Thursday 21 February 2008

why guys can't do arts and crafts
christmas, the year i was 15, dexter gave me one of those short, squat glasses you can get from ikea. he'd stuck a little fringe of cotton wool all around the bottom edge of the glass, and written merry christmas chloe on the round edge of the glass in what later turned out to be normal glitter glue. which, as every girl - even a crafts dummy like me - should know, eventually peels off the glass.

and he told me, very candidly, that he'd done mine first because the first ones are usually the ugliest and best friends don't mind so much.

he proceeded to make more of them for other people. . . girls.

and mine was, indeed, not the nicest looking one.

well, i decided yesterday that i needed a glass for holding water when i brushed my teeth in beijing, so i retrieved the glass from where it'd been languishing on my bookshelf with the letters peeling off and the cotton wool turning grey. and i peeled off the letters and cotton wool, but there were glue stains so i put the entire thing in boiling water, and waited.

all the glue came off, as well as the 2001 he'd written on the bottom of the glass in what turned out to be not-permanent marker.

now, looking at the glass, you wouldn't think it had once been a festive looking thing. err, rather ugly festive looking thing but festive nonetheless. but, hey, for what it's worth i'll always remember its origins. . .

even while i'm slowly being poisoned by lead from the taps in china when i'm showering and brushing my teeth and retainers. it's not lethal unless you swallow, right?

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