The Synesthete

I fooled myself into thinking I had synesthesia. I had read about Carol Sheen and her painting Vision, which is based on what she saw when she closed her eyes during acupuncture.  I was mulling this over in the library, ready to type this blog post. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. The girl next to me was clicking her mouse over and over. She was probably on Facebook. The “click click clicks” were sporadic but constant. In the center of my vision every single time flashed a pale blue circle.

My heart started to race. Was I special? I mean, beyond the “everyone is a special snowflake” special. Really, supernaturally, impress-my-friends special.

I have always seen colors when I close my eyes- tracers from what I was looking at before closing my eyes, orange from the warm rays of the sun. At night I see colors floating around the room before going to sleep that I’ve learned to ignore. I have a condition called myodesopsia, or floaters. During the day when I stare at the sky or whiteboards I see semi-opaque blobs in my vision. Wiki that.

I rarely talk about any of these eccentricities because no one has ever been impressed. The problems were either too common or too benign for the various audiences I’ve opened up to.

Synesthesia would have combined all these issues into a narrative that I would talk about daily. “Hey, how ‘bout this party? I know we just met… but when I close my eyes and hear a sound it becomes a splash of color. Try it- say something and I’ll tell you what it looks like.”

That’s a freaking superpower. The Synesthete to the rescue! Colorsound Man! Watch as he picks out whodunnit based on the color of voice. Watch as he finds a kid in a well from the shouts. I’d be a less disabled Daredevil.

Alas, I am not a synesthete. I tried it later and the colors behind my eyes did not at all correspond to any sound. So, unless I have a very specific mouse click-based synesthesia I am no superhero. Besides I have tinnitus in one ear, so the application of my synesthetic powers would be limited anyway. Wiki that.