SOTDays: The slacking continues!

All righty, it appears that for the moment, this is not a daily blog. For the moment.

But, meanwhile, Iris Taizo continued for two more days. Friday, I wore Issey Miyake A Scent, to a party. I didn't really choose it - I was out of shower soap, and all I had was an A Scent shower gel sample. So that decided that.

Saturday was, of course, Scentless Saturday. Today got busy and I failed to perfume. Tomorrow? We'll see.

Meanwhile, spring is eyeing our town and I have some potential new gardening spaces. So there may be garden babble, perhaps in both blogs.

Or I might continue to nap. We'll see.

Image: By Serena. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTDays: Parfumerie Generale Iris Taizo, and grumpy scents

I've declared before that this is a good grumpy scent, and it's proven to be so again. After a scent-free Sunday, I wore this on Monday, and it worked so well that I wore it again today.

Many scents start out waving their prettiest flags, and then settle into something deeper and darker--satisfying when I'm in a good mood, but not always when I'm not. This one starts out at its grumpiest, then turns prettier and sweeter over time. Maybe that's the key.

So, of course, I have to look at my wardrobe to identify other scents that do the same thing. Tubereuse Criminelle seems to qualify, with the gasoline-and-mothballs opening that slowly turns into mothball candy. And... um... that may be all. There are the scents that start out bracing and stay that way, like Fou d'Absinthe and L'Eau Rare Matale, but I don't see any others that start out in a Mood and then slowly develop into quiet comfort.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Pryzkuta. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTDays: Lots of none. And scent and creativity.

It's been a stressful week, and only now, as I bask in the weekend break, did I really notice that, oops, I've been falling down on the SOTD.

However, the perfume log is: None (Wednesday), and none (Thursday), and also none (Friday) and for a change, none (Saturday). I might have worn something today, to go along with the basking, but it's Scentless Saturday.

So, back to my burbling about writing dry spots, it appears that the grumpy moods that go contrary to creative expression also go contrary to the wearing of perfume. I find this puzzling--the perfume aspect, I mean. The fact that I don't write when I'm grumpy isn't puzzling. Writing involves being open to my thoughts and feelings, and when my thoughts and feelings are cranky and worried, I prefer to hide from them and drink milk.

I would like to break this habit, because for all I know, maybe I'd do my best stuff while cranky. Certainly some of my favorite fiction scraps from The Other Blog (like this one or this one or this one) tend to be on the bitter side. And, yes, I do see the other rather obvious theme between those three scraps, but, well, that's a subject for another post.

But why don't I wear perfume when I'm grumpy? Perfume should bring pleasure. I certainly gulp milk and eat junk and watch television and read easy-to-chew and amusing books at those times, so shouldn't I also pursue perfumey pleasure? But aside from scented baths, I don't.

I find myself remembering that somebody (Who? I forget.) said that scent is a direct path to memory.  Does scent make a person open to their thoughts and feelings, whether they like it or not? My bubble bath scents are old friends with well-established associations, but my perfumes always have an aspect of the unpredictable in them--placidly pleasant perfumes don't do anything for me. Maybe when I'm in those bad moods, I don't want to risk whatever a good perfume might dredge up out of my mind.

It's a thought.

Image: By Matt Reingold. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD Parfumerie Generale Un Crime Exotique

Pfeffernusse.

Mmmmm.

But, wow, that clown is scarey.

Image: By Chordboard. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Nothing. And gluttony. And we were not vegetarians.

Himself and I have been tired and stressed lately, so we chose to celebrate Valentine's Day with low-stress gluttony at Smithfield's. We got the charcuterie board as our appetizer, which, when added to our entrees, allowed us to rack up the following list of animals sampled:

• Duck
• Lamb
• Chicken
• Rabbit
• Cow
• Pig

There were also white beans, sunchokes, pickles, and other real live vegetables. Yum.

Image: By Egan Snow. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Serge Lutens Chergui

When I went to stare at the perfume shelf, I was surprised that this one came forward--we're in spring, and this is such a deep-winter scent. But it's a fuzzy-blanket deep-winter scent, and that seems to be the longing it's filling today.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Yiddophile. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Geranium and Lavender and Lemon Verbena

No, I didn't wear them. Today was Scentless Saturday, so I didn't wear anything scented.

But we did spend a fair bit of the day getting the house tidied and scrubbed. Himself is not a fan of Mrs. Meyer's products, a position consistent with his lack of fondness for perfume in general. But I prefer their scent to the scent of the more conventional stuff, and the bottles were lying around and, well, I figure that if I'm cleaning the surface, I can choose the cleaner. (Himself cleaned his share of surfaces, and cleaned them with perfume-free products.)

So the floor was mopped with Mrs. Meyer's Geranium instead of Pine-Sol, and the scent is still lurking pleasantly. I can recommend the Geranium scent.

And the toilets were cleaned with the Lemon Verbena-scented product. And the sharp, acrid scent of the Lemon Verbena is a little too much like the sharp, acrid scent of... well, you see where I'm going here? I don't want to clean the bathroom and leave the impression that the bathroom is less clean than when I started. So I re-cleaned them with the Lavender.  The Lemon Verbena scent is perfectly nice, but I think I'd confine it to products intended for the kitchen, where the context emphasizes the lemon.

Oh, dear. Now I feel that I need to end this post on a more appealing note. How about a nice kitty in a sink?

Bubble Image: By Andrius Januta. Wikimedia Commons.
Cat Image: By WolfgangE Wikimedia Commons

SOTD: Parfumerie Generale L'Eau Rare Matale

Mmmm, tea...

I'm surprised to see that I didn't include this fragrance back when I wrote my post about my mythical reduced fragrance wardrobe. It's become an essential part of my perfume wearing habits, perfect in any weather.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: People of the Labyrinths Luctor et Emergo

This was one of the first cult fragrances that I tried, when the perfume insanity started. I remember perceiving it as delightfully weird, but other than the Play Doh, I'd forgotten what I smelled in it. So I ordered a new vial a few weeks ago, and just dug it out on Thursday.

Play Doh, yep. And cherries--I remember the cherries, now that I smell them again. This time around, I could also detect the incense, while last time I probably only perceived that aspect of the fragrance as powder. I don't get any wood at all.

But did it always have that toy shop vibe? That's the feeling that I get from it, a big rambling shop with shiny-new toys and balloons and candy, as well as treasures in old dusty boxes. I'm sure that's not what the house was going for, not with that name, but that's what I get, and I like it.

Review Roundup: MakeupAlley and Now Smell This and My Perfume Life and Basenotes and PereDePierre and Fragrantica and Nathan Branch and Aromascope and Perfume-Smellin' Things.

Image: By Jurgen Ludwig. Wikimedia Commons.

Rambling: Waking up. Maybe.

Do you watch Lie To Me? I loved the moment when Gillian observed, "That's expensive-looking cheese."

Huh? you may say. Yeah, it's a random, meaningless observation. And that's a good thing. It means that my Whacky Free Association Brain is coming back.

I've been whining about the fact that my blogging-writing-perfumewearing-daydreaming-creativity-in-general circuits have been idle lately. I think that this is about stress, and extra stress for Himself, and to a lesser extent about too much change, and winter, and the holidays being over, and late winter perfume taste changes, and my brain turning to consuming rather than creating mode, and thus reading a bunch of books.

Himself is less stressed now. That's a good thing, and it also eliminates any guilt about stinking myself up. (Himself is not a big fan of perfume.) And winter is turning into spring. And I did read all those books, and input, with me, usually leads to output eventually.

Speaking of which, some of the creativity circuits, at least the ones in charge of nonsense daydreams, seemed to kick to life as I was watching Clybourne Park at ACT in San Francisco last weekend. We normally see a lot of theater, most of it at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, but the Festival shuts down for the winter. I hadn't been in a live theater since November.

Is it possible that live theater is valuable for my Whacky Brain? Is it somehow fundamentally different from fiction in books or video? In Ashland, theater is made more immediate by the fact that we may well see Iago or Hedda Gabler or Falstaff or Harold Hill wandering around town--the actors live there, and the town is small enough to allow them to emerge from the crowd, whether they like it or not. And even in San Francisco, where we're unlikely to catch sight of the actors off the stage, they were still physically there, not flickering on video or in my imagination. Does that make theater a different kind of brain food? I'm curious.

Cheese Image: By Christian Bauer. Wikimedia Commons.
Theater Image: By Smatprt. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTDays: None. And laziness.

I'm unscented. Been that way all day.

I could climb stairs to become scented.

Or I could have an evening nap.

I suspect I'll be going with the second option.

Image: By MarmadukePercy. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Parfumerie Generale L'Eau Rare Matale

Ahhh. This one remains perfect, in all seasons.

Review Roundup: Is here.

Image: By Evan Swigart. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: Estee Lauder Jasmine White Moss

It's not spring yet. I can tell by the way that this scent smelled lovely and green and floral and just like itself, and I didn't like any of that one bit.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTDays: Mostly none

I'm back! I slacked off for three days, but I'm back!

Thursday? No perfume.

Friday? Amouage Lyric Man. I had big glittering expectations of the Lyrics, and I just find them to be Perfectly Nice. Lyric Man is a pleasant rose/citrus that I don't find to be particularly masculine.

Saturday? No perfume. And we went to The City. And I didn't go to Barney's.

Gulp.

But we ate lunch at the best restaurant on the world (the house on Grant), and saw Clybourne Park at ACT and enjoyed some of the nicest sunny weather we've seen in a long time. It was a fine, fine day. And I'll definitely be wearing perfume tomorrow.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: None again. And firming up that resolve.

So, a while ago I discussed the possibility of (gulp) refraining from perfume purchases for six months. After thinking it over for a while, and not buying any perfume, I think that I'm going to do that. (That is, no bottles or decants. Samples? Free-for-all. So the reviews will continue.)

No perfume until August 2.

Gulp.

I'm saying this now because I anticipate being in Barney's this Saturday. And near the Chanel boutique. Where the small bottles of Les Exclusifs might be. So I want to make this resolve all public-like: No perfume purchasing above sample size. None. Zero. Not any. Nope nope nope.

Gulp.

Image: By Mark. Wikimedia Commons.

SOTD: None.

So. This writing thing that isn't happening. What's the deal?

I could, in theory, just ramble on without any subject--which is what I'm doing right now, can you tell? Except, I look around for inspiration and the lack of subject persists.

Did you know that Wikimedia Commons offers a "random file" option? When I'm trying to write my one-hundred-words-a-day of fiction, another thing that I haven't been doing, I sometimes use that for inspiration. For example, I just encountered a really terrifying dorsal view of an ant. A few dozen images later, and I see a giant ice cream cone apparently dropped on a building. Then a whole lotta bacon, sadly un-crispy. And then a gif of a rotating brain.

I'm vaguely stunned, but not so much inspired.

I think that it would be handy if the "random file" feature could accept search terms. So that, for example, I could get a random cat picture.

Sometimes I search for the obvious and get a surprise. For example, I just searched for "baby chicks", expecting the cute and fluffy, and got the cockatiel chick that's the picture for today's post. He is cute, I think, in a spiky and alarming sort of way.

So. "Just write something!" has failed to produce brilliance, but I'm posting anyway. And that is all.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.