Candy Coated Observations

I was recently sitting amongst a group of colleagues for a prolonged period. And, you know what prolonged sitting in a meeting breeds?

Yes. The answer is boredom.

This time boredom manifested itself visually through candy-coated chocolates. These little bribes, better known as M&M's, were passed around continuously for the later part of the afternoon.

Just hang in there; we'll be done in an hour.

--That's what the chocolates said.

I watched as these bored people grabbed handfuls and settled them onto the patch of table in front of them. Then the weird idiosyncrasies--the ones better off left behind the cubicle wall--popped out.

One professional careful picked through the mix to favor the blues. Only the blues: Pantone 292.

Others were not quite so discriminating. These others were artists requiring a full palate for their Picassos.

Okay, so let's not say Picassos. Abstract? Yes. Masterpieces? No.

Back to the point at hand.

I watched as M&M's were sorted and arranged and shaped by color. Some carefully flipped pieces so that all were belly up, showing off their tattooed "m". Others displayed their shallow relationship with art through clashing color arrangements and lack of pattern.

The M&M's were passed, and, with their distribution, helped ease the passage of time.