Thursday, February 16, 2006

Olfactory associations

So, there was this woman who was in several of my classes about a year ago. Before class and during the breaks she would go smoke a cigarette. When she came back into the classroom, should would spray a particular perfume (far too heavily) in an (unsuccessful) attempt to cover up the smell.

Well, in the process of going through old boxes while cleaning out my closet, I happened to find an old bottle of perfume, which I sprayed in the air to get a good whiff. It really, honestly, made me think of cigarette smoke. But it didn't smell like cigarette smoke. It took me a good few minutes to realize that I was associating the woman from class with that smell. It was the same perfume she used. I asked Ema if the perfume inherently smelled like smoke/someone trying to mask smoke, and she said it didn't.

But it will always have that association for me, and I can't wear it.

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