These Irk...

One of the nicest things I could have every now and then, especially when I wake up in the mornings, is electricity. It may come off as yet another excuse to not be as productive, but the truth is that it can be challenging to "get in the zone" for work or anything else that you'd need power for when there's that friction between you and access to it.

It's how we have been living for the longest time. I am not sure how we do it, but now that I am old enough and that the state of the economy here plummets faster than melting ice cream every day, it feels frustrating to have to struggle to get this thing that many other countries on this same earth we walk on just magically seem to have.

One would think that we have so many resources to become self-sufficient to some degree as a country, considering that our land's blessed with a lot of them, but that sadly isn't the reality. Therefore, we have to find solutions on our own most of the time.

Take, for example, the fact that an alarmingly large number of households own and depend on gasoline generators daily. And now, solar-powered backup systems are the new things to acquire for these households as the cost of gasoline is rising steeply.

That's the status quo here. And living far away from home, I find myself moving here and there to find somewhere to just plug my extension box into so I can charge my gadgets. Thankfully, I find the right spots most times, although they come with certain discomforts.

Speaking of discomfort, let's talk about scents. Have you ever smelled something that others may think is okay or even nice but completely upsets you? Perfumes, body spray, bathing soap, and the like—I am most certainly picky about the kinds I use, as well as sensitive about the ones I smell around me.

I consider myself to have a very strong sense of smell. There are certain body fragrances that put me off when I smell them. Most assuredly, I will do my best not to react when I smell them, but it makes me really wonder how others don't perceive them the way I do. I never make comments about them anyway, but they could make me feel uncomfortable sometimes.

Unkempt clothes, too. We all know how our appearances influence the impressions we have of other people. And, conversely, the way we dress can affect our confidence level. I don't like to feel anything short of confident and secure, so there are a few things that I learned to be conscious of with my dressing, and one of them is ironing my clothes.

A schoolmate once said to me in secondary school, "You're actually a very clean guy, with your clothes bright and white every time, but you could actually be much neater and cooler if you ironed them regularly as well." I was taken aback by such a remark, but I understood what he meant.

Ever since, I have learned to always iron them. So it is very unlikely to find me with rumpled clothes, especially in public. And, in a way, it grates on me to find people who show up to official settings, for example, with such and don't see any reason to do something about it. As usual, though, I'd mind my business. Of course, this does not include in-house endeavours.

Lack of electricity, unpleasant fragrances, and unkempt clothes are a few things that unsettle me sometimes. But I guess it is what it is; you don't always get what you want.