mark on the nose

For several days, I saw a stain on my nose, midway between my nose tip and the center of the eyebrows. I saw it first time one day home when using the bathroom after work. I wiped it off and wondered if my face was bleeding somewhere for the entire day because the stain was quite dry. I saw it again the next morning when using the bathroom at work. I wiped it off and wondered what happened to me. Since then, I was very conscious about my nose and the appearance of the stain every time I looked into the mirror. I found it only in the mornings.

Yesterday after a sip of coffee, I saw myself in the mirror and found a wet fresh stain on the exact location of my nose. Oh so it was always my coffee mug giving me that stain! The skin over there had so little sensitivity.
I was actually happy about this discovery. I am so easy to get happy. But what about the day I saw the stain after work? For the entire day, I had the stain on my nose, and no one noticed? Or no one dared to say anything? Or no one inspected my face while talking to me?

People are so trained to say nothing about people's appearance to their faces. One of the best time-killing thing I do with Superstar is judging people on the street, in the subway, in a coffee shop, and everywhere we could speak in Mandarin without being understood. We judge people's body shapes, dressing styles, and even their facial expressions. We admire beautiful men and women. We always have fun. Of course, we don't say it to people.
One night I spoke pretty loudly in Mandarin to the back of a non-Chinese-speaking stranger. I said "you're fat." Superstar stopped me immediately, "What if people understand you? A lot people are learning Chinese now." I defended myself, pretending that I knew nothing about political correctness/politeness, "I'm just describing her body in a neutral way. Like height, skin color, or foot size."
Basically, when a description contains socially defined negative meaning, people do not want to hear about it and do not want to say it to other people either.

For example, "There is a stain on your nose" may not be a very nice thing to say.
But it is so not nice to leave the stain on my nose for the entire day. I am not offended by comments about my Asian small eyes, round nose, big shoe size, or misaligned teeth. You're welcome to say those to me. When I am in Taiwan, I am fine with people saying that I am fat or tall because I am by the standard held there.
I wish I could go to a person and say in a frank but positive tone:
"Hey your hair can be more visually pleasant than it is now."
"You're so confident that you wear American Apparel."
"Your eyes are huge." (Well... I did that)
"I love your sweater." (I said this before too)
"Please close your mouth when playing video games."
"You'll smell better if the perfume is less strong."
"Keep your Chihuahua away from me."

When you see a stain anywhere on my face, please tell me. If you don't, I will feel you don't respect me. See? I immediately judge you again. Can't help it.

It's all because of this new coffee hug mama gave me. (How inspiring!) The mug was a sample that one factory was making for the Taipei International Flura Expo. I loved the artistic print on the mug, but the lid gave me the stain on the nose. Is it too late to demand the factory to fix this problem among others? Well... I cannot release the secrets of coffee mug making. But, mama, ask them to build a better mug lid that will not stain a coffee lover's nose.