The 'Word Thoughts' Blog: Green

Monday, April 18, 2011

Green

As usual before I came upon the word GREEN, I stumbled around with a few other words. The first word was GUM. I got the idea for the word gum from a small tin container of Altoids Gum, it's one of my favorite gums - it's curiously delicious. But, I just didn't feel the word GUM, it didn't move or inspire me. So, I changed the word to BAIL. As I was looking around at objects to figure out another word my eyes landed on the DVD box for the movie The Fighter which stars Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. I thought to myself Bale is a good word, but decided to use the other spelling of Bail. I looked it up on dictionary.com and thought a but on what I could possibly write. Again, it just didn't hit me. I thought to myself I need to chose a word that I like, a word I can relate to. So, I came up with the word GREEN. Green is my favorite color. Even my eyes are a light shade of green (meets blue) - I call it aquamarine. It's a color people have told me looks good on me. I have always associated the color green with myself.

Aquamarine

In February I ended up eating some chicken (for dinner - a late dinner) which wasn't fully cooked. I noticed with the second bite the chicken seemed rubbery, but it taste fine. I thought maybe it was just that piece - so I took a third bite. Still rubbery. I looked at it closely under a bright light and it looked like it was cooked all the way through - but it was somewhat hard to tell. Regardless, I took a fourth and fifth bite, than I gave up on it and threw it away. I ate just enough to make me sick. About two hours after I fell asleep I woke up feeling extremely nauseous. I was up and down on that toilet all night. I didn't get any sleep. At one point I stopped and looked at my face in the mirror and I could swear I was green in the face, it was that bad. I had that sickly pale appearance. I was that sick. I didn't go to the doctor I just let it run through me. With in four or five days the color came back to my face and I was once again the feisty individual that I am.

Having been around the home improvement industry I have encountered different types of materials used in the process of upgrading, remodeling or renovating your home. There's more different types of nails than you can imagine. There's pins, tacks, brads, corrugated, double ended, masonry, etc. Lumber is another interesting material as there are countless species and types of wood. There's hardwood, softwood, grainy, knotty, oak, maple, fir, pine, mahogany, cedar, alder and the list goes on and on. Green lumber is one I had never heard of before I entered the home improvement industry. Green Lumber is lumber which has not been dried or treated. It's full of sap and is still wet inside. I went to life a piece and it was much heavier than it looked. I've never used green lumber in any of my projects - but I do know a few contractors who use it often. It is lower in price for those who don't mind the extra work of drying their lumber for use.

Green Lumber

Lastly let's finish with simply the color GREEN. In my mind this is the most beautiful color that exists. It's a color associated with different things. Green is the color of money, nature, the ocean, envy, jealousy and illness.

My favorite form of green is in nature. Just to walk through a garden of healthy green shrubbery and tall trees and green grass swaying through the breeze is one of those experiences that makes me feel alive. There's almost nothing better than to breath in the wonderful oxygen emitted from my green friends which fill the world with dancing joy.

I own more green shirts than any other color. I don't own any green jeans - but was recently thinking of getting a pair. well, I take that back I do own a pair of avocado green jeans, some people think they're brown - but they are avocado green.

The are many various shades of green - lime, bright green, camouflage, jungle, jade, teal, pine, olive, chartreuse, turquoise, pear. There are more than sixty shades of green. My favorite shade of green is aquamarine. I can sit there and stare any sort of aquamarine colored item for a good fifteen minutes out of the sheer joy I get from the color - it's calming to me.