All Things Yellow

After finishing my Tostidos chips & peach pineapple salsa, and now being immersed in my Thomas Newman "writing music", I shall begin today's entry...

I was subbing at the Meriden Stork Club, working in the nursery school room. I constructed one of those roller-coastery, theme park water-slidey plastic sets that marbles run down through. The marbles began at the top in a toilet-bowl sort of funnel where they would race round and round in circles of ever-decreasing diameter until they reached the center and dropped down. There, they rolled and dropped their way through about 15 more connected pieces, finally reaching the end after the last fall. There were three marbles being used, two of which were green. The other, was yellow.

Now, there were a few places on the track where any of the marbles would have the chance to pass another, provided they were close enough. So, it didn't matter which marble was rolled into the funnel first. And even if it did, they were released simultaneously in as fair a manor as could be provided for them. That little yellow marble beat those other marbles more than half of the time. And if you work out the statistics, realizing that it wasn't just triumphant over the color green, but over two other marbles, it did quite well. Several times it even jumped from one track, skipped two or three, and landed well beyond the greens. "Yellow takes it all," I would say after each of its victories. That's when I took notice of this previously passed by color.

After much thought, consideration, passing time, and a bowl of M&Ms, I have come to realize that my unofficial (and formerly secret) favorite color is yellow. Those who know me are aware that blue is my favorite color, so if they're reading this, they may pause to wonder. It's not that yellow surpasses blue. Quoting the ever-so-comical Brian Regan, yellow is "another favorite, but not as much. Not as much favorite. But they're both good. They're both good."

If you've ever noticed, when something changes in your character, be it small or large, it usually changes so slowly that you don't realize it until it's done. There's a switch that suddenly clicks, and gives you that "oh yeah" moment. Such was the way it happened a few nights ago over a bowl of M&Ms.

I was looking into the bowl, trying to choose which colors to remove for immediate consumption, when I noticed a group of yellows sitting together. There were five or six of them, and you know as well as I that to see such a large grouping of same-color M&Ms in a bowl together is a rare site. I took them out and studied them for a moment. "Yellow," I thought. "Yellow." And then it happened. The switch was thrown.

Perhaps it's because yellow's worth has been forgotten, and that causes me to sympathize. Or maybe it's because yellow is a color rarely seen, save the sun and dandelions or a dog's favorite spot in winter, and that makes it special. Whatever the case, I realized in that moment that I have been secretly encouraging yellow for some time now. I'm quite proud of it.

Red is a hot color, and flaunts itself wherever it goes. Blue is cool, calm, and soothing. Green is the color of growth, and brings with it a sense of freshness. Purple stays away from conformity and also calms while keeping spirits high. Orange is energizing, fun, and zesty. Yellow, however is a mysterious, and secretive color. It can appear to be simply average, or perhaps less. One can look at it, move on to something else almost immediatley, and never give another thought. But that's okay with yellow. It doesn't mind. It enjoys being a background color, waiting for that moment when no one's looking, when it's needed most, to emerge and prove itself to be far greater than one had previously thought. And that's what makes yellow so special.

Blue is my favorite color, and probably always will be. But, secretly, I root for yellow.