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2002-05-09 | 8:56 p.m.

corduroy licorice's job was on the line. he loved railroad work.

***

if mcdonald's really wants to see me smile, they should take a lesson from this entry by the d'lightful, d'lovely malice.

a pet shop boys mantra. "i catch like a girl."

lurve her.

***

i hate when my contacts get clotted from tears. but it's nice to care enough about someone to cry when something's lost. if that's the price of getting to know someone wonderful, i'm willing to incur some blur, for sure.

***

i catsat for neighbor this last week while she was in hawaii. the cat in question only wanted me for my ankles. after a few rubs, she snubbed.

when i was emptying the snippy kitty's litter box, the acrid smell of feline urine cut into my nostrils. i was immediately transported back to vietnam.

no, i was never in country. i was in a bad relationship. i refer to the experience as my personal vietnam.

i had moved in with my then-beau and his kids and soon became the keeper of the cats. i'm not a real pet person, but i looked after the kitties and kept them feed and freshly littered. even though the boxes were in a side room, their icky odor would permeate that part of the house and i now negatively associate the two smells. my shoulders crunch in under the memories of taking on too much and taking too much.

getting that instant transport via my olfactory factory made me remember something i'd read about the potent power of the sense of smell in a natural history of the senses by diane ackerman. you can read excerpts at the link above. it's a lushly written journey through the miracles of sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch and the seeing of dead people. just kidding about that last one. here's a bit about scent. i think i've quoted it before, but it bears repeating:

"when the olfactory bulb detects something--during eating, sex, an emotional encounter, a stroll through the park--it signals the cerebral cortex and sends a message straight into the limbic system, a mysterious, ancient, and intensely emotional section of our brain in which we feel, lust, and invent. unlike the other senses, smell needs no interpreter. the effect is immediate and undiluted by language, thought, or translation. a smell can be overwhelmingly nostalgic because it triggers powerful images and emotions before we have time to edit them."

these bodies of ours are a trip. a regular fantastic voyage.

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take a peek at these - (c) 2000-2003 nictate:

health tip
2005-03-16

health tip
2005-03-16

moving house
2004-11-19

quibbling with quitherfeather
2004-11-17

catcher in the wry
2004-11-16