Lip Service

Kiss me as if you made believe
You were not sure, this eve,
How my face, your flower, had pursed
Its petals up.
-Robert Browning, In a Gondola

Won't you smile awhile for me?
-Hall and Oates

Welcome and greetings to the Un-Zone, a look into the mind of a student at the University of Kansas. I would like to begin by thanking all of those who have posted comments. It is nice to know that people are enjoying what they are reading here. So, for those who are reading this blog, please post comments. I actually read them and take into consideration what you like or dislike about what I write. I would like to make reading this blog as enjoyable an event as it is for me writing to this blog.

I've decided that I will write about lips. Yes, it may appear that I am now on a one-track mind. After all, I've written about eyes and hair. What's next? Knees? Actually, someone has written about why knees are sexy, but for a magazine. I have to admit, it was a well-written article. And it did make knees sound a whole lot sexier that they are. Think about it. If you lightly touch a person behind their knee, it can be...um...exciting. Well, anyways, I just hope this post is as entertaining as the others.

I'd like to begin with a personal story involving lips, hair and eyes, the three things that are, quite frankly, very sensual parts of the body. More so than the other much more glorified parts of the female anatomy. They are nice to look at, but they lack a certain something that these three parts possess. I think that they communicate much more and on a deeper level. We naturally focus on these parts from birth, whereas, the other more well-known parts, much, much later. And most likely due to societal values.
I like doing impressions. I can do a decent Elvis. I can do an eerily good Louie Armstrong, though I can't play the trumpet. My Woody Allen cracks people up, especially when I talk about the joys of adoption. Plus several other, ones you don't expect an Asian guy to do. Things like Dave Matthews, Scarlett O'Hara, and Macy Gray. Yes, I can do females. Girls like the Dave Matthews one alot. It must be the lyrics from "Crash Into Me." Have you listened to the lyrics? My God, they are freaky-deeky. And the way he sings them? Girls will sing along and get turned on. It's scary. "Ooh...Crash Into Me. Must sing along. That guy singing it...mmm." Honest to God.
Anyways, this has gotten to be somewhat of a problem. People will ask me to do an impression at the most inopportune times. Like in the middle of class. Or when I am frantically trying to read sixty pages of material that I should have read the night before, but didn't because I was playing games on the Internet and lost track of time. Yeah. And when I do perform, other people will ask me to do one. Or if they are female, they want to hear it again. And again. And again.
There's this girl I know. She likes my impressions. Well, one day, she asks me to do an impression. You guessed it. Dave Matthews. I'm trying to finish this research I should have done last week. I refuse her request. She does the lip pout and the "injured puppy dog" eyes. The sad look. Did I mention that she has wonderful brown eyes? I refuse again, stating I am busy, but will gladly do it when I am done. She seems surprised at my refusal. After all, no one says "no" to the sad look. So she purses her lips. Then she does an immediate change in facial expression. If the sad look won't work, then by God, she will use the heavy weapons. After a calculated hair flip(she also has long, sleek, brown hair), she does an intense stare. The one with with a glint of impishness. Almost wanton. The same pout. And a repeated refrain of "please." She is way too good at this. How could I refuse? So I do the impression. She leaves satisfied. And I'm wondering why the hell I am doing research and how the hell did she manage to do what she did so successfully.

Like the hair and eyes, it's all hardwired into our brains. If you map out the human brain, significant portions of the cortex are occupied by the lips, the eyes, and the hands. It's no wonder why so much of our nonverbal communication involves these body parts. Human learned to speak somewhere between 4 million and 200,000 years ago. But nonverbal communication is in what sicentists call "smart parts." As our motor skills refined, our lips became more refined in their movement. Hence, their ability to nonverbably communicate so much.

People can show their affection with their lips in many ways, but the most popular ones are smiling and kissing. With kissing, this may seem very unromantic, but it evolved from the mammalian instinct of the sucking-reflex. Well, all this means it is an extention of the maternal instinct. Mammals all show some form of "kissing." Dolphins nibble. Cats playfully bite each other. Dogs will lick and nuzzle. This explains why kissing and other forms of labial excitement are universal signals of love. It also explains why most people consider this a form of foreplay. In addition, kissing is pleasurable because the lips are located in the most sensitive area of our face. There's a direct nerve connection. You're hotwired to get excited.
Smiling. That's another form of showing affection with lips. You can notice a smile from 300 feet away. Impressive. Like kissing, the act of smiling is hardwired also. This trait has stayed with us from the days of primates. Smiling shows friendliness and harmlessness. Real smiles are hard to fake. The true 1000 watt grins that light up a room. We start noticing real smiles when we are babies and show real smiles at the same time. Only to known people. Fake smiles are shown to strangers.

So, give someone some lip service when you meet them. No, not a verbal rant, but with much happier currency. A smile is the second best use of your lips. A kiss, however, is number one. I will gladly accept both.

That's all for now.