Derek Tastes of Earwax

[sbfluter]

I have taken and flunked the synesthesia test before, but I've always associated colors with some numbers and letters and sometimes with music itself.

Green is 5 and G, both the letter and the key of G. They key of G is bright green. The letter is dark green.

[jkwest]

dude...pass the pipe...

[Doug_Tipple]

In my teaching of negative numbers in beginning algebra, the concept of a number line was used. Zero was in the center of the line; the negative numbers progressed off to the left; the positive progressed to the right. The number line uses both numerical and spatial concepts in order to visualize what is otherwise difficult for many students to do with abstract numerical concepts alone. Although the simple number line was not thought of to be curved or wiggly, degrees of arc is one numerical concept that is hard to think about without a spatial orientation in a circle.

Some of us I would guess possess unusual gifts, but these may be hard to understand or describe. I have always been able to visualize problems in my mind. I can close my eyes and work on my car. I can't work equations this way, but for problems that are mechanical, which can be spatially conceived, I seem to be able to manipulate the pieces in my mind in three dimensions. This skill is very useful for solving certain types of problems. On the other hand, I can't remember detail very well. I always score poorly on reading comprehension tests that require me to read a passage and then answer questions about what I had just read. I was able to get through college by cramming for tests, but, if the truth was known, a lot of the knowledge didn't stay with me that long, I'm sorry to say. Gifts and deficiencies is what I have had to work with throughout my life. Knowing what my skills are, I have tried to capitalize on my strengths.

[mutepointe]

dude...pass the pipe...

They really should come up for air.

I don't got it but I do like telling stories about numbers when I add them (like when I'm keeping score in a game of spades.) And our mileage reimbursement is now 50.5 cents and the chart that I made for that has a pattern to the numbers that I find particularly pleasing. Patterns in numbers are beautiful.

[Charlene]

I don't see numbers in any kind of line, but when I think of dates, I see a calendar page. The days I have to work are grey. Days off are a bright glowing white. Vacation days are a very light glowing aqua.

And when I win the lottery, that day will be a supernova!

[Lambchop]

I was thinking about this just the other day.

Yup, numbers are visual-spatial things. They are arranged on a line. It starts out straight, coming toward me, with 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5, then starts a curve downward and to the right, 6 . 7 . 8 . 9 . 10 . 11 . and then after 12, 13 through 19 are on a curve around to the right that ends with an accordion folding of the line. The line folds up away from me. Nineteen is at the bottom of the curve, with 20 at the top, 29 at the bottom of the fold, 30 at the top. It's pretty much like the patterns described above, but floats in space a little differently. I just collapse up any parts that I'm not using. They come into view when needed.

The calendar is a little different. It is also a line, but it curves around.

Jan Feb Mar April May are straight--just like written there--then the line curves up slightly and straightens out again for June, July, Aug, and September. There is an abrupt 90 degree downturn into October and November, which goes top to bottom vertically. There is a 90 degree turn as the line straightens out into December, which proceeds at a slight uphill pace. There is a bit of a jog at Jan 1, the line straightens out, and we're back on the straight left-to-right track again. All the individual dates are on the line, but they compress up when not needed.

Edited to say that memories of activities and events in past years are located on the calendar. People are always asking me how I KNOW when things occurred in the past year . . . the answer is that I'm just seeing them on the calendar. I can gauge the time closely by their proximity to other bigger or more stable events.

[emmline]

Interesting Lamby...my calendar months do align themselves much like yours, but my number line stays more or less straight.

[Roderick [Rod] Sprague IV]

I have an ability I don't know if it is strictly a synesthesia. I can sometimes feel or see vibrations and know what the sound or pitch of that vibration is. I realized I had this ability when I picked up a pair of tweezers that started vibrating in my hands when I bumped something against them and realized I knew what they sounded like and could hum the pitch. I held them up to my ear and realized I had the sound right, but was low by exactly an octave. Snow going into and out of my vision gives me a sensation of white noise. The Aurora Borealis can boom or sizzle.

[Flyingcursor]

Fascinating.

I always wondered about this kind of thing.

I see numbers as a circle like a clock with 12 at the top except by the time you get to 20 the tens are at the top and it continues like that.
Negative numbers occupy sort of a straight, foggy line on the other side of zero.

I see the months as

Jan Feb March April
May
June
August July
September
Oct-
ober November December

I think of years as a straight timeline narrowing into the distance with each century a different hue back to the mid 17th century where it turns a bit.

[Nanohedron]

I see the months as

Jan Feb March April
May
June
August July
September
Oct-
ober November December

Hmm. It's different once you look at the arrangement on the quote page. Interesting. But I can relate to the idea. I see the months in a fairly grid-informed way, thusly:

Jan Feb Mar Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
(space)Sep Oct Nov Dec

...Oh, and it's a plane, with the Jan end closest to me and the Apr end away at a slight angle.

[Flyingcursor]

Huh? For some reason it came out all wrong. Apparently after submitting I lost my formatting.

It should look sort of like a backwards S!

[jsluder]

Numbers and letters have no spatial, auditory or olfactory associations for me.

Calendar dates, on the other hand, I see as a large circle, with each season occupying 1/4 of the circumference, but with no concept of different years: winter (Dec-Feb) as the top arc, spring (Mar-May) on the right, summer (Jun-Aug) on the bottom and autumn (Sep-Nov) on the left. So, while pinning a date into a season is no problem, I can't even remember how old I am without taking my date of birth and doing the math.

[Nanohedron]

Huh? For some reason it came out all wrong. Apparently after submitting I lost my formatting.

It should look sort of like a backwards S!

And so it does. On the Quote/Edit functions pages. Very interesting.

[Ro3b]

I don't have any sensory associations with letters or numbers either, but musical intervals each have their own color.

And I can smell things by touching them with my hands. And I have recurring dreams where I experience music by eating it, or where I put food on a record player and listen to it.

[I.D.10-t]

Huh? For some reason it came out all wrong. Apparently after submitting I lost my formatting.

It should look sort of like a backwards S!

You can use the code function....

Fascinating.

I always wondered about this kind of thing.

I see numbers as a circle like a clock with 12 at the top except by the time you get to 20 the tens are at the top and it continues like that.
Negative numbers occupy sort of a straight, foggy line on the other side of zero.

Code: Select all

I see the months as

Jan     Feb     March   April
                                    May
                                June
            August    July
September
            Oct-
                ober  November December

I think of years as a straight timeline narrowing into the distance with each century a different hue back to the mid 17th century where it turns a bit.

Or add a line of code for spacing by changing the value of "width"

Code: Select all

<img src="/gifs/spacer.gif" width="15" height="0" border="0">

Jan Feb March April
<img src="/gifs/spacer.gif" width="150" height="0" border="0"> May
<img src="/gifs/spacer.gif" width="125" height="0" border="0">June
<img src="/gifs/spacer.gif" width="75" height="0" border="0">August July
September
<img src="/gifs/spacer.gif" width="50" height="0" border="0">Oct-
<img src="/gifs/spacer.gif" width="60" height="0" border="0">ober November December