Scent Stories
The downtown Post Office parking lot (6th and Guadalupe) smells like glue. Really, really strong glue. They’ve been doing construction on building / corner / parking lot for a loooooong time and I guess they’ve gotten to the … glue phase. I got out of my car and about talked myself out of my need for stamps. No one else seemed to mind. People were walking around all normal like and I had my hand clamped over my nose and mouth shielding myself from the fumes. I don’t know when this hyper-sensitive sense of smell thing kicked in, I haven’t always been this way. Then again, I didn’t think I was a picky eater until I moved out of the house and had to start shopping for myself. But I digress. I can’t sit very long in my doctor’s office if it’s been raining, it gets a musty smell. I’ve canceled two appointments. Jef and I were at dinner the other night and a girl walked by wearing coconut tanning lotion and it made me gag. He didn’t even notice it, but I had to walk away. On a happy note, I feel like I can smell every flower in my neighborhood. Before you get any ideas, I’m not pregnant or anything, it’s been going on for months. I think I’ve just become one of those people who’s allergies finally got the better of her and I’d prefer to use unscented laundry detergent rather than risk a weird scent aversion.
April 28th, 2006 at 11:45 am
Ha! I was just getting ready to comment “Are you sure you aren’t pregnant?!” when I got to the line where you declared otherwise :)
April 28th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Same with me–you beat me to the pregnancy punch. It occurs to me that that’s a truly upsetting phrase, isn’t it? Anyway…
FYI, “Random Spring Party” coming up at The GingerDollHouse, mid-May. You’re invited, bring whoever you’d like. More to follow.
And I’m *still* jealous of your domain name.
April 28th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
Okay, I’m just sayin’, that I thought heightened sense of smell was hand in hand with mental illness… now like I said, I’m just SAYIN’… Pregnancy never crossed my mind.
:-)
April 28th, 2006 at 10:40 pm
I remember when my sister was pregnant w/ her second daughter and the smell thing hit her. We’d be sitting at a traffic light and she keep opening her car door like she was going to throw up and then it would pass and she’d close it. Nope, back open! No… she’s fine. No! Open! No… fine. Every light. Always some random smell.
I guess Lisa’s right. It must be my mental illness.
And Glenn - just let me know the date of the Ginger-doll party. I’ll be there! And I’ll stay more than an hour this time, I miss the old place. :)
April 29th, 2006 at 9:25 am
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
April 29th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
Hi Kristen,
I came onto the internet hoping to find any information about my new-found “hyper sense of smell” and the first thing I came across was your story. I too am neither pregnant nor crazy but this heightened sense of smell is going to make me crazy. It started a couple of years ago and is getting worse and worse. This morning I actually thought I might have to leave my granddaughter’s badminton tournament because I couldn’t stand the smells around me: one lady’s perfume, another person’s deoderant, etc. I came home feeling ill from it all. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone but I must say it was a bit of a relief to read your story and know that at least I’m not alone. I’m going to try to find out what this is all about and see if there is anything that can be done for it. Otherwise it is going to interfere with my life. Thanks!
Valerie
April 29th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
Hi Valerie! You are definitely not alone! My old boss used to wear a small atomizer/ionizer (?) around her neck to help purify the air around her. That might be a little excessive for some people, but she still swears by it. I think some people are just more sensitive to outside chemicals, whether they are born that way or grow into it. If you’re interested, I can get in touch w/ my old boss to get the information on the personal air purifier. You can email me at kfarwell at gmail.com.
Good luck w/ your search! Thanks for the comment. :)
Kristin