Back in December, the sole of my stupid shoe met a slick spot, and I fell on my, well, left knee. I didn’t think it was that big a deal. I iced it, rested it, compressed it and even had a few physical therapy sessions, but it got worse. The upshot of all this is that I had to have knee surgery last Friday. Arthroscopic, but they put me under, anyway. The only good thing about surgery is that you get good guilt-free drugs afterwards; Percocet, Narco, you know. Those.
So there I was, in the Hall of the Mountain King, I mean, um in bed for days, sternly forbidden to get up unless absolutely necessary. What to do, what to do. Couldn’t read — the pills made it too hard to concentrate. TV’s upstairs and stairs are definitely out.
So, I had myself quite a delirious little sniffing party.
We all have those vials and samples and decants, and they’re all over the place, and we really mean to get around to truly experiencing them, right? And never do. But here I was and here they all were and here was an envelope with hundreds of paper strips in it. And I thought, what if I sniff all these again, but in a sort of hallucinatory way? (As if I had a choice, hah!) No “notes?” No analyzing, just breathing the smell, living inside it for a few minutes, being here now or there then or whatever; of course!
Here are some of my notations.
Diptyque Eau Duelle: a knife on a pillow. Sharp and plush.
Cumming (hey remember that one?) dark and basement-dank. That would be the suburban basement where the Goth Kid, 30, still lives.
Cartier L’Huere Defendue: Channeling Pierre Guillaume: spice leather dark rich, great!
Cartier L’Huere Fougeuese: Davana! Yeah! Like “Safari” without the ice-pick sweetness, savannah, open prairie, grasslands.
SL Chergui: tobacco mint basil booze.
Shalimar PDT, Vintage: grrrrr….more resin less sweetness.
Divine Folie (perfume): dry, cold, stern.
A Tase of Heaven, by Kilian: mint ice cream
Jicky, Guerlain EDT (modern) Fecal, fast
Chanel No. 19, vintage: faint at first, sharp bladed jonquils later
Amrytis, Mona di Orio: What exactly is this supposed to be? (Later): What exactly is this supposed to be?
Derby, Guerlain, modern: A really great bathroom spray
Coze, PG: patchy hay, nutty musk, Humboldt County
…and so on.
You know what? It’s really hard not to think in terms of “notes.”
I guess we have to be forced to slow down now. This is a pretty good way, if you don’t count the surgery part.
More than once the DH found me, passed outasleep with paper strips sticking out of my nose.
Hey, the knee’s a lot better now! Down to only one crutch, which I hope to throw away tomorrow after I see the Doctor P.A.!
And back to Advil, damn it.
All samples obtained by purchase or swap.
Photo, of my actual nightstand, by Olfacta.