Get it? Hershey...sweet?
Yeah, well it's nicknamed the "sweetest place on earth" and I was there this past weekend to meet up with the Hershey High School memory team (they are the 5-time champions of the school portion of the USA Memory Championship and some of their team members even have US records in memory). A few of their students were at the competition last March filming the whole thing and put together a pretty sweet documentary. Okay, I'll stop saying "sweet."
The documentary is called "Recall" and it was edited and directed by Bobby Hummel. It was really well done and most of all, it gave a really cool glimpse into how the Hershey kids prepare for and deal with the competition. It was pretty impressive to see them behind the scenes, to see them in action, but I think what I liked the most is the fact that they never take themselves too seriously. I love that. They work at their craft and just show up at the competition having a blast. If they break some records or end up in the finals while doing it, then swee.....awesome.
I forget to do that sometimes. I take things too seriously. You could see it in my face in the documentary, the whole time I was a nervous wreck and on edge, worrying about this score and that. Yeah I won, but it almost felt like I was winning because I HAD to win. That being said, I'm glad I won, but definitely need to tone it down next year. I'm always pushing myself really hard, which is great, but that can also stifle my creativity, which can then weaken my memory. I'm working on a ridiculous system right now for cards and numbers, and frankly, it looks like it's going to be a nightmare to master. But at the base of it all, it's fun coming up with the stuff. I just need to remember to have fun with it and not to take it too seriously.
Just wanted to give Hershey team a shout-out. It was awesome hanging out with them and it made me wish I was still in high-school (only for a second though, haha).