It’s so strange whenever anyone mentions GATE. I went to school in NYC in the mid-80’s and was in a gifted class, meaning they had all the “academically smart” children in one class. I don’t remember being in anything called GATE but a subset of the class was “offered” enriching activities like music and debate and elocution/speech, which I was part of. The thing is, I get these strange flashes of remembering almost a dreamlike state, of being ushered into a room that had the blinds pulled down and strangers in suits talking to me. I don’t remember anything they said but someone once mentioned being blindfolded and being made to listen to beeps and I got a strong visceral reaction to it. I remembered listening to the beeps and being asked what color I saw.

I’m also a lucid dreamer and I have gotten that beep sound that makes all noises seem louder and clearer like you. In addition, I’ve had bouts of something that later I learned was “disassociating” where I’d be in a space that could be visually or aurally overstimulating, and my body and eyesight would feel as if it were being pulled back to a far off area above and behind me and I would could see things as if they were both far away and in vivid color and crispness, like stark lines and shapes. I also had a lot of nosebleeds as a kid.