B - Blankets

Blankets: thing

I really like blankets (and their cousins Quilts and Afghans). I never had a "security blanket" (at least that I can remember), but I think of the orange/green/yellow blanket with the squirrels on it as my 'first blanket'.

The afghan that my Grandma knitted(or crocheted?) for me to match my colored-stripe wall-paper in my first bedroom is also very special. I have at least 4 polar-fleece blankets on my bed right now, some made by former Secret-Buddies, or my mom, or my aunt, or just purchased (I also have one in minnesota, that was made by a secret-buddy-turned-secret-enemy, but I still use it). The Denim patch-quilt that was won at a church auction has also been on my bed since I stole it from my mom. Many of my blankets are blue and or bluandbrowne.

Blanket and pillow forts are one of the great joys of childhood.

The graphic novel Blankets, by Craig Thompson, is really really good. I read all 500 pages of it in one evening.

SEE ALSO: bluandbrowne, secret buddy, quilts,

B - Banjo

Banjo: thing, instrument

My friend Jeremy got a banjo when we were in High School. That made him cooler than he already was. Once he got older and had some children, he let me borrow it for awhile. Then I got my own Banjo for my birthday. I don't really know how to play it like a Banjo. I fake it with some guitar finger-picking patterns that I know, and that sounds cool enough most of the time. I've tried to teach myself actual Banjo rolls, but it's frustrating and humbling. I'll never be Bela Fleck, either.

Banjos make pretty much any kind of music better if used well.

Charles Schulz once wrote in a "Peanuts" strip that every child should be issued a Dog and a Banjo at birth. It might make the world a better place.

"Frog and Banjo" is a great Mike Doughty song.

SEE ALSO: Fingers, Norway, Fat Boys, Peanuts

B - Batteries

Batteries: thing

When I was little, I was scared of things that ran on the little "button" batteries, because I heard that sometimes children swallowed the batteries and died. I still don't like them, but I deal.

I have rechargeable batteries, which I like for my camera and wireless mouse, but I never seem to have charged ones on hand when I need them.

B - Band Room

Band Room: place

During my senior year of high school I spent 4 of 7 periods per day in the Band Room. Wind Ensemble (period 1, trumpet, then horn), Concert Band (per 2, horn), Study Hall (per 4, which overlapped the two other band periods), and Jazz Band (per 7).

SEE ALSO: French Horn, Study Hall, Spam,

B - Bedsheets

Bedsheets: thing

The very first thing I'm going to buy when I "make it big" (or get my own place to live) is a really nice bed/mattress, but only so I can get super-high thread-count sheets. After that I'm never going to be able to get out of bed.

The second thing I'm going to do is hire someone to change my sheets for me when they need washing, because putting sheets on a bed is my single least favorite chore.

SEE ALSO: Chores, luxury, laundry,

B - Bear

Bear: thing, animal

I still have a blue Teddy Bear that I got at Valley Fair when I was 4 years old. It's been with me pretty much since then. It's name is "Valley Fair Bear," which is very concrete and literal. It is sitting on my bed right now.

"Bear" is also currently my favorite sign in American Sign Language.

In 7th or 8th grade I was playing Hide and Seek in Hartley Field just behind my house. I was hiding, and my friends could clearly see me but were not chasing me. It turned out that there was a black bear meandering around just across a very shallow ravine and tiny creek from where I was hiding. Probably less than 50 yards away. The bear did not eat me.

B - Bluandbrowne

Blueandbrown: thing (color)

Bluandbrowne, or the combination of a shade of blue and shade of brown, is one of my favorite colors. It started when my brother found a cool piece of patterned fabric at my grandparents' house.

I have many, possibly too many, sweaters and blankets and other things in those colors.

The spelling indicates that it is one single concept. Also it would be a cool middle name.


also known as: AquaSepia, Cinnamon-Teal (which is also a kind of Duck),

SEE ALSO: Sweaters, Blankets,