I have been reading quite a lot this summer break (well, more than I usually do, anyways), ranging from “love stories” (gag- but it had murder mysteries in it… Jodi Picoult’s books…) to memoirs by AVM and Aneurysm Survivors.
The most recent one I finished was called A Mango-Shaped Space. It is, I will admit, a complete “Young Adult” book about middle school girls (I don’t even know why they call it “Young Adult”… I can’t understand why Pre-Teen fiction is “Young Adult” when WE, as the “Millenials” are considered that as well…). The writing style is definitely meant for girls 8 and up (as they say on the Amazon page), but at the same time, as cringe worthy as some scenes were to someone in her mid 20’s, it was a very quick and easy ready, and I didn’t have to labor through difficult writing and imagery. So why did I pick it up on discount at BJ’s and finish it within 24 hours (aside from the lovely graphic designing of the cover)?
Here’s the synopsis to give you a clue:
Mia Winchell appears to be a typical kid, but she’s keeping a big secret—sounds, numbers, and words have color for her. No one knows, and Mia wants to keep it that way. But when trouble at school finally forces Mia to reveal her secret, she must learn to accept herself and embrace her ability, called synesthesia, a mingling of the senses.
I saw the word “Synesthesia” and bought it. It was the first time out of song titles and YouTube videos and Wikipedia articles that I saw this word, and I wanted to snatch it before it went off the shelves.
Not for myself, but for my sister, who has Grapheme-color synesthesia, who didn’t even know she did until last year. She sees colors in numbers and some letters, with some of the numbers brighter than others. That’s apparently how she does math so well and how she programs (she’s a computer science and math double major), and also how she memorized the genders of French nouns (or something like that).
But surprisingly, this post isn’t about my sister and her synesthesia, but rather, something interesting I read in the book which definitely pertained to me. Here’s the excerpt:
“Mia,” Jerry says, turning to me. “There are some things many synesthetes have in common, besides a slight majority of them being female. Why don’t you tell me how many of them sound familiar to you, okay?”
I nod.
“Are you left-handed?”
“Yes.”
“Are you artistic? Musical?”
“I paint. I don’t play an instrument, but I listen to music a lot. I can always tell what note is being played by its color. If a piano isn’t tuned right, i can tell because the colors will be off.”
“You’re probably a very good speller, right?”
I nod again.
“How do you picture the calendar year?”
“Just like everybody else,” I assure him. “You know, like you’re sitting on top of a Ferris wheel at the amusement park. January is at the top of the wheel. If the wheel were a clock, January would be twelve. Then as the days go by, the wheel turns to the left, and February is at eleven. By the time summer comes around I’m at the bottom of the wheel, but the wheel is sort of lying flat on the ground now. Then in August it starts to rise again.”
A Mango-Shaped Space (Wendy Mass) Pgs 104-105
I’m left handed, and I don’t know about being a good speller, but I’m okay. And I did play the violin for 9 years (I was never good at it though), and do like graphic designing. But none of those qualities really struck me (my sister is right handed despite having synesthesia, and did everything I did, and can actually draw pretty well), except for the last one.
You see, this is EXACTLY how I see the year, except for the fact that December is at 12 of the clock, and my months turn to the right, instead of the left, following the clock face.
The colors are random, since I don’t have synesthesia (I was also in the process of coloring my very bad drawings, but my boyfriend made fun of my coloring ability, so I gave up). My numbers and letters don’t have any qualities that make them any different from other people’s. But the 3 is kind of what happens in my brain when I think of the months- a monthly calendar kind of “pops out,” and I “zoom” into that area of the calendar wheel. I have a certain “feel” for the seasons too. The top of the wheel are the “cold” months, the bottom right the “spring,” bottom of the calendar are “hot” months, and to the right are the “fall” months.
This is why I’ve always HAD to have planners with the months before the weekly calendars in every month, because I had to visualize everything (due dates, events, etc.) like an actual monthly calendar, since that’s how I thought about them in my head. I can’t keep anything organized in my head unless I have a monthly calendar in there with all the events. Sometimes, I accidentally “delete” a week or “add” a week in the calendars, causing a lot of confusion about how much time I had left until certain due dates or events.
I thought it was normal, but after asking my boyfriend who told me his months are like stacks of books, where January is at the top, and he takes off every month until the stacks refresh themselves after December, and my mom, who told me she doesn’t see anything when she is thinking about the months, I realized that maybe, it wasn’t how everyone saw the months.
I’m curious… How do YOU imagine the calendar year?
I just joined Blog Lovin’ (and wow- this DEFINITELY makes following blogs MUCH easier…)! :)