It&#x27;s all about your own internal GC. When you meet someone, you don&#x27;t know if they&#x27;re worth remembering or not. It takes a few encounters (or generations) before your mind realizes that this is necessary information. If you want to prevent an object from being GC&#x27;d in Ruby you can assign it to a constant. In real life you can hack your brain by making an association with an constant in your life. A good trick is to try to remember their face and the name of a celebrity. The extra few seconds you spend thinking about what celebrity has the same name is usually enough to trick my brain into remembering. Can&#x27;t think of anyone famous? Ask them. At least you&#x27;ll spend a bit of time talking about their name and it&#x27;s a fun ice breaker.