Colored

I took it like a grown man crying on the pavement. 

This song has been inside my head today. One of the most beautiful songs you will ever hear. Feelings of sadness, regret, and introspection all converge into a singular fuzzy, existential emotion. Frontman Andy Hull, as I have realized today, is one of my favorite lyricists. His careful and slightly whimsical wordings craft vivid images of his world for the listener. (chill..... redux?)

One of the many places this song takes me to is a long, lonely, quiet (hypothetical) train ride through the American West. In case my blog background didn't give me away, I am a train admirer (TA). Trains make me feel warm and contented. Some reasons I romanticize them: the CHOO CHOO, circumstances in which you are standing near a train track and see a train approaching from afar that seems to be moving so slowly with its singular headlight shining towards you and then the train is passing right by you with power and authority unrivaled by any other machine. Also because these machines are often composed of, what feels like as it is chugging by, hundreds of different cars.  

Stationary trains are equally as romantic to me, if not more so. Thinking about some abandoned train cars sitting on some abandoned railroad makes my heart flutter. It is impossible to properly describe the aesthetic pleasure I feel from looking at a train car, but I will attempt. I like to imagine every abandoned train car idle in its current position on the train track since at least the 1980's (the decade I associate with anything seeming like a "long time ago"). Each car would tell its own story of fascinating travels if it could communicate with humans. But since I have yet to communicate with a train car, the travel stories are left for me to type. My favorite story usually includes the car travelling through some obscure mountain pass in Colorado or Idaho or Nevada, seeing specific sights that no man has ever set eyes on before. 

Aside from my fantasy world, abandoned train cars also offer more immediate visuals that I enjoy. The symmetrical shape, the rust, the graffiti, the bold lettering loudly proclaiming its origin and the colors these factors create. Thus, I forced Kate to take a trip with me to the Train Museum(!) of Danbury, CT. I figured I would be indulging myself in some railroad history and probably some sweet-ass photos of old trains. It was the stuff of my wildest dreams. I got what I expected, plus a train yard (real-life trains no longer in service that are now part of the museum's collection) to walk around in. This is what the train yard(!) looked like:

New Haven Halloween car (candy inside)

Proceeding means walking into living trains

 
My second favorite train (I am 8 yrs of age) is the yellow MAINE CENTRAL caboose (first blog mention of "caboose;" will not be the last). Firstly I enjoy the contrast of the windows on the left; one being see-through/black and the other being boarded up with what appears to be some sort of yellowing paper/white. I also appreciate the yellow/green paint job. But mostly I love the caboose's sense of humor. THINK SAFETY WORK SAFELY. Seems to be an attempt at a snappy slogan/ public service announcement? All I can think about is how safety and safely are almost the same word and how much this slogan does not roll off the tongue. Were "workers" during this caboose's active railroad career distracted by this as well? Distracted to the point that they inadvertently began to work unsafely? This sloganeering seems to have been unsuccessful.

My favorite train is LONG ISLAND. I have never been east of Queens, New York, but I love imagining this train chugging along the shores of the Atlantic merrily performing its blue-collar Long Island duties. Its lettering seems to recall the earliest, most primitive methods of placing letters onto modes of tra(i)nsportation. In my estimation it also seems to be the most crumbling and have the most paint peeling. Its base colors are now charmingly trending towards "rainbow." Bringing me to my blog post intention: a colorful discussion. 

The Five Senses (in bullet form):

• Hearing
• Sight
• Smell 
• Taste 
• Touch 

Existential question (not rhetorical) posed to you, audience: What would be the last sense you could afford to lose as a Five-Sensed human? I cannot imagine life as a blind person. Probably because my imagination would be all that is left. I identify as a visual learner (Psychology major!) and my visions are the language in which my thoughts are formed. Without vision, I cannot comprehend how thoughts could be formed. I should feel grateful every day for my ability to see. My favorite perk of being able to see: colors. 

Colors and color combinations are what makes sight fun. Ponder this notion for a second; you enjoy sight. And I love the interaction of colors. Bright, not necessarily "loud," colors are most aesthetically pleasing to me. They also give me a subliminal feeling of positivity. Thus, "goth" people (they may already be extinct in the year 2013, sorry for making a high school reference) dress in black. They want you to think they are depressed and misunderstood. They wouldn't dare don bright, colorful outfits and reward onlookers with a subliminal feeling of positivity. FULL DISCLOSURE: I relish positivity, so I try to dress colorfully. I try to decorate my bedroom with color (bedroom is the only room I currently control). I take color photographs. I try to say colorful things in social interactions.

Color communicates. Different colors are associated in our brains with different emotions. Softer colors can help put us at ease. Louder colors can communicate dominance. We use colors in our descriptions; there is a universal understanding among people with sight. Nations, sports teams and countless (I didn't attempt to count) other associations identify themselves through colors. The "color commentary" during a sports broadcast offers insight. No matter the era or generation, colors have been and will always be integral in advertising; the warmth colors bring to us is universal. We are in awe of landscapes because of particular color combinations and contrasts. The principal reason I love trains is most likely because of their striking colors. 
 

A pleasing color combination (at left) currently staring back at me.

A black-and-white world operates inside a box. A world in color is limitless. My favorite color is green. What's yours?     

Thank you for reading these words. 
A band that might also be enamored with color: Colour Revolt-Matresses Underwater