I am not much of a crier, really, at least not when it is because of my personal troubles. I am actually good at keeping my emotion to myself and only let it emerge in the form of alcoholism, you know, just like the Brits. I am however, a sympathetic crier. Being a sympathetic crier means I cry when I see other people cry, as if I connect with their emotions and even feel their sadness, I am easily touched. There is nothing wrong of being a sympathetic crier, really. I take it as a sign of my big and caring heart. All I need to do is to make sure that I look away from crying people and avoid any drama and romance movies or tv series.
I also happen to have a very sensitive face skin, a slight of emotion change will make my face turns pepto bismol pink and one single tear could make me look like an overcooked lobster with bulging eyes. No way in hell my vanity will let this happen in public.
But on November 5 it was different. I was sitting on my couch caste flight to Jakarta. It was ¾ of the whole 26 hours of trip so I was tired, my guard was off, my butt was flatten out from too much sitting, and I might, only might, had abused the inflight service for alcohol beverage. Story short; I was bored and miserable and I just wanted to be entertained.
If you ever read Jojo Moyes’ novels, you know that she has this amazing talent of unravelling a very complicated and touching story in a very natural way, and that’s the thing for me, it feels very natural that I was really drawn into it. 20 minutes into the film I was sobbing and ignoring the concerned (or horrified?) look of the elderly man sitting next to me. If you need a graphic explanation, I wasn’t crying in discreet, I was literally weeping and sniffling, and I am not an elegant, well composed crier. My face turned red, and my eyes turned even redder and bulged out. My nose swollen and runny. My lips were also swollen, and stretched down making an awfully ugly impersonation of an upside-down U letter. it looked like my life got sucked right out of my face. I had my headphone on so I couldn’t hear awful noises I might have made. Probably the passengers around me hated me or taken me as someone with mental issues.
After the movie was finished, I tried to lighten up my mood by watching an animated movie from Pixar, so I chose to watch Finding Dory… …
It was a not a bright idea. I mean the movie was great and the animation was very entertaining as well. It just the plot was too emotional for a sympathetic crier boogeyman like me at the time. The thing is, once I started to cry, my emotion becomes so fragile and sensitive, and I wasn’t built with a pedal break to stop crying. Needless to say, I continued the flight in tears and snots until I fell asleep.
I woke up right before the landing with my eyelids raw and puffy, I could feel my under eye areas were dark and heavy. I was glad that I didn’t wear any eye makeup before the flight. My nose and lips were still swollen as if I was having pregnancy edema. I think I looked pretty disturbing but at least I could blame the long tiring flight for this horrible dead tired face of mine.
However, I learnt new things from this flight as a sympathetic crier;
1. Stay away from Jojo Moyes’ novels and movies,
2. Stay away from any drama novels and movies in general!!
3. Alcohol brings my sensitivity as a sympathetic crier to the next level,
4. Have some self-respect and avoid crying in public because the aftermath physical impact is just so strong it is almost irreversible,
5. I need to learn that Molahonkey song.
So, when was the last time you cried in public?
So, when was the last time you cried in public?