One Shot Synesthesia
I was standing in my kitchen eating a Thai curry straight out of the carton. When I took the first bite, fingers of cobalt blue light flashed across my visual field, projecting into my peripheral vision on the left side of my face. These blue forms were punctuated by chartreuse and yellow “floaters”; I don't know what else to call them. The experience was so intense and unfamiliar, I found it a little frightening. Then, I recognized the perception for what it was: one shot synesthesia. Perhaps it was launched by the fact that I was ravenously hungry, so ready to eat that I didn't bother to plate my food. Maybe my one shot synesthesia was fostered by the unusual flavors of the green curry. Whatever the reason, that gustatory synesthesia left its mark, not only in terms of my recollection of the visual phenomena but also in my understanding that my synesthesia isn't always neatly contained into reliable categories.