Technicolor Tink

I believe we all live colorful lives.

It's just that sometimes we're color blind.

Lately the colors of my life haven't been as vivid as they once were. I haven't enjoyed the simple things as much, too bogged down by the complicated ones. I realized this morning, during that tedious hour commute, that I don't like this cynical girl. "Where'd the other one go? Is she hiding?" I decided last week that I'm going to be less grumpy in the mornings. If you knew me, you'd understand what a huge undertaking that is. "But you're ALWAYS a mega bitch in the mornings!" Hoop responded when I told him of my plan. "That's... who you are!" Thanks babe.

I've done pretty well so far. Instead of pitching a fit because I can't find my shoes or the shared comb Hoop likes to hide, I do meditative breathing hyperventilate in the mirror. Baby steps. It's better than throwing things. But don't judge me too harshly. I only throw sturdy things into soft things. Like the phone into the pillow. You see, a second before I reach for something to break, there's a tiny voice that pops into my head. "You're going to regret thiiiiis," it says. Which is annoying when you're really really pissed. So I decided to compromise with it so it shuts the hell up.

Anyway. Where was I? Oh yes, rambling. There's a hole puncher on my desk. It's one of those archaic metal ones, the kind you could club a baby seal to death with. When I first moved into my office, people would stroll in looking for a pencil to steal and catch their eye on it. Not literally folks. Stay with me. "Where'd you dig that out from?" They'd ask. "I stole it from a dead guy." That pretty much ended the conversation. The scary part is... It's true. Although to be fair, I didn't know he was dead when I stole it. I mean, I didn't know I was "stealing" it either.

When I first started working here, "here" being completely irrelevant, my cube was completely bare of office supplies. It didn't take long for me to figure out why. In this company, the moment you leave your position, your office supplies go up for grabs. Sometimes within an hour of you giving your two weeks notice. You never figure out who grabbed what, so it's pointless to pull blame. But you can bet the people with the poker faces know SOMETHING. During the first week of work, I managed to snag a stapler and a pair of scissors.

I was fortunate the head of graphics had called it quits, otherwise I might have gone another week licking and tearing papers. On the second week of work I noticed an empty office. I watched it carefully, waiting for the employee who used it to come back. But he never did. So one day, after five days of waiting, I went in and cleaned house. The prize of the haul was my infamous hole puncher. It wasn't until a few weeks later that I learned the story behind my hole puncher's previous owner. Evidently he'd died. They'd been keeping his office that way in remembrance.

As much as you may want to believe this story is fiction... Because let's face it, it's kind of demented. It's true. I own it. It's part of the colorful (somewhat twisted) life I lead. Maybe it would be easier to tell people I found the hole puncher. But this is the shit I'm talking about. Color. No, not auras. Although I believe I'm a peachish color if you're wondering. I mean the crazy details and stories we forget to notice. Like the warehouse guy I work with who whispers certain words like they're vulgar. I don't care how hot and bothered "humidity" makes you. It's not a dirty word!

So I want you to tell me something colorful. Give me an interesting story/twist/detail for something completely ordinary. Like the girl who works at the gas station who has curls in the front of her hair but not the back because she can't reach it with a curling iron. Or... There's a scar on my leg that my Mom swears is a chicken pock scar. But I distinctly remember a worm crawling out of it when I was seven. It scarred me for life. I can't touch the damn thing without getting the heebie jeebies. You have something to share. I know you do. Shake off the color blindness.

Header Tutorial for Jen:
Most of my blog headers start off as photographs. Like the one for Twisted (Tink). It started off as a picture I'd taken of a tree. Then I cropped it to the appropriate size and ran it through the filters in Digital Image Pro 7. For that specific header I used "Diffuse Glow" and "Stain Glass", in that order. Then I overlayed a picture of an apple I'd cut out from another picture I'd taken. After that I overlapped my title. You can find some neat fonts on websites like Urbanfonts.com and Dafonts.com. You can find color schemes here, along with their html codes. It takes time to get it exactly how you want it. The program is limited, the price you pay for being inexpensive. But the finished product is almost always worth the time!