Masks

They say that we put on different masks for different occasions. But maybe we actually have a multi-layered mask on, and we choose to take off different layers, reveal different parts of ourselves to different people.

After all, putting on a mask means deliberately showing something false, whereas removing a part of our mask means revealing something that is true, even if there are some other parts still hidden. Doesn't the latter fit the reality better? Most of us don't try to mislead, we just present the best side of ourselves for the occasion. And why not? Presenting every aspect of ourselves would be overwhelming, to the other person, even if not to ourselves.

Chef's pride

Mental Floss sent me a list of dining-related taboos from around the world. The list was compiled from several different sources, it seems. One of them states that you should not ask for extra cheese in Italy.

In Italy, never ask for cheese if it's not explicitly offered to you. It's considered a sin to put extra cheese on top of your pizza -- and it's even worse to put it on seafood.

That reminds me of how it is impolite to add wasabi to your sushi in Japan. And also about how you shouldn't ask for ketchup in France. It seems like whenever a particular cuisine is the pride of a country (or should we say a chef), it is impolite to do anything other than eating it as it is presented to you. The chef's work should be already perfect; making any change to it means that you are implying it isn't.

Of visiting

He came over to my place to look for something left by the previous occupant. I said, you could take the whole box over to your place (and free up some space for me). He said, no, I should leave it here, then I can come to visit you again.

For a fifty-word challenge, which I found out through this blog.

I wrote this last September, and posted it on Facebook. I tweaked it a bit to make fifty words.

Edit: I also posted the fifty-word challenge link on Facebook, challenging myself to write a fifty-word intro. So here it is:

I thought I had written a lot of snippets that could fit this challenge, but it took me some time to find one in my drafts. Maybe the snippets are all on Facebook. Maybe I should have written the challenge from scratch after all. (and yeah, this makes fifty words)