Sunday, April 25, 2010

Thoughts From the Coffee Shop

What is it about studying in a location other than your disheveled, paper-strewn bed that is so exciting?

As I type this, I have been sitting in a D&M coffee shop in downtown Ellensburg for over five hours. I wrote a poem and revised two papers for my senior portfolio. I played a game of chess. I updated my Facebook status, and checked it twice more to see if anyone had commented on my witty musing yet. (No one has.)

I've had a lot of food for thought today. I found out that I might have a mild case of synesthesia. It's a condition which causes people's brains to combine or associate two different senses, such as sound and sight. A lot of people with synesthesia hear a certain musical note or chord and it makes them visualize a color. For me, it's taste and, to some extent, smell that I associate with color. I also found that my habit of thinking of the calendar year and the number line as inhabiting space is actually related to that. The poem I wrote today is about synesthesia.

I also drank coffee.

Less than two months from now, I will finish college. I will put on an ugly maroon polyester gown that is not very flattering for my body type and a matching cap with a tassel and walk across a stage to receive my diploma. (I hope I don't trip.) Then the rest of my life will start. How's that for a deep coffee shop thought?

Key chains are weird. They're not chains.