I Just Got Cooler

Have you ever heard of synesthesia? It's kind of a cool thing. And I highly recommend checking out Wikipedia for just a second.

Anyway - crazy story for the day. But first, a little back-tracking. So among all the NPR and Harry Potter podcasts I've also got a substantial list of podcasts from How Stuff Works. And I gotta say - they're pretty cool. Pretty really cool. And about a month ago . . . maybe longer, I can't really remember . . . the Stuff You Should Know podcast did an episode about synesthesia. I'd heard of it before, but the podcast was still interesting and I learned some new stuff and it was cool and I thought of how awesome it would be to be a synesthete and then I more or less forgot all about it.

Okay, change of scene. Did you know Hastings has a happy hour every afternoon in their coffee shop? Because they do. And it rocks. Two drinks for the price of one and free flavor shots. YAY!!!! So that's rapidly becoming a weekly tradition for us on one of Luke's days off. Woot. Anyway, last week the barrista had samples of frozen hot chocolate . . . and oh my holy crap IT IS DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely fantabulous!!!!!!!!!! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And yes, I'm raving - but believe me, you will too if you try it. So this week I decided to try a frozen white chocolate with a shot of caramel. Which it turns out is the same thing as the creme brulee on the menu, except without the coffee. (side note - did you know that frappachinos are kosher . . . and by that I mean "Mormon kosher"? Crazy! And would you believe I learned that from my mother of all people?! CRAZY!!!) So I get the coffee-less creme brulee, and it's pretty fantabulous too. Unspeakably fantabulous, to be precise. Wow. Just . . . YUM!

So I'm extolling the myriad virtues of the frozen white chocolate with caramel to Luke, and eventually I get to the point where I'm talking about how much I love things that taste warm. That would be the point where Luke looks at me like I'm nuts. Which, I have to admit, is a look I'm rather used to since we give each other those looks all the time. But this time I have no idea why I'm getting it. So then he's like "Ummmmm . . . warm is not a taste." And then I'm all "Well, yeah, I know, but there's just no other way to describe some tastes, don't you think?" And then he's all "Ummmmmmmm . . . no." And I'm all "Ummmmmmmmm . . . what?" And by this point we're both giving each other the "you're nuts" look. So I end up having to launch into my explanation.

Which goes thusly: when I eat cold things with a flavor that is normally attached to a warm food, in addition to tasting . . . well, caramel-y or whatever . . . it also tastes warm to me. It doesn't warm me up like drinking hot chocolate or soup or something would. The taste sensation I get just identifies itself as "warm." I get the warmest sensation from cotton candy snow cones - where the warm taste almost overpowers the deliciously pure sugary goodness taste. Cake batter ice cream does the same thing, and a few others here and there.

So I explain, and then Luke looks at me a little incredulously and says "You have synesthesia!" And I guess there must have been some confusion in my surprised look, because he starts explaining what it is. So then I tell him I know exactly what it is, it just never occurred to me that I might be one of those freaks of nature (lol) because doesn't everybody else taste warmth too? Seriously. I never imagined that I was the only one . . . it's normal to me, therefore everybody else must taste it too . . . right? Weird! But no, Luke is like "you have taste/touch synesthesia" and I'm like "wow, I guess maybe I do." And I felt like I gained just a little bit of coolness.

Yeah, I'm kinda weird. And I probably just got weirder, not cooler. But that's kinda okay by me. Because I like things that taste warm. And next week I am sooooo trying the cotton candy frappe off the kids menu. Can't wait!!

P. ost S. cript
Too funny. Beyond too funny!