romantical

"how is a snoopy nail clipper romantic?" you ask? well, here goes.

i love this dang nail clipper despite the fact that the red plastic nail-catching mechanism doesn't perform its function and continually slides forward making clipping nails more and more difficult with each "clip clip." i found it at some random street stall in hong kong, one glorious spring break when my friend's family took my family around hong kong to delight in its shopping and cuisine (fish intestine custard, anyone? another story for another time; i really do love most cantonese food). my super-americanized self had been afraid to bargain most of my time there, but i grew some balls suddenly when i saw my first love snoopy in rather practical form. i bargained. hard. i won him for i-don't-even-remember-how-much. i now feel a bit guilty knowing those few dollars would probably have been better used by the proprietor of the stall than my over-indulged self. but i'm still proud that i bargained.

one quiet night, during round two of potatobear dating, i decided to clip my nails. snoopy was NOT in his house!!! i always returned him to his place after use. he was not there. i turned the contents of my under sink cabinet and medicine cabinet upside down looking for him. nowhere. sad. i randomly get distraught about the smallest things (such as tearing a belt loop off of my favorite capri jeans as i did last weekend...yet another story for another time), and this was one of them. but the metal was so sharp! it clipped my nails so cleanly! and it was sooooooo cute!!! the bear witnessed all of this. then he went home as it was a work night.

a short while later, we were chatting online. i had mostly forgotten about the snoopy loss as i was still in the denial stage. he sent me a link to an ebay auction. for my exact snoopy nail clipper. a close up of it revealed text saying, "SNOOPY copyright 1958." the auction was also titled "vintage." we decided against paying $20+ AND shipping for a potentially used (ew!) nail clipper. i composed a quick eulogy in my head for the deceased pooch, then gave him up for lost. then i was so utterly touched by the bear's thougtfulness. i had forgotten, but he hadn't. he saw my anguish over the loss and did all he could do in his computer brainiac power to make it all better. swoon.

that's right little girls of the world watching sleeping beauty (my little brother's favorite movie on BETA when he was three...tee hee...don't kill me baby-brother-who-is-7-inches-taller-and-a-third-degree-black-belt-
in-taekwondo)--romance isn't a dance in the clouds while your dress magically changes back and forth from pink to blue to pink to blue to...with prince charming who has just slain the evil and completely horrifying witch/dragon and kissed you awake from eternal slumber. it's the small things.




postscript: i found snoopy a couple of weeks later. under a pile of papers on my desk. and he also read "SNOOPY copright 1958." i guess the one on ebay wasn't so vintage after all, since mine came well-packaged and totally brand new (or so i liked to believe) in 1998. every time i clip my nails, even my grody toenails, like earlier tonight, i am reminded of how much the bear cares and how considerate he is toward fulfilling my every need and desire. it makes an annoying personal hygiene chore much, much sweeter.