Guest Post: Now For Something Slightly SortaGinger

Please give a great big ‘ol Matticus Kingdom welcome to JC or SortaGinger or  whatever Her Awesomeness is going by these days:

When requests for submissions to the Matticus Kingdom were sent out into the blogosphere, I enthusiastically volunteered my services.

Then I realized I would have to write something and that it would have to be somewhat interesting.  I decided to casually ask for ideas on what he would like to see on his blog:

The answer was “just write like you always do”.  And that, good reader, is what you will get today. I have decided to go with the theme of the recent blog entries and come up with the official colors of the Kingdom.    Every Kingdom needs their presence known through flags and banners, showing their colors  to be seen from near and far.

After a cursory evaluation of the site and favored colors (blog white, font black), I came up with three colors to represent the blog, the Matticus Royal Family and all other associated ventures.  Excited for this new project, I gathered my materials:

What?  You thought I could sew, or use MS Paint or something?  What fun is that?

I decided to go with a tri-color tape manicure.  First step is paint your entire nail with the lightest color you plan to use. In this case, it was Milani High-Speed Fast Dry in a Silver Metallic color (it appears to no longer be available, which explains the clearance price I got for it).

After that is completely dry, use tape to section off part of your nail and paint the un-taped area with the next level color.  This is OPI Designer Series in Extravagance, a nice burgundy with rainbow micro-glitter.  This part went well, better than my last attempt at a tape manicure with two colors.  Just ignore the one slightly slanted line on that finger there.  I SAID IGNORE IT.

Finally, after that coat is dry, I used tape again to make a diagonal line and painted the un-taped area with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Navy (also appears to be discontinued or limited edition; I am all about the clearance aisles).   Here are the final results, with and without flash:

This was my first time using three colors and the diagonal lines started to waver some.  Or a lot.  I post all my self-manicure pictures with the disclaimer that they are messy, but I did try my best this time for the honor of the Kingdom.   Seeing as they are new parents, I am going to say the messy lines represent not sweating the small stuff and maybe sleep deprivation.

There you have it.  What I think to be the “official” colors of the Matticus Kingdom, whether they like it or not.    What colors would you have chosen?

Thank you Matticus for letting me into the Kingdom today.  Love the moat!

……….

Marvelous!  Not only do we now have official colors, but we also seem to have an offical crest/design/coat of arms… or nails, as the case may be.  And what a glaring error on my part to not have put together a more formal banner for my kingdom and/or spruce up my little piece of the blogosphere with something more than white background and black font.  I’d say I’ll get right on fixing that, but…  well, I’ve got one little thing going on right now that is taking precedence over everything else.  So, you’ll just have to deal with my lack of color, or just keep coming back to this post when you need some beyond black and white.

Or, you could always check out these great examples of “color” over in JC’s section of the blogosphere:
http://sortaginger.com/messy-manicure-monday-482013/
http://sortaginger.com/messy-manicure-monday-32513/
http://sortaginger.com/messy-manicure-monday-2252013/

Also, with a little less color:
http://sortaginger.com/the-road-to-okay/
http://sortaginger.com/flowers-hank-hill-and-beauty-in-nature/
http://sortaginger.com/themes-numbers-spam-175/

rising from the ashes

He was almost there.  It was almost time.  And he was ready…  It had been a good life, but it had also been long and hard and he was very tired.

The phoenix, resplendent in reds and oranges, stretched his wings out to their full length one last time.  He turned his beak first one way and then the other, taking in the full expanse of his wing span.  There had been a time when his fiery colors could sprout fear in even the sturdiest warrior, but over time his hues had faded, muddled, blurred.  But, that was to be expected.  He’d gone through this process many times before.

Raising his beak to the heavens he opened his maw wide and gave voice to his final shriek, his last act in his current life.  His piercing voice echoed down the valley, deer paused in their foraging, lesser birds went silent, the few humans few called the valley home looked to the sky and trembled.  He couldn’t see any of these things, but he knew them to be true regardless.

With a brilliant burst of light that originated from his breast and spread outward with a ferocity and quickness no eye could catch, the phoenix burst into flame.  Every inch of him was consumed in the inferno.  As the last bit of his physical essence crumbled into ash there was a mighty flash that emanated down the valley just as his voice had seconds before. 

The magic had happened again, as expected.

His tiny beak poked out of the pile of ash, and he flexed his wings clumsily.  His feet teetered forward and he stumbled free of what remained of his prior life.  He was young again.  He was new again.  His colors were vibrant again and soon he would grow and take flight and be the fearsome king of the sky again.

“Red – a world about to dawn!”

This week’s writing challenge, a splash of color, asks us to consider the power of colors as emotional triggers.  As the challenge voices, there are certain colors that have stereotypical (cultural) responses – white: clean, blue: sad, red: angry, green: healthy – and there are certain colors that have would trigger more personal responses based on memories and experiences of each individual – the colors of leaves as the seasons change: reds, oranges and browns, the color of the ocean as it breaks on shore: a full gradient of blues topped with a foamy white, the storm clouds gathering on the horizon: blacks, purples, greys, and oranges if the sun happens to be setting behind the clouds.  These are all great examples of the power of color.  I could write blog posts about each of these, what they mean to me, and how the color influences my reactions and responses.

However, personally, the first colors I think of when I’m considering them as emotional triggers are Red and Black.  Specifically, I think of a song from the musical Les Miserables titled exactly that: Red and Black.  (For reference, you can check out the full song here: Les Miserables – Red and Black lyrics.)

My first introduction to Les Miserables came in the form of the 1998 film starring Liam Neeson as Valjean and Geoffrey Rush as Javert (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119683/).  I was so utterly captivated by the story in the film that I immediately went out and read the Victor Hugo classic.  I was hooked.  After finishing the novel I had the opportunity to see the musical performed several times, in several locations, with several different touring companies.  They have all been fantastic.  (Perhaps I’m just a sucker for the story no matter what form it is told in.)

This may be taking the challenge slightly out of context, as rather than “actual” colors I’m going to focus on colors as words, but there are several lines in the song “Red and Black” that help me relive the experiences of watching, reading, and listening to the story and relive the full ensemble of emotions that the story has brought out in me each and every time I’ve gotten to experience it:

The color of the world is changing day by day…

Red – the blood of angry men!  Black – the dark of ages past!

Red – a world about to dawn!  Black – the night that ends at last!

…..

Red…  I feel my soul on fire!  Black…  My world if she’s not there…

Red…  The color of desire!  Black…  The color of despair!

Red and Black, two colors, seemingly such simple descriptions (they aren’t even the most imaginative or expressive of colors) but in this song they exist on a palate all their own.  They encompass life and death, love and loss, past, present, and future.  They are everything we have ever been and everything we will ever be.

Red is passion, hope, love, the dawning of a new day, the dawning of a new life, a new relationship, and all the possibilities the future may have in store, as well as the drive to make that future a better world.

Black is loss, and loneliness, the necessary evils to bring about change, strife, anguish, the demons from our pasts, the things that haunt our memories, and, ultimately, death.

These simple words, these two simple colors, help me remember all of the corresponding interactions and emotions in the story.  From there, the colors help me transfer my thoughts from the story to experiences in my own life; Red and Black trigger a flood of memories: pain and sorrow, triumph and joy, and above all love – that ever constant and ever fluctuating drive in all of our lives. 

Ups and downs, back and forth, good and bad, red and black: love and life.  These two colors can represent the entire sum of our human experience.  At least, when I’m listening to that song, they can for me.