my friend whom i've known since kindergarten loves to retell stories of our primary and secondary school days. one of these classics that sheena always recites revolves around a class photograph, some cleaning agents and her mother. now, sheena has this particular class photo of her classmates and form teacher of a particular year displayed somewhere in her home. one fine day while her mom was doing some housekeeping, she chanced upon the photo and started wiping the dust that had gathered on the frame. her mother suddenly exclaimed in frustration, 'Why can't this stain be wiped away ah?' upon closer inspection, it turns out that the stain was not that much of a stain, but rather sheena's form teacher's mole. and quite a big one, i must add.

with this in mind, it's true what they say, isn't it? that moles can either make or break a face. and this is especially poignant on the Asian mug, where everything is stereotypically yellow/cream/beige/white and almost always devoid of facial hair. it only takes one outstanding black spot to bring a ching-chong face aesthetic ruin or harmony. the irony however, is that you can have as many moles on your body and nobody would bat an eyelid. i'm thinking it has something to do with density and the bigger surface area of the body as compared to the face.

of course, if you've never had 'hey there's dirt on your face' jokes used on you before, you wouldn't understand how crucial the positioning of your mole can be. moles, just like social class and status, literally define one's placing in life. just look at all the famous people in the entertainment circle who carry the burdens of having a mole on their face:

Janet Jackson:
mole below the left nostril, also accidentally exposed her other 'mole', all thanks to Justin Timberlake.

Cindy Crawford:
she represented Revlon once and is now a spokeswoman for Omega timepieces. an estimated four of her moles can fit on the face of her Omega timepiece.

Enrique Iglesias:
the Spanish pop star's mole has been spoofed in Bo Selecta before. apparently, Enrique's mole hosts a segment that features Brit celebrity gossip. alas, the mole no longer belongs to Enrique as it was surgically removed after doctors suggested that it might be cancerous. apparently, everybody seems to think otherwise.

speaking of everybody... you simply have to agree that everybody loves moles, right?

loves, that is...... to MAKE FUN OF MOLES (*cue wacky Spongebob-themed music* *prod prod press press squeeze* wheeeeee)! EVERYBODY has made fun of a mole before. you can adamantly deny that you have. you can even refuse to accept that anybody would be so insensitive as to LOVE to make fun of one person's mole. well, you know what they say: he who hath not sinned may cast the first stone and all that. cast the first stone in an attempt to hit that person's mole, that is (*wacky Spongebob-themed music* *prod prod press press squeeze* wheeeeee!).

now, we may all ridicule the mole and harvest evil thoughts of subjecting it to scientific experiments of indescribable nature. but to the superstitious ching-chong population, the mole is no joking matter. the chinese believe that the position on one's mole is indicative of one's future. then again, you have to factor in the fact that the chinese also believe that the pen colors used when writing one's name also matters in auspicious terms.

i used to have a mole. it was at a position rather similar to that of Cindy Crawford's, except that it was neither as dark, nor as prominent. in fact, nobody even knew i had a mole, most of the simply assuming it was some puberty-related acne-scarring. but you know lah, just like any other facial blemish, people may not think much of it, but the owner would kill himself over it.

i don't remember thinking much about my mole during the primary and secondary school days. i was prolly too caught up with video games and shit. but during the polytechnic nursing diploma times, it started to get on my nerves that i had a mole on my face. when i looked in the mirror all i could see was the mole. it didn't matter that i had a pair of eyes, a nose resemblant of Jackie Chan or a mouth that accepted only elongated male body parts, all of them obviously bigger than the mole. soon enough, the reflection in the mirror replaced my entire head with a huge, dark and scary mole. think of all the words commonly associated with low self-esteem. yeah, that's what i felt at the period of time.

this may sound bloody melodramatic, but a trip to the National Skin Center really changed my life. i had the mole surgically removed at the age of 18 at the price of $200 including consultation and topical medications. expensive, but it was done by a really nice gentleman who stared and prodded at my mole under a magnifying glass for a whole 5 minutes.

i'm sure everyone has heard of stories about people who have change after they removed their moles. like another talented friend of mine, Lian Jiayuan, recalled a shy and quiet Swiss Cottage (the name of a local secondary school) girl who used to have prominent moles on her face. post-removal, she changed from 'girl unknown' to become 'girl renown for being quite the slut'.

there are two school of thoughts to case scenarios like these. the ching-chongs believe that removing moles can impede fortunes, futures, yada yada blah blah. i, on the other hand, prefer to believe that the removal of moles is equated to the removal of a barrier to one's confidence. just like Swiss Cottage girl, i think that when her mole was removed, she felt that she could carry on with life without having to think about her mole half the time. i'm all for it when it affects one's character in a positive manner. but when confidence turns into arrogance, it's a totally different story.

as for me, i don't think i've really change after surgery.
i have to admit though, i'm a big fan of what i see in the mirror.

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