Synthensia

I've blogged a little bit before about an interesting condition I have called synthensia. Here's a wiki article on it.

I haven't given it a whole lot of thought because it's just the way I am. I suppose if anything, I was surprised other people didn't see letters and numbers and music in color and taste shapes. But I think it's fascinating the way our brains work and all the variations of that. So when I was reading one of my favorite blogs, ColourLovers, and saw this article on synthensia, I wanted to share it.

The blogger's experience is different than my own. I don't see colors as distinctly as she does. My are more like halos or glows, I guess. It's a bit hard to describe. And I couldn't map all of them out the way she does. What's interesting is that we see letters and numbers as different colors. For example, her color map actually hurts me to look at it, almost like fingernails on a chalkboard, because her colors aren't "right." They're not the colors I associate with those words and numbers and it creates this discord in my brain that is almost painful.

But I love how she, also a graphic designer, talks about how her condition affects her work. I've never really thought of it that way, other than knowing some colors just didn't work in certain situations. It was fascinating to me. And maybe to you too.

Tagged again

Michelle tagged me with six things that are weird about me. At first I had a hard time coming up with them. It’s hard to see yourself as weird. I mean, I’m sure plenty of people think I’m weird, but I just see me as me. But the more I thought about it, the more weird things I came up with. Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. So, here goes.

1. Like Mich, I like raw potatoes. I guess this is weird because no one else I know likes them this way. But with salt, wow, yummy. We eat other veggies raw, why not potatoes? Actually I like nearly every veggie better raw.

2. I apparently have synthensia. All of my senses mesh together. Colors and shapes have taste. Squares are red Jello, rectangles are blueberry, triangles are lemon. And now my tongue feels like it’s been poked by said shapes. I also see music in color. In fact, I have to see the music in order to hear it. That probably doesn’t make much sense, but I know when I’m really tired and I’m not seeing the music in my head, I can’t hear it either. I can hear the notes but they don’t make any sense to me.

3. Which leads me to weirdness no. 3. I’m not sure if this is the cause or not, but I had scarlet fever when I was 8. Remember, it’s what made Mary blind in Little House on the Prairie? Actually, I think it was On the Banks of Plum Creek. Anyhow, I think/know it’s affected some of my nerves. In particular my vestibular mechanism is messed up. This is a ‘thing’ (technical term, I know) in your middle ear that regulates stimulus. (This is at least how I understand it. I could be wrong, I’m not a doctor.) It’s part of why I hate any roller coaster that uses centrifugal force. Like a Ferris Wheel. Or a merry-go-round. I can’t even watch them. I lose my sense of my place in space and start vomiting. Also can’t see laser light shows. No great loss there. Additionally, it doesn’t filter out enough stimulus. In a room with a lot of people talking like a party or a writers conference, I can’t filter out the individual with whom I’m talking. I hear everyone’s conversation and get overwhelmed and start shutting down. It’s so hard for me to just try and focus on what the person I’m talking to is saying. I just try to say, “Hmm” a lot. So if I do that to you, don’t be offended.

4. My fingernails routinely turn purple . . . My toes do too, More gray actually.

5. Like Mich, I have a birthmark on my left wrist that’s a good barometer of my mood, changing from purple to red.

6. I could never be a pill popper because I gag on pills. And if you watch me take them, you might gag too. It’s awful. And I have to take five pills each morning. Luckily they’re small. Still.

I came up with more than six things. Not sure if all of these are weird or what, but here you go.


I like knowing the endings of movies, but I hate knowing them in books.

Almost every joint is double jointed. And I can crack just about every one of them too. I sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies in the morning.

I’ve had 6 concussions and I don’t play football.

I’m afraid of kites. Okay really, it’s just heights.

I’m also claustrophobic. I hate having a pillow anywhere near close to covering my head. I have to be firmly on top of it. I also hate having the sheets tight around my legs, like if someone sits on the bed while I’m in it. Like my kids. Guaranteed to make me freak out.

I hate being cold.

I’m not going to tag anyone because I know y’all are busy. But feel free to tag yourself and put in the comments here so we can all go to your site and laugh at your weirdness. Um, celebrate your uniqueness? Yeah, that’s it.