color like a crazed 5-year-old

I was reading through some of Melissa ’s completed goals the other day and found this one. I’m trying to find new ways to let off steam, so I thought I would give this a shot. There are two things I realized about myself in the process.

The first thing I realized is that not having kids (thankfully) there are some things I’m really out of touch with. For the life of me, I didn’t even know where you would go to buy crayons and a coloring book. I went to a Target store because they usually have everything. I found crayons, sure enough, but I couldn’t find a real coloring book. I found all these different activity books for kids but not a real coloring book. Maybe Target just doesn’t carry them or what I remeber as a kid doesn’t exist anymore. I didn’t feel like going through the trouble of asking if I wasn’t looking in the right place, so I just bought a sketch book and figured I would just color and doodle randomly. I actually used to do that when I was a kid more than color in a coloring book.

The second thing I realized is that I seem to have lost some creativity or some ability to think spontaneously. I had a hard time coming up with ideas of what to draw as I’m really not that artistic. It was actually kind of stressful, which is the opposite effect I was hoping to get. However, when I didn’t try to think and just randomly drew whatever came to mind and just got into the act of coloring itself, I have to admit it was pretty relaxing.

I’m not sure I’ll get into the habit of this. If I try this again some time, I’ll do it with a real coloring book, if I could find one…

Last night N and M and I colored for almost two straight hours. It started out with a simple group-effort pumpkin picture, but pretty soon it became a competition to see whose picture got hung up on the wall. It was a pretty heated coloring session with all us vying for the same crayons and bitching when someone else had the one we needed.

When Old New Guy came in, I just focused on coloring the perfect mad scientist and tuned him out. It helped a lot until he came out and asked me if I hate him now. It went something like this:

Him: Melissa, honestly, do you hate me now?
Me: ...
Him: I never meant to hurt you.
Me: ...
Him: You know I love you.
Me: ...
Him: Say something!
Me: Shut up.

Maybe being so engrossed in a childhood hobby made me act like a spoiled brat, but whatever…he deserves whatever he gets, I think.

When I was in college and time for final exams rolled around, I’d always buy a coloring book (Disney princesses, word up). After a few straight hours of studying, I’d zone out and color for a few minutes. Mindless activity suits me well.

With everything that’s been going on lately, I think I could use a few minutes a day of just zoning out and not having to think about all this.

Today, I’m going to get myself a coloring book AND the biggest box of crayons I can find.