5 and Up

Bought myself a set of crayolas. Mind you, I got the 64 colors non-toxic set with a built-in sharpener (don't you just hate coloring with an unsharpened crayon especially for those intricate shapes?). Of course I had to find myself a coloring book. I scoured the bookstore for a not-so-kiddie coloring book and settled for Cinderella. I know, I know that still falls under the kiddie category but I had so few stuff to choose from (batman, strawberry shortcake, blues clues, Barbie). Man, someone should produce adult coloring books (and no, it's not what you're thinking). But hey, Cinderella isn't really a story for kids - I mean with all the drama that Cinderella goes through; you'd think it's straight from a telenovela.

So anyway, I digress. I brought home my treasure and propped myself on the bed comfortably. I opened my Crayolas with reverence paying tribute to the god of youth. I'm 5 years old all over again. Not too young to chew on them, nor too old not to draw pleasure on such an ordinary activity. I noticed that the box isn't the same. At least it was not the one I grew up with where the top flap opens. It was a box that opens on its sides and you pull a tray from within that holds 4 separate packets where the crayons lay neatly in place. They came in a different packaging but they smelled the same...fresh crayons! Mmmm...

So what do we have here? Blue. Red. Yellow. Okay, primary colors. Indigo. Scarlet. Salmon. Hmmm... okay. I go on. Pacific Blue. Macaroni & Cheese. Cerulean. Pink. Green. Hold it! Macaroni & Cheese? How in heavens name did they come up with Cerulean? I pick another. Granny Smith Apple. And another. Tickle Me Pink? Huh? I looked at the label on the box again and it read "includes 16 My World Colors". What? Out of this world colors is more like it. Where are the normal-named colors?

I figured I shouldn't make a big deal out of this confusion. I should just go ahead, pick a crayon and color at will. I wish.

I found out that coloring, as an adult, is far different from coloring as a child. As much as you want to recapture the don't-care attitude, you're too old not to care. And making decisions such as what color goes with what and should I put shading or what - coloring suddenly becomes an ordeal. Add to it the stress of choosing from 64 different colors with names I cannot fathom. Maybe I should have just stuck with the standard 8 colors.

I know I have to loosen up. That's exactly why I bought my crayons in the first place --- to channel my excess energy to a positive non-stressful activity after a trying day at work.

And so the next time I get into my 5-year-old moods, I'll close my eyes and just let fate pick the color for me. Mauvelous.

Maybe not.