The night view of Hong Kong from my airplane window showed pitch-black darkness enlivened with gold-illuminated dots everywhere. To me, it looked like a kid’s Lite-Brite creation, with the glowing pegs scattered all around without much thought or purpose. The aerial scene of Hong Kong both excited and scared me. I felt like a child, entranced by the beautiful display of lights and wide-eyed at the thought of being an exchange student in Asia. Though I was excited, there was still that mysterious and empty darkness.
“Good luck, Mallory!” a girl says to me. She has to be joking, walking around to each person and telling him or her “good luck” with a smile on her face. I’m mildly horrified because it’s the opening night for my drama team’s annual Christmas musical and we’re backstage, preparing to begin. Doesn’t she know that it’s bad luck to say good luck in the theatre?
Whether it be a simple T-shirt, skin-tight jeans, a dressy blouse or grey sweatpants, each piece of clothing has a style to communicate. Everything comes with a tone or color that may connect you to the serenity of nature, compliment the color of your eyes or force you to stick out in a sea of people.
The prototypical holiday season usually induces images of roaring fires, shiny presents and families convening from around the world to gather together around a well-laden table. The part that usually gets left out of the imagination is the one of bad weather, cramped planes and crowded airports. Images of gently-falling snow morph into the harsh reality of torrid blizzards that keep aircrafts circling runways for hours. Gingerbread houses? Eggnog? Ha!
It’s that time of year again. New Year’s resolutions are being made, broken and forgotten as we speak. I’m not one to judge, though — I’ve been there, done all that.
