Sometimes You Make Me Feel Like I'm Living At The Edge Of The World, Like I'm Living At The Edge Of The World, "It's Just The Way I Smile," You Said

--"Plainsong", The Cure

Most people don't have a favorite dinosaur. Hell, most people haven't given enough thought to even have a few contenders for that title. I, however, once upon a time gave it serious thought.

When I was about eight or nine my brother used to have small plastic dinosaur toys that were similar in their plastic feel and construction to toy army men. They had all the usual suspects--the stegosaurus, the pterodactyl, and, of course, the tyrannosaurus rex. Yet my favorite of the bunch was always the lowly triceratops. It may have been reading that triceratops were well capable of taking down a tyrannosaurus that led me to choose them, but even before reading that bit of information I knew that they were the dinosaur for me.


and then you smiled for a second

That's the thing with having favorites. It doesn't have to have any rhyme or reason for me. I'll often pick something on a whim and come back later with reasons why I took a liking to them. I've been doing it all my life. Be it dinosaurs or bands or food--there are just times where I don't want to mull over a decision for hours and pick something because it's the first thing that catches my eye.

However, eight times out of ten they end up sticking around as my favorite precisely because I can find reasons to back up my decision. Yes, I know it's a backwards process, but it resembles a lot my creative process. Usually I find the gloss first--the title in the case of my writing, or what a thing looks or sounds like in other cases--then, after I've had some time to research, I get down to the meat and potatoes of the thing. I don't know if it's because I have an innate eye for spotting something I'll like from far away or if it's simply a case of impulsively becoming smitten with something only to be forced to defend my choices later on. It's probably a bit of both.

All I know is that I'm a fan of anything that can make me smile, even if there is no sound reason for me to like it all. I believe in first impressions. And I especially believe in first impressions that later turn out for the best... mostly because it makes me look wise all along. LOL

Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers