November 2010
October 2010
Two Lists
Top Five Favorite Smells
1. My best friend used to use this stuff on his hair that came in a tube shaped like solid deodorant. I think Aveda made it and it smelled like pine. The smell of this on him is my favorite smell in the entire world.
2. Curry Fries are a close second. I like walking around Dundee and smelling them from Amsterdam. It’s a really good hunger-inducing smell.
3. It is excellent to walk into Blue Line and smell oatmeal chocolate chip cookies baking.
4. It might be a lost art, but I don’t really know very many people who effectively use scents any more. I have memories of my mother owning and wearing a lot of perfumes when I was pretty young. I think it’s more important in the winter. I really like pulling on a coat or a scarf and having it smell nice. I like picking up on someone’s well-picked/used perfume or cologne when I am close enough to have a conscious desire to smell them.
5. I love the smell of any fresh fruit or flower growing outside in the summer and the smell of grass after it rains.
Top Five Favorite Sounds
1. I can’t get enough of Gil Scott Heron’s voice.
2. I’m not sure if I can be called a “phone person,” but I’ve had (and still have) some relationships with men that have a telephone element. There are certain turns of phrase that, spoken quietly over the phone while I’m sitting on a back porch or somewhere similarly quiet and private, that still make feel warm and fuzzy inside.
3. An ex-boyfriend once told me about an article about how the move away from television theme songs is stupid because people associate sounds with the television shows and start automatically getting excited about the show before it even start. I feel like The Office theme song is a really good example of this. If I hear the theme song, I automatically feel more excited about watching the office.
4. My cat purring when I am falling asleep. In a pinch, any cat will do.
5. I really appreciate when a really good song comes on the radio at exactly the right time.
Listening to Pop Music
One thing that I like to do is to drive around with my friend while listening to the new hits radio station. I sit in the passenger seat, wrapped in my coat, and I laugh and I feel safe and like it’s okay not to be in control for a few minutes and he drives and explains the meanings behind the songs. Apparently this song is about a guy and a girl whose significant others are out of town and are cheating and she really likes it and then this other guy, Pitbull, in a completely unrelated scenario, has a really big party with Barack and Michelle Obama. Also, his little sister claims this song is really meant to be between Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew. Modern music is so fascinating.
“Order out of chaos. That’s why I like crossword puzzles. Order out of chaos. I think that’s what art’s about anyway, I think that’s why people make art. The world has always been chaotic, life is unpredictable, there is no form, and making forms gives you solidity. I think that’s why people paint paintings and take photographs and write music and tell stories that have beginnings middles and ends, even when the beginning is in the middle and the middle is at the end.”
—
Stephen Sondheim
