Smile

Physically, as I have said before, I am not female and I have less than 30 years experience on these vast plains. It is time for another piece in the jigsaw of my being. I have a smile. One that is wide, and bright and white. A more useful tool I will never know. My long, flowing locks will grey and fall, my imposing, athletic physique will shrivel and crumble and my confident stride will become a mere shuffle. If I am left with only my smile I will be a happy man and you will see it on my face.

When you smile the world smiles with you, and there are few things more satisfying than making the world smile. Whether it be the little old lady who at first is nonplussed with the holding of a door, smack her between the eyes with a bit of shining white and she will bound through that arch. What about the lad you accidentally meet eyes with across the crowded DART, instant reaction is to look away embarrassed because... because nothing, you looked at someone and they happened to look at you. Next time, as R Kelly might say, "Stand up tall, look 'em in the face and Smile".

If the eyes are the windows to the soul then the smile is a reflection of your sense of fun. I never want to lose my smile because once that goes then it will herald the sad demise of my sense of humour, and with that will go the very fibre of my being. As we become more and more distant in this ever changing world I reckon our base functions keep us human. A three year old farted on me recently, she told me as much and then burst out laughing. A smile cracked across my visage as the joy such a simple act brought to her face became apparent. Once the ripple of laughter and gas spread through the room there was not a sullen face to be found.

I remember once a friend said he saw me wandering through campus with a big smile on my face. He said he laughed as he imagined the kinda thing I was thinking of. I never told him, partly because I was ashamed and partly because I liked the idea of him thinking of the random things I might be thinking. If the random nonsense was making me smile then hopefully it was doing the same to him.

It was Barbie Girl. Barbie Girl by the Danish-Norwegian Behemoths of Pop that we know and love as Aqua. I was walking through campus, minding my own business, listening to my Creative Zen, when "Hiya Barbie..."