scent deja-vu
It always fascinates me how a simple scent can not only bring back memories connected to that scent, but almost transport my consciousness to a different time. I just used this fragrance that I received from my roommate in sophomore year, and the very second it reached my nose I was in my old house, looking at my old walls, hearing music that I played so often then, and I felt like my mind was a different one, for a few seconds...I felt like I had reassumed my brain from two years ago. For a few fleeting moments I was my younger self, in a calmer time, in her strange, disconnected world.
posted by siobhan @ 4:31 PM
14 Comments:
You think that's freaky, try walking around an elementary school. They all smell the same (or at least the old ones do) so it's a trip.
Ew, that's strange. Have you ever revisited your old high school? I'm not sure if I ever want to do that. It was gross enough while I had to be there-I don't know if I could go there now that I don't have to.
I've also had two separate dreams of returning to high school and running into the principal.
I've gone back several times. I like it. I'd go back even more, but the teachers I visit are at a new school now.
I'm totally down for shopping in the city.
Here's the thing about going back: you forget a lot of stuff and then it all comes rushing back. For instance, I had forgotten all about toilet paper that comes in the little individual squares, like paper towels do, instead of on a roll. I mean, no one buys this crap - except for every school in California. I had also forgotten about the wonders of watered-down liquid soap. But since I started teaching in the hood, I have discovered something even better: powdered soap. It's like pink laundry detergent for your hands. It doesn't foam or anything, just scratches the dirt away. Are you familiar with this phenomenon?
Dude they had powdered soap at Rio Hondo (my elementary stomping grounds)
it rules.
By the way that was comment somehow got posted under Margaret's profile...
I would be the powdered soap user
mina: you went to schools that DIDN'T have the crappy powdered soap? i hated that shit. *shudders* my other favorite was this towel that we had at my catholic school in phoenix. in an effort to decrease spending on paper towels, we had this reusable towel on a roller that you pulled down and wiped your hands on when done washing your hands. it was always wet, and i want to think that it was somehow sanitized each time it went around but now i'm not really sure how that happened. *takes break to wash hands*
alan: you kids are so darn cute, you accidentally post as the other one!!! i'll have to disagree with you...the powdered soap does tend to not so much clean as scratch...
I got conditioned into thinking that hands weren't clean until a layer of skin was missing. I like to *feel* my soap working. As for the everlasting towel, we had the brown paper towel thing going on. We weren't cool enough for air dryers.
I liked to feel my soap working too, and making sure that hands post-washing were nice and red...then they made me start taking Prozac. ;)
For awhile in the 90s, before everything became more biodegradable, I used this nice-smelling eco-shampoo that didn't lather. Not even a little. Of course this was a response to those really scary "Silent Spring"-style news clips you see of the rivers choked with plasticy foam, and undoubtedly it was better for the environment, but...it didn't lather. Imagine rubbing goo all over your head and rinsing it out without it changing its state at all. I mean, conditioner is like that, but that's okay because the purpose of conditioner is to moisturize, not to clean. We have been conditioned to believe that lather = cleanliness. That's why those expensive concentrated dish detergents are such a money-maker for the companies: we think that volume of lather is directly proportional to degree of cleanliness, and hence use as much as we would of unconcentrated detergent. Anyway, the eco-company disappeared off the face of the earth, and I remain suspicious of the powder soap as it is impossible to create bubbles with it.
yeah red hands would definately mean stop =)
Yeah the non-lather would kinda wierd me out too, it would like showering in "soft" water. My relatives have very soft water and I swear it feels like the water just runs right off without cleaning anything, like it just glides over the skin. The worst thing about the powdered soap was getting it clumpy and under your nails.
I have never been to Rio Hondo. Nor do I want to, because apparently their soap sucks.
Excellent argument on the relationship between lather and cleanliness. I believe too, that there is a strong correlation, probably like 0.8, between lather and cleanliness. I just remember thinking, maybe if I put a huge pile of powdered soap and squish it together with my hands, it will want to lather, if it has enough pressure on it....
Hey, I just Googled certain key words and your post was the number one search return. I was just remembering elementary school bathroom supplies (the powdered pink soap, the thin little toilet paper squares) and I mentioned them to my boyfriend, but he had no idea what I was talking about. I wanted to show him what I meant; alas, no pictures anywhere that I can find. However, now I'm wondering, is it because I grew up in California and he grew up in Brooklyn? Anyway, thanks.
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