Everyday Things (To Think More About)

Once upon a time in a faraway high school English class, there lived a teacher and his students. The teacher was brilliant but crazy (aren't they all?) and the students had no idea what they were in store for. In fact, their brains were blown away... repeatedly.

One story in particular stuck with one particular student:

"Everyone has an ugly painting that faraway aunt has given you. 

You are obliged to hang it out of respect because, well, it's your aunt.

It's been there ages and you hardly give a thought about it.

One day, it's gone. Suddenly, your whole world is gone."

BAM.

Okay, so to be honest it didn't go exactly like that but the meaning is the same. 

There are a million things around us and we never really stop and think about them. Here are some of mine:

The lovely alarm clock

This thing is a BEAST. The sound is a mixture of a fog horn and a shrill whistle. The Japanese know how to get people awake. I realize that we're SO dependent on time. If say, one person thought it was 8 AM while everyone else in the world thought it was 12 PM, then that one person would live a completely different life than the rest of us! And to think, someone just decided one day long ago that the mornings would be numbers 6-11:59, afternoons 12-5, evening 6-9, night 10-4 and the nameless: 4-6. THIS is the first thing I see EVERY morning. That just blows my mind too.

Chique!

Everyone has a ritual they do in the morning. For me, the second last thing in this said ritual is perfume. As Coco Chanel said, "A woman with no perfume has no future." Bien dit, mademoiselle! I feel strange not touching this magnificent bottle every morning. It just gives me a jolt to wake me up. And the smell! At first I hated it. But it grows on you. It's a little something to spice up dreary university mornings. That's what a ritual is supposed to do: ground you and spice your life up bit by bit. 

If it's this cute, it can only be Asian

As an avid tea drinker, without my trusty cup, I am lost. Funny how objects really do define us. This has nothing to do with superficiality. It also represents a special bond between my room mate and myself as I gave her the other one (it was a set). And besides, who wouldn't want to drink out of a cup that says "happy giraffe" on it? 

What are your daily objects that define you?