Chore of Vanity, Literally

June 24, 2015

I live in an HDB unit where there are no full length mirrors. If you've been to my place, both in college and while already working in Metro Manila, you wouldn't miss the full length mirror that I have owned for 10 years. (Read: As soon as I set foot in Manila, I had my landlady buy one for me. It was 1.5 meters wide and taller than I am. People say they look prettier and slimmer looking at that mirror. IDK if it is true, but it was a good mirror that I had to say goodbye to before leaving for Singapore.)

I tried being mirror-free for two weeks but I couldn't take it any longer. I finally bought a full-length mirror a few days ago from the furniture shop, about 300 meters away from the public library I frequent. Here are some facts:

1. The furniture shop was more than a kilometer away from my house.
2. The mirror won't fit the taxi or the bus.
3. The mirror was heavy.
4. The shop owner offered to carry it for me.

You see, even though I, admittedly, can get my way in things with a simple smile, I am actually very prideful. If you tell me you want to do something for me and I feel like proving to myself that I can do it on my own, I will throw away all logic and do it myself.

I said to the owner, "No, Uncle. I can carry this! I live not too far away."

(LIES!)

So there I was carrying the mirror through the sidewalks of Ang Mo Kio, and I made very sure that I'd look like I'm not breaking a sweat while at it, too, carrying it like it was a clutch bag. I was trying to mentally one-up all the joggers in the area. But did it work? That, I will never know.

This is the mirror during my stopover in front of the library. Cheers to pride, independence AND vanity!

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