Pedal Point

The last time I used my passport was last Spring when I went to HK to visit FC. That's a sad realization. I used to keep my passport in my purse, because I never knew if an invitation to lunch on Korean food meant a day trip to Seoul (when in Beijing), or if "let's eat Portuguese!" meant a quick ferry ride to Macau (when in HK).

I know exactly where my passport is at this exact moment because I looked at it, shamefully, the other day. Why shamefully? Because I let it expire. That feels akin to not paying a credit card bill on time, or not stepping onto a yoga mat in a month.

And that last passport-necessary trip was also the last time I entered HK on the resident line. How I LOVED bypassing the long (yet rapidly moving) tourist line! But alas, my residency status in HK has expired along with my passport.

But I digress, as usual.

On that last trip to HK, I had left my old, beaten-up, Prada wedge sandals at the hospital where I was visiting FC. I decided not to even mention it to FC, the last thing I wanted her to worry about was a pair of used shoes. But of course, she found them and sent them to me. The package went around the world several times, collecting far more miles that I have recently, and finally made it to my door over a year later - just earlier this week.

I've been wearing them non-stop because it feels rude not to after all the effort involved in getting them to me. But also in the package was a gift box from Aesop's - my FAVORITE skincare line that I had become completely addicted to when living in HK! (Thank you, FC!)

After many a long day, I would spend entirely too much time at the Aesop's store on Lyndhurst Terrace in HK, smelling everything and rubbing everything I could on every exposed limb (my own, generally).

But I continue to digress.

In the package of Aesop's treats, was enclosed The Unabridged Pocket Book of Lightning, by Jonathan Safran Foer. Apparently, this is a standard enclosure for Aesop. The book opens with a short story titled: A Primer For the Punctuation Of Heart Disease. As the title suggests, the story organizes itself around the discussion of various punctuation marks.

An excerpt:

~ Placed at the end of a sentence, the 'pedal point' signifies a thought that dissolves into a suggestive silence. The pedal point is distinguished from the ellipsis and the dash in that the thought it follows is neither incomplete nor interrupted but an outstretched hand. My younger brother uses these a lot with me, probably because he, of all the members of my family, is the one most capable of telling me what he needs to tell me without having to say it.... Very often he will say, 'Jonathan~' and I will say, 'I know.'

I'll postpone my review until I've read more of it, but what I can immediately say I like is the cross marketing, of sorts. While the inclusion of the book falls more in the category of branding activity - branding Aesop as a smart, intellectual, and hence quirky skincare line, there are shadows of the beginnings of cross and integrated marketing going on.

I'll hold off on commenting on the execution of such, but I thoroughly approve of the idea of it.

And who knows, perhaps tonight, while I soak in my tub scented with the Aesop's bath oil that traveled such a long way to get to me, I might finish reading The Unabridged Pocket Book of Lightning, and then start emailing the people I miss who are a passport-necessary trip away; Or, perhaps those of you reading this, will email me ~