Beauty for Asthma

Waiters/chefs all around Manila should grant me this simple request next time. No, it's not big. No, it will not require you to serve your severed left arm to me. No, it will not require you to get salt all the way from Iraq. This is just a simple, doable request. And it's this.

Please, next time, tell me if your starter has seafood in it. It's a matter of life and death (figuratively and literally) for someone who has seafood allergies like me. If you still don't get it, let's just put it this way. It's what differentiates me from looking like this....

Okay... to this:

Yeah, I know! Seafood does that to my face. All because of some inconspicuous pieces of squid, my face got swollen . My normally, big, deeply-set Indian eyes have halved. My narrow face has become rather bloated. Of course, my face is going to get back to its normal state probably by tonight or tomorrow. But still, this is something that should never happen to anyone. So please, waiters and chefs, warn us.

What? What was that? You're asking me how I got the courage to put my bloated face pic in here? You're asking me if I realise that by posting the picture above, I am making myself the target of laughs? You're asking me how can I post a photo of me looking like that?

Well, it's simple really. You see despite a bloated face, I still feel well... me. I still feel beautiful despite my eye sockets feeling like they've just sucked a fair amount of water. I still feel like the same girl who finally got into Fully Booked and almost wanted to cry at the amount of material (BTW, Fully Booked is drool-worthy!). The bloated face can not dictate to me who I am. The bloated face can not dictate to me what I can do. The bloated face can not dictate to me what my worth as a person is. But most of all, the bloated face is not all that I am.

It's the same way with other insecurities, really. Go ahead and try it. Replace the bloated face with whatever insecurities you have. Go ahead and think about you telling yourself "I'm too short/tall/blonde/smart/fat/emotional/conceited/whatever". Now... replace my bloated face with your thing. And tell yourself this...

___ can not dictate to me who I am. ___ can not dictate to me what I can do. ___ can not dictate to me what my worth as a person is. But most of all, ___ is not all that I am.

Everyone is beautiful no matter what. Short, tall, black, white, skinny, plus-sized, normal faced, bloated faced --- it really doesn't matter. We can all show our true selves and bare who we really are. Because who we really are is beautiful.

But yeah, I still want my normal face back. Vit! Vit! S'il vous plait!