I had an amazing memory as a high school kid too. I couldn't do the hobbit word for word, but definitely reproduce long texts of Economics essays, which was my

I had an amazing memory as a high school kid too. I couldn't do the hobbit word for word, but definitely reproduce long texts of Economics essays, which was my thing. I find it very sad that I grew out of it in college. It feels like a part of me is no more. My memory ended up getting very bad through college. I developed a coping mechanism ... I realized instead of having to remember formulas or algorithms, I could just derive them on tests. While my memory deteriorated, my ability to visualize complex stuff kept at it for quite a bit longer. I can still do that part but it doesn't feel as crisp as it used to. Another weird thing I could do when I was a teenager was step through code with an exactness that my classmates thought was freaky. They joked I was a human compiler. Ahh ... youth.