Earwax (耳垢, 귀지)

Reader, you might want to skip this one if you don't have a strong stomach. Definitely not around any meal times.  

One of the questions that comes up often on applications or group activities, icebreakers, etc. is the question, "What is a hidden talent that you have?" I have a hard time responding to this because there's really no good answer; I can talk about dodgeball maybe, but others can't relate to that so it won't mean anything, if I say how smart I am or something others will think I'm boasting, and I'm really not that talented (no cooking talent, no cool yoga move showing how flexible I am, not a good singer, etc.) I've always been tempted to give a cheeky response, which is that "I am great at growing earwax." It's true- more than one ear doctor has remarked that "I'm a wax factory," or "I got potatoes," or some admiration/condemnation of my ability to have earwax that accumulates so much it blocks my hearing. I went about 10 years this last stretch without going to a doctor by using store-bought solutions to clean it out, but it wasn't sufficient. When I finally went to a doctor, they dug in once, twice, then in an unprecedented maneuver, made me lie down outside the office for 10 minutes to let the solution dilute the earwax enough to let them in, that's how much of a backup there was. But when the infringing blockage finally came out? I felt so much better, like a weight was lifted and I could hear everything again. I've come to realize that that maybe a source of irritation for me, much like the earwax itself the stress of having this hearing issue builds up and then makes me cranky. It also contributes to my loud voice because I can't even hear myself speak, which makes others think I'm yelling. I guess what I'm saying is, to any other excessive earwax sufferers out there, go get checked out, don't be embarrassed. I was the same way about acne; I was so ashamed of myself I didn't address the problem early on; finally that went away. And honestly? Cleaning it out feels pretty good; no wonder people in Japan pay maid cafes to do it for them regularly. 

I've learned a lot about the Bible this past year after never having studied at all in my previous 34 years of life, quite a weird thing if you consider that I've lived most of those years in America and had plenty of Christian friends, and even in the Chinese American community there are groups with strong faith to Christianity. I sympathize with people who have strong faith to Christianity, they are stronger and more devoted than I am, that's for sure. I also watched the documentary "Religolous" by Bill Maher satirizing Christianity and most organized religions, and I can see it from his side. Coming from a third-person view of religion since I was never raised with it and never felt like religion was a big part of my life, the Bible does seem a little fairy-tale-ish, more of a story than a guidebook on how to lead one's life. In my mind the stories of Bible are like the stories of Shakespeare, some tragedies, some inspiring stories, some historical accounts of real life people, but importantly the Bible was written by people and have the people element to it, which means they also have human flaws in them. I don't dislike religion and in fact think a lot of people do need religion, as long as it's a healthy devotion and not an unhealthy fanaticism that's used to raise money for the wrong people, fight wars by the wrong people. The problem, again, with something as pure and well-intentioned as religion is people; people manipulating religion ruins the purity of it, and I wish we could all believe in some true morals and higher truths than the distorted version that human-interpreted religion has been packaged to us.