Giftage

[mercy_angel_09]

So with travellyr graduating and Father's Day a week after, I now find myself scrambling for giftage.

I already know what to do about Father's Day. I'm going to make prints of some of my photos for my dad, and then order a candle from the Newport Bay Candle Company for my step-dad. I've gone through the site for the Newport Bay Candle Company and have picked out the more masculine scents that all happen to be dark green in color that I think he'd like. Coastal Shore Pine, Emerald Sea, Fireside Inn, and Through the Woods. For my dad, it's just a matter of getting onto Walgreens.com or Walmart.com and uploading my photos, selecting a size that I want (most likely in the neighborhood of 8x10) and then sending them to him to frame and place as he chooses. Probably selected from my prints available at devART.

Trav is where I'm running up against a brick wall. It's between making her smell good or making her room smell good. Not sure which though. Since I'm already ordering from the Newport Bay Candle Company for my step-dad, I figured that I could also get her something from there as well. The gel candles aren't over-powering in scent, but can fill a whole room without it being like walking into a wall of scent. Plus there are some great original scents, of which I'm sure Trav can enjoy. The second option is goat's milk soap from Indigo Wild. I love this soap, and I keep thinking that I need to order more. I still have a bar of the lavender-rosemary that I've been reluctant to use. Best of all, they have an excellent scent guide to help someone select which ones they want.  Which means that I have sent Trav an email asking her to look at the scents and make a selection and report back to me for both the candles and the soap.

I just hope she gets back to me ASAP, or else she might have to wait a while for her gift.

Comments

[genetic-drift.livejournal.com]

I don't have a sense of smell (never have, part of my "genetic drift"), so I always wonder what things smell like. But of course, it's impossible to know since I have no frame of reference.

It must be a very fine thing indeed, to smell stuff.

[mercy-angel-09.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know about that. There have been times where I'd rather not smell. Like when driving by a paper mill, or when using a Port-o-Potty or an out house.

Trust me, being able to smell is not something that's always a pleasant thing. Yeah, it's nice sometimes, but there are those times where it rather tests your gag reflex. >_o

[genetic-drift.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know that. I used to have a job in a kennel. Trust me, just looking at dog runs (the area we let them play in) is bad. To hear my coworkers discuss it, we were cleaning the 4th layer of hell.

But I suppose it's the grass is always greener kind of thing. I think to all the times I read through books and they mention a smell and wish I could have that experience. Or arriving somewhere and hearing someone say "THAT (bread, dinner, cut grass, etc.) smells great!". Just one of those things I wish was different.

[mercy-angel-09.livejournal.com]

Well, when one considers that the sense that is most closely associated with memory is smell, then there is something that you're missing. For me, there are certain smells that take me back to a point in my life. However, you probably don't have those kinds of associations. (Though I do have those kinds of associations with songs, too.)

I'm sure because your sense of smell is non-existent, your sense of taste is probably skewed as well. Do you find that things have a more muted or noticeable taste? (Sorry to be nosy, I'm just curious.)

[genetic-drift.livejournal.com]

No need to apologise. I don't know if I taste things the same way others do (no way to really compare), but I've determined that there must be a correlation, because I chose foods I like and dislike based almost entirely on their appearance and the way they feel.

So I take the sensory input I can get and try to be content with it.

I never really thought about scent based memory, but my memory of things in the distant past is really sort of a blur. I have a few distinct and sharp memories of my childhood, but for the most part there's not much there.

I wonder if scent is more important to memory than we realize.

[travellyr.livejournal.com]

Scent is important to memory, but it pulls up more unconscious memories (feelings) than events. The feelings, combined with the smell, then usually are what pulls up the events.

Most of my early-childhood memories are vision-based. The sight of daffodils, a certain grass blend in clear sunlight, the sun on the wood floor underneath the dining table, light through a sliding glass door, the way the light looks through a wave (I got rolled in one)... My Little Ponies, Ninja Turtles, Capri Sun packets, red car interiors, legos, sand mixed with grass, cinderblock walls. These are all memories from age six and before, and they're all primarily sight-oriented... silent, scentless, and sometimes secondarily associated with touch or taste (like the red grapes eaten inside that red car); sometimes digging deeper at the memory will pull up more but I can never be sure if it's modern knowledge going back and filling in the gaps for what I know to have happened.

[genetic-drift.livejournal.com]

Maybe I've just got a crap memory then. *laugh*