A Question At The Spa

To tell you the truth, it has been quite a stressful month for me. There is work to attend and more work to be done (personal project, basically) so it was not a wonder why suddenly pimples are having party on my face. I'm quite positive that there is an outline of a merry-go-round on my right cheek right now. Realising this (or actually being pointed out by someone), some sort of damage control has to be done. Thanks to a good friend, she managed to persuade me to go for a facial yesterday.

So, I picked up the phone and I was lucky enough that I got a slot after workI was supposed to meet someone and thank goodness she agreed on waiting for me. My last session was in August so I know that I would get an earful from the one who will be working with me. What with the increased consumption of coffee and lack of sleep, I was pretty sure that I would then be introduced to tons of products to buy (and I can assure you this is true).

However, nothing prepared me for a question that the dermatologist asked while I was getting comfortable on the bed, ready to have my face touched. I felt like I was thrown back to the days of exam questions and test papers, of assignments and courseworks, of open-book tests and 'open-book tests' that made me throw back the same question at the person. She asked 'what do you want to achieve from this session?'.

Darn it. That sounded a lot like what a future employer will be asking like 'how do you see yourself five years from now?' (like seriously? I can't even predict where I am about to eat dinner) or ' what do you want to benefit from the company?' (may I answer big fat paycheck, low stress level and extremely small workpile?). The spa was supposed to be a place for me to relax, it is an unforgivable sin to ask questions that make me think hard. I was supposed to be answering questions half-heartedly before saying 'no' to every product that I am supposed to be in 'extreme need of'. Not that.

I opened my eyes (I can assure you that was not an easy feat. There was very calming music playing on the background, a hint of ylang ylang in the air (or was it lavender? I can never be sure of flowers), low light and there were absolutely no noise in the room. Yes, a condition fit for a sleepy baby) and looked at her before repeating the question. She actually looked back at me (I can only guess as I took of my glasses), sitting cross-legged, a pen and paper in her hand. I can see it almost clearly (refer to the paragraph above on the short-sightedness of Yours Truly) in my mind right now.

The impact of the question was so huge that I felt compelled to write this post at this hour, approximately twenty four hours after the episode. Believe me or not, I was up yesterday (for a few minutes but still! That was a huge effort) thinking about all the cheeky answers and clever comebacks that I should have said.

For example:

' I would like to see a better me, spiritually more than physically.'

' It's of the utmost importance that I should be able to foresee the future after this particular session.'

or as simple as 'I would love to at least be able to curse in 19 languages or dialects.'

But none of it came. Just a feeble ' I would like to have clearer skin.'

Never, I say, underestimate anything. Never.