Monday, April 28, 2014

Calendar Synesthesia

It is now the end of April, which means the days are getting brighter.  And no, I don't mean the days are getting longer because of the sun, I mean that May is one of the brightest months in the calendar in my head.
The calendar in my head? Yes.  You know, the circular calendar that exists in an almost three dimensional aspect, each season and month getting its own color? Wait..is that not a normal thing?  
I recently learned that not everyone thinks of the year, and each day in the year in terms of its place on a sort of racetrack-like calendar.  So a quick little Google search revealed to me something called Calendar Synesthesia.
I had heard of Synesthesia before and knew that it meant something along the lines of seeing colors alongside of numbers, or experiencing certain scents when looking at words, et. cetera.
According to Wikipedia (the source of all knowledge), Synesthesia is 
"A neurological phenomenon in which ;of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway."
Personally, I like my definition better.
So how does my mental calendar come in to play?  With something I like to call Calendar Synesthesia, but is actually probably more accurately described as Spatial Sequence Synethesia   Here's another Wiki definition for that one.
"Those with spatial sequence synesthesia (SSS) tend to see numerical sequences as points in space. For instance, the number 1 might be farther away and the number 2 might be closer. People with SSS may have superior memories; in one study, they were able to recall past events and memories far better and in far greater detail than those without the condition. They also see months or dates in the space around them. Some people see time like a clock above and around them"
Oh and that clock thing? Yep, I see that too?  So I guess that makes me pretty superior then.
Now, if you're even slightly curious as to what this looks like in my head, I have to admit, that I am not artistic in the slightest.  I tried drawing it out, and well..I'm going to blame the fact that I don't own colored pencils (and can't even draw a straight line).  So, I took to Google images in search of something similar to what I see, and guess what!  It turns out, people see it pretty similar to me!
These colors are pretty accurate.  Except July is royal blue, April is pink,
January is dark blue and May is yellow
No one else seemed to have June 28th at the top of their race track, but that's what I get for having my brain putting my birthday at the center of it all.
Pretty accurate month placement and lengths of each month
(April is a bit longer, and May a bit shorter though)

So what does this all mean?  It means I'm pretty awesome and (fairly) unique.  It apparently also means that I have a superior memory.  Well, with finals next week, we'll see how true that actually is.