When you were a kid, chances are at some point you learned, or tried to learn, the 50 states and capitals of the U.S. I don't know when I did it, whether a teacher challenged me to do it, whether I saw it in a book somewhere, whether I was staring at a map; at some point I just learned them all, like the multiplication times table, and those combinations just stuck. It's one of the few crucial trivia "lists" I consumed as a child, and I wish I had done more of those lists as much like learning a language, it's easier to remember them when you're a child. If you're a little more adventurous with capital cities, you expand no to world capital cities (I didn't, but I definitely knew a few back then, and know more now), and then move on to even bigger lists, like the history of Academy Award Best Picture awards, or succession of English kings, all elements on the periodic table of elements, etc.
There are so many lists in the world, but several key ones come up in the trivia world all the time; they're like meat-and-potatoes material for studying for the biggest general knowledge test in the world; you know at some point they're going to come up. Memory experts and brain analysts have a lot of fancy mnemonic devices and tricks to memorize a long list of information quickly, but I find that another factor is important as well in remembering things: whether you're interested in the topic. As a kid I found capital cities pretty fascinating because I could always envision myself visiting that city in the U.S.: Boston, Massachusetts, Atlanta, Georgia, and Honolulu, Hawaii, are obvious big cities and major US cities, but I could even fantasize about Jefferson City, Missouri, or Lansing, Michigan; I remember I was so upset one time in a 6th grade social studies class when I couldn't remember the capital of Kansas: was it Wichita? Kansas City? No, too easy. (It's actually Topeka, one of the most obscure cities in the U.S.) As an adult I've undergone the quest to earn all country capital cities, and it's nearly complete; there are just some Pacific Island countries I don't think I ever need to know the capital of (the utility of knowing them is just too low, like Tuvalu- Funafuti or in Africa, Ougadougu for Burkina Faso. I think I also like the sound of capital cities, they're unique data points unlike "what do you need to make a caprese salad," that there's one distinct answer like "Dushanbe is the capital of Tajikistan" or Ashgabat for Turkmenistan.
On the flip side, there are just some lists for the life of me I can't remember- monthly gemstones, for example, where you'd think it'd be easy since there's only 12 of them, but then I get mixed up due to the multiple gemstones for some months, and I just am not a big fan of gems/minerals/rocks anyway. I've never gotten those down because I just don't CARE, I don't have a picture in my head for them, and they don't have a fancy name: diamond is April's but I just can't place exactly where all of ruby, sapphire, pearl, opal, and aquamarine go.
By the way, Capital Cities also happens to be the name of a band, and most people have heard at least one of their songs: "Safe and Sound." How do I remember that? Because there's 1 band with a cool sounding name matched up wih 1 pretty catchy (and alliterative, which helps) name of their biggest hit. That's a nice, easy, thing to remember, UNLIKE all of Madonna's hit songs, for example, (Vogue, Papa Don't Preach, Hung Up, Like a Prayer, Like a Virgin), almost no discernable pattern on all of those. Don't even get me started with songs that have 7 generic words in them like "Love Don't cost a thing" or "If It Makes You Happy" ( Sheryl Crow) basically mishmashing all the most generic words in song titles Love, You, Happy, Sad, Fire, Light, Night, Cry, Born, etc., etc. Those are tough to learn. I have newfound admiration for those who are able to master all these lists.....it takes a whole lot of time, repetition, and ACTUALLY caring about all kinds of stuff! I find that I get better in the categories I'm good at (new places in the world, YAY! And new titles of books with their authors, YAY!) and just miniscully better at categories I'm not good at because I JUST DON'T LIKE those categories, like eating vegetables or doing sit-ups. It's tedious and I know that there are so many differnet worlds of knowledge out there that's NOT that. Urg!
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