One of Bruce's special gifts is self-effacement!! :D He's as gifted as any of us. I had a similar history in school--chronic under-performing and over-understanding. Just wasn't interested in the center of the Bell Curve, me. As for synesthesia, I think these are abilities, born from the ability to see things interact at wave-lengths or levels of abstraction beyond the purely sesory. You could call it a knack for translation...