Colors

I've been thinking about colors lately. My weekend consisted of a variety of activities that brought colors to my attention. It started Thursday. Still weak from my migraine and vomiting the day before, I felt thankful I did not have my 12:30 class. After my 9:30 class, I went home and took some migraine medication. I meant to use that time to do homework, but slept several hours away. I woke up to the sunshine leaking through the bottom of each individual blind, hitting my light blue fleece sheets. My headache was gone, but I was hungry and still tired. I went to my ind. study early, buying a fruit salad and a caesar salad. The greens in the salad and the bright red strawberries in the fruit salad lifted my mood. It helped that my prof then said I am producing some of my best writing lately. It was quite a disappointment when my computer crashed and flashed a gray screen and a white folder with a question mark in the middle of meeting with him.

I spent Friday with a nice group of girls I hadn't seen in a while. We shopped for bridesmaid dresses, which had me thinking about all sorts of colors. There were beautiful purples, greens, pinks, blues, and oranges. I tried on a watermelon colored dress and fell in love with it. If I ever get married, I think that should be one of my colors. Alicia chose navy blue, because all of us looked decent in it. It proved to be tricky with such a variety of shapes, sizes, heights, hair color, skin color, etc... The navy blue seemed flattering on everyone. Now, I just have to come up with the money for it. In the evening, we watched "The Fighter" again. I appreciated it even more the second time. I love the way films use such a variety of techniques to appeal to viewers on a much deeper level. It really is art when done well.

Saturday morning, we left early to go watch Ashlee run her half-marathon. My glasses broke, causing me to see only blurry outlines of objects and colors. Ashlee wore bright green running tights. With so many runners and spectators, it helped me spot her from far away. At first, we didn't even think it could be her because she finished at such a fast and strong pace. She had been worried about even finishing. Seeing her finish strong left me feeling proud of her accomplishment and hope that maybe I can get back in shape. The weather is finally lightening up, so maybe in the next week I'll start running again.

Tammy and I spent the afternoon with Grandma and Uncle Mike. The rest of the family stayed around where the half marathon took place because they had a plane leaving the area for Vegas later in the evening. Vegas lights alter the senses. All of the different colors and flashing lights make me feel invincible. We stopped at the mall on the way home to get my computer fixed. I replaced the hard drive. I hadn't planned on putting anymore money into this computer with it being so old, but they thought replacing the hard drive would give me another couple years out of it, if not more. We shopped a bit while waiting for the computer to be fixed. I found a new pair of skateboard shoes, but they were too much money for me to buy them. Grandma surprised me by letting me get them, anyway. They are a dark denim with pink plaid on the side. The bottoms are bright pink, and I'm looking forward to getting some hot pink laces for them.

Saturday night, some friends came over to get in the hot tub and watch "Black Swan." It proved to be such a nice time and no one really even drank much. It was just a fun night of giggling, snacking, and catching up. Like "The Fighter," I loved "Black Swan" even more the second time. The first time, it's such a wild ride that I didn't notice all of the little things that make it as powerful as it is. The colors throughout the film especially jumped out at me. The costumes and all of the contrast between black, white, and gray. There's an especially striking scene where they are on drugs in a dance club and bright lights and strobe lights flash, creating beautiful pictures. 

With all of the thoughts about colors, I made them a common thread in my latest story for my fiction class. I want the story to be humorous, possess depth, and be visually stimulating with all of the references to color. It got me thinking that growing up can cause bright colored auras to fade. I'm not talking literal auras, but just the idea of everyone being a unique color that starts bright and fades with time seems to ring true to my experiences so far. I'm exploring aging in my story a bit too. It is terrible as of now, though. I'm doing too much in too little of space. I hope to play around with it this weekend.

After getting a new computer, my pictures are all gone. I loaded a close up picture I took of my mom's hibiscus flower a couple years ago during the summer I spent recovering from the hospital. The picture is fiery orange with yellow and for some reason the little background that does show is black, making the flower even brighter. Little water droplets are on each petal, and it looks stunning as my new wallpaper. Every time I open my computer, the bright colors send my mind spinning.