With that said, I still have difficulties in not reading my notes during a presentation, because deep down I still worry something like that would happen again.

Stella is known to have a long-term eidetic memory. She found out she had this ability when she reached her final year as an elementary school. She would always ace her Spelling Tests and it wasn’t because she studied, which she barely did. Nor was she just plain smart, because she certainly wasn’t at the time. It was her extraordinary memory. No one knew she had this ability. Not even herself. When she was in the 5th grade, she was asked to join the Spelling Bee, because she had the most A’s on her Spelling Tests. The teacher and her classmates didn’t believe she could do it. One of her classmates even asked, if she would prefer someone else to do it. To prove them wrong, Stella took the stage with confidence and became the champion.

However, that was short-lived. As years went by, she unknowingly began to lose her confidence and ended up being self-conscious. In class, she a good listener, but she also easily distracted. In terms of Stella’s general speech communication skills in professional and personal situations, she can be quite lively and silly when she’s around her family and close friends. On a professional note, she would end up losing all her confidence and get cold-feet. Her ability does her no good, when she’s too overwhelmed by a large crowd. Alongside her anxiety and her ability, her presentations would often become too detailed, because she would worry whether or not it was perfect and she would occasionally stutter.

Stella knows she needs believe in herself and learn to control her ability while doing her presentations, because memory is her key talent!