The joy of repetition really is in you

[raybear]

Random Body Change Observation of last week: my armpits are more muscular.
The observation of today: my elbows have more pointy parts.

A couple weeks ago I bought a full bottle of cologne from my dealer, Lucky Scent. I think this might become the 'signature scent', i.e. the one I wear most everyday, and also maybe the one I don't tell people what it is. But then again, I might just be embarrassed because of the extreme ridiculous colonialist designed cap on the bottle that this French company uses. Bottles with bay rum or gin, they love to put some imperialist images, don't they? Luckily its just the outer cap so I threw it in the garbage this morning. With my purchase, I requested any CB I Hate Perfume samples they had. I've come to terms that CB-IHP doesn't live up to the overall hype, but there are still things to smell there. And I was so thrilled that the three vials they sent were all things I was most curious about: In the Library, Russian Caravan Tea, Patchouli Empire (aw damn, there's that word). In The Library did NOT impress me at first, I was just like whatever, its Demeter's "Paperback" which I already have, just with slightly less 'grandmother's dusty perfume' notes. But today I did a direct comparison, Paperback first, and I realized whoa, In the Library is way more complicated, I totally underestimated it. Now I have a crush on it. Which will soon be squashed when it abandons my skin after an hour, I'm sure.

I was wary about Patchouli Empire, because I recently tried the CdG 'true' patchouli scent and it made me kinda nauseous. But this one is nice, more woody, more the faint hint of new age book stores and yoga shops, the part that smells good before it gets totally overwhelming and heady. Russian Caravan Tea smells so much like my mother's skin products, its uncanny. Like the mix of jergen's hand lotion and dish soap and laundry detergent. A sort of clean scent like aloe vera. I know this one is on anjibobanji's short list, so I plan to wear it as the fellow scent-addict's equivalent of internet *hugs*.

Speaking of mothers, yesterday I found a card for mine and sent it off. I am so proud of myself for doing this, and not just for the complicated relationship reasons, but just because I can be so horribly bad about mailing things in a timely fashion. I dropped it in the magic post box downtown, so I'm thinking it'll get there on Friday, or Saturday at the latest. There's a significant chance she can read a mother's day card ON mother's day! Astounding. I also wrote a message inside that I feel good about. I've been thinking lately more holistically about what my parents have given me, how they have informed me and created me in ways I forget. And looking at myself, my sense of being kind, gentle, patient and respectful have come directly from my mom. I've spent a lot of time looking at the hard parts that have arisen from these qualities taken to an extreme (by becoming silence and paralysis), but I don't often look at the good parts. So I said something to that effect in the card. Well, just the part about thanking her for those traits, not the other processy part. I'll probably call on Sunday too. I'm actually somewhat motivated though after a conversation at Stanley's last weekend, I'm curious to know what my mother craved while she was pregnant with me and whether that informed my own preferences. I had initially thought of two things I frequently eat, chocolate and bananas. But now I'm thinking that my bet would be chocolate/peanut combinations.

Perhaps this is how I should approach all my phone interactions with my parents -- set up talking points and an information goal.

Comments

[wearemany.livejournal.com]

a) patchouli empire sounds like my idea of HELL. like, that would be where i got stuck. but if anyone could rock something like that, it'd be you.

b) you must know this is my answer, but i recommend talking points for any conversation with anyone with whom you have a less than completely comfortable relationship. it will make you feel so much more in control and calm.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

the phenomenon in the scent world is that supposedly "real" patchouli is not at all like Ponytail-Hemp Necklace Patchouli, but i remain unconvinced. i think its just a subtler, non-gross version.

you embrace your inner hippie. EMBRACE ALL OF IT.

[moander.livejournal.com]

I, uh, wow. You just totally busted out with a tremendously nuanced and interesting post about scents. Have you been reading Scent Spectator or something?

[raybear.livejournal.com]

its just something i usually keep separate from here, it happens most often in e-mails to fellow smell-addicted people. but today i couldn't resist, i'm letting my Scent Spectator subscribing self out to roam free in the proverbial blogosphere!

Supertaster

[qvalentine.livejournal.com]

A long time ago I read an article that said that your ability to discern smells and tastes had to do with the density of your taste buds. They had a picture of a "normal" tongue blown up, and you were instructed to compare your per square inch bud density to the picture to determine if you were a "super" taster , normal, or a "non" taster. I was fascinated and did the comparison and found that I was indeed a "super" taster.

You seem to be exhibiting the characteristics of a Supertaster. I was amazed when I did further research using my friends and found out that 75 percent of them could not taste milk going bad before it actually happened ( I can tell) or could not easily detect diet soda instead of regular ( this is apparent by the smell before I even get it close to my mouth). This lead me to do further testing with smelling and scenting, particularly when people have a certain scent about them that seems unique to that person or their home.

I enjoy this line of discovery and I love finding scents that are good on me. I have found that Channel Number 5 is actually quite charming on me, but I hate it in the bottle. Patchouli smells like bad feet on me. Lavender smells clean. Gin and Tonic by Demeter is beautiful and reminds me of my favorite drink.

Thank you for this analysis, Supertaster.

I am looking for a "male" scent to wear, particularly something musky that isn't overpowering. I love musky smells and I've thought about wearing them myself but I haven't found any that don't remind me of Old Spice too much. What do you recommend?

I craved pistachios the entire time I was pregnant. I also craved greasy burgers, and I was vegetarian before I was pregnant.

Re: Supertaster

[raybear.livejournal.com]

Actually I think I did that same test, and I am not a supertaster! But I do think one can train yourself a bit to notice things and learn to differentiate. Often I smell something, then I need to look at the list of the real perfumers/supertaster-smellers and find out what the ingredients are, because I can't quite find the words for the notes. Same goes for wine -- I'm pretty bad at churning out general descriptions of what I'm tasting that would make sense to people around me, but when I read descriptions, I can usually find parts of what they mean. Some of this might be brain trickery, of course, because I read it ahead of time. Usually I try to follow the rule of smell/taste, then read notes, then smell/taste again.

I have said before that I am on a personal men's cologne quest to find a non-gross Old Spice. i.e. the great things I love about Old Spice, but not quite as sickly sweet or chemically, as I've come to realize over the years it has those associations. Right now I'm all about http://www.luckyscent.com which has all sort of small perfume houses and more obscure things and general scents and smells that were not created by a company that also makes clothes. Don't get me wrong, I like some of those scents too. For awhile I'd alternate between the Body Shop's "Arber" and Kenneth Cole Reaction. The former was more woody and spicy, the latter was more citrusy. I would try the Body Shop for Men scents, they usually only carry 2-3 at a time, but they are all fairly nice and traditionally masculine in association but not overwhelming.

Please write down the thing about pistachios in your kid's baby book. Or better yet, in a time capsule to be opened at the age of 30!

Re: Supertaster

[swampgirl.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who's a Supertaster and she has a really hard time finding food she likes. She detects subtle flavors in things that my other friends and i can't and some things that seem great to us are gross to her (also personal preferences, but still). She can't stand mangoes. And smells that seem icky to the rest of us make her quite sick. I, on the other hand, lack a sense of smell altogether sometimes. For example, I couldn't detect once that my food had gone bad *after* the fact. A random roommate shouted "don't eat that! You'll die!" and then i took a closer look and realized my tofu was in a bad way; he wasn't just commenting on my cooking.

Does pregnancy affect supertasters differently than others?

Re: Supertaster

[(Anonymous)]

I think being a supertaster does affect pregnant people different, but what is cool about being pregnant is that your senses are all ALIVE and AMAZING no matter who you are. I likened it to the difference between eating something you love when you are sober or when you are stoned. I kept feeling like I had the munchies as if I was stoned, everything tasted more intense, not better. I loved that part of it. It's like you are superhuman. Your body is transforming all of these cells into another human being and you have all this power! I had a sort of superhuman sense of smell. I could detect even more. Once my husband offered me a starlight mint from a restaurant and before he could even hand it to me I instinctually slapped it out of his hand. I could smell it through the wrapper. I hated really strong smells like coffee, milk, and mint, and those are things I like when I'm not pregnant. I've read that those particular foods are common for pregnant people to dislike.

I often times have very similar experiences to your friend. But I enjoy "bad" tastes sometimes, in a funny way, as if it is an experience I'm choosing to have. Pickles are an oddity to me. I enjoy them even though they make me gag sometimes. Anything that has a brine or has been jarred has a certain bacteria that has an interesting taste to it, and it's harmless and probably even probiotic but I have a reaction to it. I can't eat icing because it's like someone poured sugar into my teeth and they are rotting from the inside out. I hate canned things, because I can taste the can. But what is interesting is that bottled soda tastes like plastic to me, so I actually prefer the cans. My theory is that the soda actually eats through to the plastic and it's in the soda more than the can. People get annoyed at me because when I am craving a soda I require that it be from a fountain and I look like I am being a snob or difficult but it's because it tastes completely different to me.

Let me tell you, what is the most interesting for me are the spices. I love indian food. I love smokey flavors. I love the peppery smell and taste of arugula and the freshness of cilantro and flat italian parsley. Oh, and CHEESE! gouda! romano! I just can 't eat the bleu. god no.

I can smell fear and lies too, that's what makes me a kick ass art teacher.

Re: Supertaster

[qvalentine.livejournal.com]

I think being a supertaster does affect pregnant people different, but what is cool about being pregnant is that your senses are all ALIVE and AMAZING no matter who you are. I likened it to the difference between eating something you love when you are sober or when you are stoned. I kept feeling like I had the munchies as if I was stoned, everything tasted more intense, not better. I loved that part of it. It's like you are superhuman. Your body is transforming all of these cells into another human being and you have all this power! I had a sort of superhuman sense of smell. I could detect even more. Once my husband offered me a starlight mint from a restaurant and before he could even hand it to me I instinctually slapped it out of his hand. I could smell it through the wrapper. I hated really strong smells like coffee, milk, and mint, and those are things I like when I'm not pregnant. I've read that those particular foods are common for pregnant people to dislike.

I often times have very similar experiences to your friend. But I enjoy "bad" tastes sometimes, in a funny way, as if it is an experience I'm choosing to have. Pickles are an oddity to me. I enjoy them even though they make me gag sometimes. Anything that has a brine or has been jarred has a certain bacteria that has an interesting taste to it, and it's harmless and probably even probiotic but I have a reaction to it. I can't eat icing because it's like someone poured sugar into my teeth and they are rotting from the inside out. I hate canned things, because I can taste the can. But what is interesting is that bottled soda tastes like plastic to me, so I actually prefer the cans. My theory is that the soda actually eats through to the plastic and it's in the soda more than the can. People get annoyed at me because when I am craving a soda I require that it be from a fountain and I look like I am being a snob or difficult but it's because it tastes completely different to me.

Let me tell you, what is the most interesting for me are the spices. I love indian food. I love smokey flavors. I love the peppery smell and taste of arugula and the freshness of cilantro and flat italian parsley. Oh, and CHEESE! gouda! romano! I just can 't eat the bleu. god no.

I can smell fear and lies too, that's what makes me a kick ass art teacher.

[qvalentine.livejournal.com]

I have a journal that I write in to Ella that I will give to her when she turns 21. (or someone will give her, in case I'm not there) So I picture a 21 year old who is mature and can read my humor and understand it and I write to that future Ella so that I can be candid and more like myself. I find that it helps me to become an adult when I think of her and it balances out how often I have to talk to her about Elmo and Dora and fictional worlds with her and makes me feel like someday we might be something like friends. I think it makes me a better mom to be self-reflexive about it and it makes me hopeful that someday we can have a good relationship, or the journal might help break down some barriers that would be healthy to break down. (I think some barriers are healthy, but this might be one that could help us later.) It was an idea I had and it's turned out to be good for me, we will see how it is for her! I'm hoping to have an electronic version with pictures soon as well.

I will write an entry tonight about pistachios and You!

I will try some scents you have suggested, and I'll let you know what I think. I love thinking about smells. Thank you, normal taster. I appreciate your quest.