What's it like not having synaesthesia?

That sounds like a flippant answer, but it's quite the truth.  I can't remember a time when I didn't experience sounds (music, in particular) in a deep, visceral way that involved more than just my sense of hearing.  For the longest time I thought everybody's experience of life was like mine.  I thought everybody cried when they heard violin music.  I thought everybody felt waves of cold and prickles when they heard sounds made up of square waves (yeah, I'm dating myself, aren't I?)  Didn't everybody shiver and see starbursts of pink and purple …

A couple of weeks ago I spent an evening in a dark, cramped bar full of pirate kitsch with a bunch of people who could have stepped out of the science fiction novel of your choice (yes, even the old-school Shadowrun novels). Collectively, we had more electronic equipment than NASA at the times we were born on our person. None of were particularly aware of life imitating science fiction (or is it science fiction predicting life?) or of the horrors occurring around us at the time. On top of all of that, we all sat around appreciating a belly dancer …