short term stupid, long term smart

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My short term and long term memory don't apply to things such as classroom situations, but my short term memory is definitely worse than my long term memory. My mom has been trying to get me to close the kitchen door for 6 months now, and I still leave it open. Why? Because she reminds me everytime, and by the time I get out of the kitchen I've forgotten what she's told me and therefore, do the opposite thing which I am used to. Hell, I even sometimes repeat what I've said because I forget I said it a few moments before.

But, I can remember the childhood memories that I have in great detail, and I can remember most of what my dad told me when I asked him about the solar system 6 years ago. In fact, last year at school we had to write an imaginary story about space, and because I couldn't stuff all my knowledge in the story without it becoming VERY lengthy, I just rephrased what my dad had told me to turn it into a story.

I remeber taking a class once and one of the subjects was learning style. This is called learning by osmosis. My brain just randomly collects information and stores it. I rarely get it all right away. Once my brain decides it has all the information it needs I literally wake up and there it all is. At this point I can run circles around everyone else.

I've experienced something similar to the original poster's description. However, it's never with academic things. I usually get everything in my classes on the first go-round. However, a great example of my "short term ret*d, long term smart" deal would be something like a video game or playing a musical instrument. When I first start, I'm absolutely terrible, but it's like somehow the skills just get programmed into my brain after I mess around with it long enough, and then I can blow everyone away without even thinking about it.

I forget things people say to me right after they say them but can remember them years later.

Memory is half the battle with me - I have to keep cross-checking things until eventually the core data sinks in.

After that, I'm normally pretty good at whatever the task is.

In response to the original question (why slow to catch on but then really good):

I think the problem is that people suck at explaining things. They might start in the middle but instead they should have started closer to the beginning.

NT's know enough to fake it, to pretend like they're getting everything even if they are not. I can't fake it so I have to interrupt with questions and if I can't interrupt then I get frustrated and flustered.

Most of the time really what I should do is just sit there and pretend like I understand it, even if the explanation sucks, and it would become clear over time as more of the backround material is revealed.

Knowing is half the battle... the other half is violence

Ahem. Anyway, this "short term stupid, long term smart" thing holds true for me as well. It takes me ages to learn new stuff, but when it clicks, it really clicks, and I'm fine with it from then on.