Number Party
I haven't updated in a while... so today I think I'll explain the personalities of the different numbers.
I never told anyone at the time, but when I was learning to add and subtract, the numbers had personalities. Most of them anyway. I honestly don't believe I gave them the personalities intentionally. It was just the way they felt based on their shape or something about them.
1 didn't really have much of a personality. If he did, it was really quiet. Kept 2 company sometimes. I think 2 really needed 1 a lot.
2 was very protective of 3, but somewhat bossy and naggy.
3 was somehow younger than 2, but also younger than 4.
4 was a pretty good kid, but he was always (and I do mean always) making 2 cry and worry about him. He'd leave 2 to go running around with 5, that "Ralph Kramden" type character. Oh man, 4 really admired 5. Bought into all his BS, all his big talk and stories and his grandiose nature. 2 would be standing there worrying and fretting over the stupid things 4 is getting into. Crying about it to 1, who of course wasn't listening really. I always felt really sad seeing 2 and 4, especially separated by an equal sign or some other thing like a zero. I felt like 2 was just there sobbing "Don't forget to take a scarf. Do take a sweater" and 4 being like "Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm going now." It still feels weird now.
3 and 4 were very intrigued by the cool, mysterious 7. They were always stalking 7, hiding behind bushes (it was always bushes) and just staring at 7 in awe. I got a kind of "creepy" vibe whenever 7 appeared alone in an equation with just 3 or just 4. It was usually subtraction, so it was always a relief to be able to put down 3 or 4. Something just seemed wrong about seeing 7 with only one of them. Still does if I think about it.
A little more about 5 now. 5 had big ideas, especially about becoming 10. He was always roping 6 (who was his daughter, I think) into helping, especially when it came to getting past 10 and all the way to 11. Oh, 5 was always excited to see 6. Always wanted to exploit 6's talents. Whenever I saw the two of them near each other, it felt like 5 was all "I'm gonna make you a star! Your name up in lights! We're gonna make a fortune!" And 6 was weary and somewhat annoyed. 6 didn't want to be a star, and sometimes outright called 5 out on his dishonesty and scheming ways.
6, by the way, was a teenager and a female. She and 4 got along like siblings, though they weren't.
I don't think 1 or 9 had personalities, and 10 was just an abstract "place" or "concept" or "goal" in the numbers world. I was never too sure about 8, except I didn't like it much. It was always creeping on 4, and didn't like 3 much. 2, 3, and 6 were "female", 5 and 4 were male, and 7 and 8 were ambiguous, but kinda leaned towards female. I don't know how or why it evolved like this in my mind.
I'm just now learning that this is supposed to be a form of synesthesia. If it is, it figures that I'd get the lamest form. I'd really like to have one that was associated with colors. The only real synesthetic moment I can really remember was in high school orchestra. I accidentally played a super loud note on the trumpet. Since I was quiet and nervous about playing, everyone turned around and was trying to be encouraging about it.
I was looking horrified, I'm sure and was staring at the ground, and I'll do my best to explain why. To me, the sound had the physical form of a giant, heavy soap bubble/water balloon. My eyes and my feet and the rest of my body were telling me that a big water balloon had just been dropped on the floor and it had sloshed over everything. I remember thinking "Oh my God, but it was so wet it's sloshed all over everything!" And I wanted to look up and say "But it's all over everything! Why are you cheerful? It went splosh and it got all over...!". Like a big paint ball. I didn't have the words to describe it, though, so it didn't seem like anything I needed to say.
Anyway, I wish I had more synesthesia like that. The numbers thing is just annoying. Although I'm sure glad letters don't have personalities or colors. That'd be a friggin disaster.
Let's talk about it! You have any stuff like this or similar? I miss our discussions.
I never told anyone at the time, but when I was learning to add and subtract, the numbers had personalities. Most of them anyway. I honestly don't believe I gave them the personalities intentionally. It was just the way they felt based on their shape or something about them.
1 didn't really have much of a personality. If he did, it was really quiet. Kept 2 company sometimes. I think 2 really needed 1 a lot.
2 was very protective of 3, but somewhat bossy and naggy.
3 was somehow younger than 2, but also younger than 4.
4 was a pretty good kid, but he was always (and I do mean always) making 2 cry and worry about him. He'd leave 2 to go running around with 5, that "Ralph Kramden" type character. Oh man, 4 really admired 5. Bought into all his BS, all his big talk and stories and his grandiose nature. 2 would be standing there worrying and fretting over the stupid things 4 is getting into. Crying about it to 1, who of course wasn't listening really. I always felt really sad seeing 2 and 4, especially separated by an equal sign or some other thing like a zero. I felt like 2 was just there sobbing "Don't forget to take a scarf. Do take a sweater" and 4 being like "Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm going now." It still feels weird now.
3 and 4 were very intrigued by the cool, mysterious 7. They were always stalking 7, hiding behind bushes (it was always bushes) and just staring at 7 in awe. I got a kind of "creepy" vibe whenever 7 appeared alone in an equation with just 3 or just 4. It was usually subtraction, so it was always a relief to be able to put down 3 or 4. Something just seemed wrong about seeing 7 with only one of them. Still does if I think about it.
A little more about 5 now. 5 had big ideas, especially about becoming 10. He was always roping 6 (who was his daughter, I think) into helping, especially when it came to getting past 10 and all the way to 11. Oh, 5 was always excited to see 6. Always wanted to exploit 6's talents. Whenever I saw the two of them near each other, it felt like 5 was all "I'm gonna make you a star! Your name up in lights! We're gonna make a fortune!" And 6 was weary and somewhat annoyed. 6 didn't want to be a star, and sometimes outright called 5 out on his dishonesty and scheming ways.
6, by the way, was a teenager and a female. She and 4 got along like siblings, though they weren't.
I don't think 1 or 9 had personalities, and 10 was just an abstract "place" or "concept" or "goal" in the numbers world. I was never too sure about 8, except I didn't like it much. It was always creeping on 4, and didn't like 3 much. 2, 3, and 6 were "female", 5 and 4 were male, and 7 and 8 were ambiguous, but kinda leaned towards female. I don't know how or why it evolved like this in my mind.
I'm just now learning that this is supposed to be a form of synesthesia. If it is, it figures that I'd get the lamest form. I'd really like to have one that was associated with colors. The only real synesthetic moment I can really remember was in high school orchestra. I accidentally played a super loud note on the trumpet. Since I was quiet and nervous about playing, everyone turned around and was trying to be encouraging about it.
I was looking horrified, I'm sure and was staring at the ground, and I'll do my best to explain why. To me, the sound had the physical form of a giant, heavy soap bubble/water balloon. My eyes and my feet and the rest of my body were telling me that a big water balloon had just been dropped on the floor and it had sloshed over everything. I remember thinking "Oh my God, but it was so wet it's sloshed all over everything!" And I wanted to look up and say "But it's all over everything! Why are you cheerful? It went splosh and it got all over...!". Like a big paint ball. I didn't have the words to describe it, though, so it didn't seem like anything I needed to say.
Anyway, I wish I had more synesthesia like that. The numbers thing is just annoying. Although I'm sure glad letters don't have personalities or colors. That'd be a friggin disaster.
Let's talk about it! You have any stuff like this or similar? I miss our discussions.