Finding Neverland

It's the second day of the Lunar New Year and my nose is running like a broken tap. I've run out of cold medicine and I decided to get some Panadol Cold tablets. Fortunately, it's business-as-usual for the mama shop just a block away. I was walking past the multi-storey carpark when I encountered a family of three: mother, daughter and son. No sign of the father, probably parking the car and dispatched the three as pathfinders. True enough, the mother gestured to me and enquired in Mandarin: "KIDDO, may I know where Block 27 is?" I pointed out the block to them and off they went.

'KIDDO?' Hey obasan, I'm old enough to be your son-in-law.

Some people say I have a youthful appearance for someone in his 30s. My brother calls it 'The Peter Pan Syndrome'. Women would kill to have such a quality but being youthful looking for a guy (coupled with the fact I'm skinny) can be a real pain-in-the-arse sometimes. I get a 70% chance of box office staff asking to see my I.D. to verify my age when I watch a R21 movie.

I remember buying a ticket to the Lord Of The Rings exhibition sometime last year at a SISTIC booth. As usual, a personal I.D. is mandatory for purchasing tickets. That obasan sales personnel who attended to me had an astonished look when she inspected my age and glanced at me. She did that twice. She asked me:"You don't look your age, how do you stay so young?" I told her "Drink adequate amounts of water". She chuckled and replied:"Drink too much, then have to go toilet very often." Maybe I should have spat on her face and tell her to spread the saliva evenly over her face with her fingers as though it was some moisturising cream.

Exaggerated? Yes. But my point is, sometimes people don't take me seriously because they perceive me as a 'KIDDO'. No kidding.