Saying 'the rite hello'

I'll be honest, saying hello to people is not one of the things I’m most comfortable with… actually, it’s not the hello itself that’s difficult… it’s the gesture that goes along with that.. should I hug? Or cheek kiss? Or hand shake? Or jus stick to the good ol’ Smiling Policy. The same college friends who, earlier, wouldn't have dreamed of pecking me hello, suddenly have started cheek-kissing all over the place when I run into them today.

The cheek kiss has taken me quite some time to perfect, and even now I'm still finding new and inventive ways to botch it up. Even the hug for that matter… it’s really quite awkward. Becoz for one, I haven’t made up my mind what it’s gonna be till the last moment…. I lean in for a hug, sometimes and the other person’s expecting the cheek kiss. What happens then? In a not-at-all-awkward situation (riiight), the other person winds up kissing my earlobe.

Other times I'll remember the kiss too late - after the other person has already cheek-kissed me - and I make up for it by quickly sliding in a kiss at the last minute. Unfortunately, by this time the other person's already backed away and so, instead of their cheek, I kiss the air. Yes, this looks just as cool as it sounds.

And then there are the times I assume a hug is appropriate, and it turns out...it's not. So, as a last moment decision (that is if I have already realized that it’s not appropriate, which is not too often), I go for the hand and it becomes like a half-hug, half-handshake.. this also ends up jus as cool as it sounds. Of course, even a half attempted hug and a half attempted handshake is relatively easier to alter at the last moment, but if it’s like the attempted cheek kiss… man, that’s somethin’… and that’s when I hear John Mayer’s stupid mouth playing in my head.