Synesthesia (also spelled synæsthesia or synaesthesia, plural synesthesiæ or synæsthesiæ), from the ancient Greek σύν (syn), "together," and αἴσθησις (aisthēsis), "sensation," is a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who report such experiences are known as synesthetes. Recently, difficulties have been recognized in finding an adequate definition of synesthesia, as many different phenomena have been covered by this term and in many cases the term synesthesia ("union of senses") seems to be a misnomer. A more accurate term for the phenomenon may be ideasthesia.

In one common form of synesthesia, known as grapheme → color synesthesia or color-graphemic synesthesia, letters or numbers are perceived as inherently colored, while in ordinal linguistic personification, numbers, days of the week and months of the year evoke personalities. In spatial-sequence, or number form synesthesia, numbers, months of the year, and/or days of the week elicit precise locations in space (for example, 1980 may be "farther away" than 1990), or may have a (three-dimensional) view of a year as a map (clockwise or counterclockwise). Yet another recently identified type, visual motion → sound synesthesia, involves hearing sounds in response to visual motion and flicker. Over 60 types of synesthesia have been reported, but only a fraction have been evaluated by scientific research. Even within one type, synesthetic perceptions vary in intensity and people vary in awareness of their synesthetic perceptions.

Andrew Ross McMahon (born September 3, 1982) is a singer/songwriter. He is the vocalist, pianist and primary songwriter for the bands Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin; he also performs solo.

McMahon was born in Concord, Massachusetts. He briefly lived in New Jersey until 1991, when his family moved to Bexley, Ohio where he attended Cassingham Elementary School. His family relocated frequently due to his father's occupation in retail. McMahon recalls that while he was in fourth grade, they briefly stayed in California to support his mother's family after the loss of her brother. The death had a large impact on the family, and Andrew has a tattoo on his forearm in his uncle's memory. Following the death of his uncle, who was a musician himself, McMahon became inspired to get involved with music, and began teaching himself piano very soon afterward.

McMahon's family decided to settle in California shortly before he entered eighth grade. He would later describe himself as "a pudgy, outgoing, artistic little kid who never quite fit into the California scene". He graduated from the public Dana Hills High School in 2000.

Jamie John Ward (born 12 May 1986) is an English-born Northern Irish international professional footballer, who plays as a midfielder or forward for Derby County. He was born in Smith's Wood, Solihull but qualifies to play for Northern Ireland through his grandfather.

Ward began his career as a trainee with Aston Villa and played in their 2004 FA Youth Cup Final defeat against Middlesbrough. He turned professional in July 2005 after recovering from injuries received in a car crash in 2004. Although he captained the club's reserve team, he did not make a first team appearance and in March 2006 he joined Stockport County on loan until the end of the season, making his league debut in a 1–0 victory away to Bury on 7 March. He made nine appearances, scoring once in a 3–1 home victory against Shrewsbury Town.

At the end of the 2005–06 season, Ward was released by Aston Villa and on 6 July 2006 he signed a three-year contract with Ian Atkins' Torquay United, despite interest from Stockport County and Wrexham. However, with a change of ownership and manager at Torquay, Ward asked for a transfer in December 2006.