Monday, November 14, 2011

Random Thoughts at 3 a.m.





The EU is in the process of, or already has, banned (are you ready?) balloons. It seems that a child could choke on one while blowing it up. 

How did I ever survive my childhood?

My first job? Filling balloons with helium at a theme park. Most common request from customers? “Don’t tie a knot in it!” First surreal experience? Watching 12-year-olds lurch around talking like Donald Duck.

Caron’s En Avion — smells like a refo; dentist’s-office clove and something ghastly sweet. The older stuff must have been great, though. 

I smell a ghost.

SmartPhones don’t make you smarter. They do make their users stop in the middle of the aisle to read whatever is so important, thereby causing shopping cart pile-ups. I personally saw three of them yesterday.

(Why do you think they call them “users?”)

“Hung” (HBO) was a surprise last season. Very good writing and characterization. This season? I think they replaced the writers with a bunch of high school boys. Even “Ray” looks embarrassed to be in this sleazy mess.

Last night: EL’s Tuberose Gardenia. Firmly in Fracas territory. Is this being discontinued?

I sold a couple of old drawings last week. Made just enough to pay for the print rack I had to buy to display them. 

Parfumerie Generale’s “L’Ombre Fauve” — could well be the quintessential fall fragrance. 

(Ever notice how the declarative statement has disappeared from the lexicon? Now it’s “possibly” and “quite possibly” and “just may be” and “could well be” — see above — instead. What does this say about American culture?) 

I think it’s the troll living in Mom’s basement at age 35 that we’re all scared of. You know the one. Has nothing better to do than research obscurities, then write complaint letters whenever some hapless writer gets some factoid Wrong.

(Well, him — funny how it’s always a him — and the lawyers.)

New HBO show: “Enlightened.” Starring the woefully underappreciated Laura Dern (who also conceived and developed it.) Goofy, scary character you can’t help but root for, trying to retain her humanity in the horrifying modern workplace.

European readers — still think the EU is a good idea? (This isn’t snark. I would really like to hear your thoughts.)




Balloon photo used under much too expensive license from Dreamstime.com

8 comments:

Ines said...

Croatia isn't part of the EU (yet, we're in negotiations) but at the moment, the climate is against EU here, mostly because of our own government is so bad that anything they want, people are against.
And they won't make public the contract they negotiated with the EU - probably because it would cause outrage here (bringing me back to our awful government).
Generally though, I see the benefits Croatia would have of joining, just not under the conditions we have at the moment.
From my perspective, our judiciary system would profit enourmously as at the moment it's not really working. And there would be other benefits ensured by general EU policies.
The problem could occur though as we are a small country (only 4 million people) and have the worst politicians ever, only trying to get as rich as possible, (our ex prime minister is in jail and on trial at the moment and he quit in the middle of the term) so we'd probably get run over the rest of Europe.
Basically, I'm not sure (but I obviously have a lot to say on the subject). ;)

Olfacta said...

Thanks, Ines! Lots to think about.

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Singlemalt said...

Good god, I have often wondered how I survived my childhood also. I sometimes feel sorry for kids today-no vacant lots, no being told to just go outside and play. I think our children have suffered for it. I have 3 am musing also. Many are AH! moments as if my mind being free to wander hits upon absurd situations or answers or remembers the answers to my brain "farts". is this what getting old is about? I think I can live with it. Especially since I have a lot of sticky notes.

indieperfumes said...

In my childhood days, kids ruled the neighborhood. We ran around barefoot all summer in our bathing suits til dark. No one knew where we were. We ran in packs. The part of childhood I look fondly back to.

You are making me feel more like subscribing to HBO...

I hope the Euro holds. If not, or in a reduced way, we'll deal as we did before, in the separate currencies.

Olfacta said...

Hi Singlemalt -- Watch those sticky notes -- my mother had thousands of the plastered all over the house.

A couple of years ago I was in "charge" of the volunteers at an alternative arts center. Mostly 20's, recent arts grads. It was scary. They had to be told what to do like little robots. I think this is the outcome of all the helicopter parenting and fear.

Olfacta said...

Hi Lucy -- HBO is the only reason we've kept our cable subscription. Last week's episode of "Hung," in which Our Hero Ray finds out he's been hired by a man passing as a woman, almost redeemed the season; almost, but not quite. And the "Enlightened" episode, in which Laura Dern's character is betrayed by her New Best Friend Forever, was amazing.

Abigail said...

I used to enjoy Hung but stopped watching it after 2 episodes this season.

And I thought I was the only person watching Enlightened?! I think Laura Dern is amazing (ever since Ramblin Rose). Enlightened is so often UNCOMFORTABLE to watch but I'm enjoying it. She's just so painfully real.