WILL PASS FOR A SMILE:

Why don't people just smile more?. I think people would have more friends and dates if they did. In fact, that's the very thing that's been keeping me going during this week of violent rationalization and biting of nails. There's nothing like passing someone you know, or wish to know, over the sewage bridge or leaf-lined sidewalk and watching them smile at you like they were looking for you the whole time. Smiles lead to many places. For instance, I smiled at a guy I passed every school day for three weeks and eventually he asked me to a party. I continuously smiled at another person in passing for a couple days and now he's coming to a party I'm having. I haven't seen the first smiling guy much since the party, but I'm not here to guarantee that smiles create relational development post initial-invite; smiling just helps with the get-going, ya know what I mean?

One of my lessons of the week: a passing smile is a friend waiting to take you out on friday.

Perhaps from a less selfish viewpoint, a passing smile might positively influence a less fortunate soul, say, someone experiencing a hangover, a bad hair day or a beloved pet's passing. You never know. It might even be yourself who gets influenced! For instance, there's a girl I frequently smile at in passing who I met through a mutual friend. We don't know each other, really, but during a few bad hair days of my own, she's managed to make me genuinely smile back at her, even when the curving of my lips is comparable to getting hit in the head.

Another lesson of the week: a passing smile creates more smiling despite skull pain.