Just for the smell of it

We have a new question for the Blogger's Blog Tour: What’s your favourite smell in the world and why?

Feel free to post your own answer in the comment box, and let me know what you think of mine.

I was born without the ability to breath through my nose. My adenoids were enlarged and blocked my breathing passage. Like most babies, I took my first breath through my mouth. Unlike most children, I kept breathing through my mouth until I was 7 years old and a doctor removed my adenoids (along with my tonsils).

The impact of not being able to breath through my nose for my formative years was quite profound. My family would comment on the wonderful smell of bread baking or the scent of the roasted turkey in the oven. I would be unable to comment. I used to try and inhale scent through my mouth. It never worked, and made me the butt of some particularly cruel taunts and pranks at school.

Mealtimes were especially bad for me; each time I took a bite and chewed I felt like I was suffocating. My parents taught me to take smaller bites so I could chew with my mouth closed, but to this day I chew as rapidly as possible due the need to get food out of my mouth. I also have to watch myself so that I don't inadvertently open my mouth.

After the surgery, a whole new world was opened for me. I could smell my grandmother cooking, and she made a mean bread pudding. For the first time, I became hungry at the smell of food. I also discovered why it's a good idea to sometimes let the bathroom air out once someone has been in there a long time.

What’s my favorite smell? Everything.

The answer is odd because, while there are certainly scents that I do not like, deep inside me lurks the little girl who did not care that the dog poo was stinky. She's just glad to be able to smell everything that the rest of the world can.

My Dream Job

I am still a week behind as I am just now getting around to posting last week's topic. Our topic for last week was our dream job.

My dream job would be to travel the world and write fiction. This combines two of the things I love the best: writing and travel.

I keep imagining that I will find a way to make the trip tax-deductible (novel set in Copenhagen, expenses written off as research).

My Bucket List

Our topic for last week was a list of things to do before I die. It's fairly ironic that it took me so long to complete this list given that I've had my bucket list together since I was 21 years old.

1) Learn how to use my digital camera. I purchased this camera over a year ago. It's actually become rather embarrassing. Also, not knowing how to use my digital camera is going to keep me from completing two other items on my bucket list.

2) Take a photograph of myself everyday and post it on my blog in a slide show. I read an article a year or so ago about a guy who took a picture of himself everyday for 17 years. He posted it in a slide show. Over the course of time, you could see how his face has changed. I would like to start on this project before the end of the year. I'll take a photo of myself everyday for 34 years to see how my face changes from age 36 to age 70. Of course, it will have to be password protected initially since this blog is supposed to be anonymous.

3) Take a photograph of some random thing in my life in my life. This was inspired by a recent article I read about a man who took a Polaroid every day for one decade. This will be a little harder for me as I'll need photos that are interesting enough to be meaningful and yet random enough for me to keep my anonymity.

4) Learn to speak the Italo-Western Romance languages fluently. I would love to learn Spanish, French, and Italian. I was fairly fluent in Spanish in high school but lost it through non-use.

5) Visit fifty countries and every continent (except Antarctica) before I die. I don't like the cold, so I will skip Antarctica, but I love to travel and want to continue my goal of visiting one country every year before I kick the bucket.

6) Become a published author. I started working on my fantasy novel last year and stopped once my father became ill. I'd like to finish this and complete two other books - a biography about my great grandfather and a biography about my grandmother.

A Pox Upon Them

I was sitting at the light this morning on my way to work when a small blue car side-swiped me to get into the left hand lane and then drove off. Unfortunately for me, there were no witnesses; or at least no one that stopped when I did.

Unfortunately for the car that hit him, I got their license plate number. A pox upon their household. Who hits someone and then just drives off? It's really very rude. It's also illegal.

No Crowding on the Back 40

I love having a compact car. I can squeeze through tight spots and fit in parking that larger behemoths have no hope of making work. What I don't like is when people with large cars park right on top of me; so closely that I cannot even open my driver's side door. I usually park in the back of the lot to avoid this very problem. Unfortunately, this does not always work.

I planned to get my car wash during lunch time. Those plans were killed once I got to the roof of the parking garage. An Expedition had parked so closely to me, that only a garter snake could have slithered in through the open driver's side door. The unfortunate fact of having a large gut (read: being fat) is that it's difficult to get into the driver's seat from the passenger side because the lack of space inside the car combined with the space I need to move my larger body makes such a feat nearly impossible. I gave up after a few failed attempts because I was afraid I would start breaking off knobs and buttons.

Boo to the driver of the SUV that ignored a plethora of empty spots to squeeze right next to me.

Two Weeks Later...It's Finally Done

My washer and dryer died one Sunday. I put a load in amd ran to the post office to mail some things. When I got back, both the dryer and the washer were through their cycles. They never ran again. Had I known my appliance would pass away while I was gone, I would have taken the time to say a fond farewell before running out to purchase more stamps.

The next day was Monday, and I said a small prayer as I traveled to the CompanyName Repair Center on my lunch break to purchase a replacement unit. The CompanyName Repair Center has a back room where slightly dented and dinged appliances are on sale for half price. Imagine my dismay when I arrived at CompanyName Repair Center to find there was hardly anything left.

You'd think with the economy being so horrid that fewer people would be purchasing appliances. Not so! There was barely anything left. My freshman year in college, we had an irritating classmate that managed to piss off the entire floor out first month there. We waited until she left for work one night and removed everything from her room. We even took the thumb tacks from the wall. The room was as bare as it was the day she moved in. That room had more stock than the CompanyName Repair Center.

Still, all I needed was one stacked washer and dryer and that is what was there. CompanyName Repair Center had one stacked washer and dryer for sale. I snapped it up with only a cursory examination, and went back to work aglow with the knowledge that my new machine would be delivered on that Wednesday and I could commence with my laundry.

Wednesday rolled around. I worked from home to wait on the delivery people. They never showed up. They did call 15 minutes before the end of my delivery window to say they good not make it; it's always nice to pass along information at the last possible minute. I made arrangements for them to come Friday.

I had the joy of working from home again on Friday - fewer interruptions - and my washer and dryer arrived, but I had to send it back. Why? What I purchased was gas, and my town home is entirely electric. For a brief second, when the delivery guys told me the problem, I tried to think of something marvelously witty to say to keep from looking like a complete idiot. I failled. I know stoves can be gas, but it never occured to me that a washer/dryer could run off gas too.

I paid the delivery fee and gave them money to take my new machine back to the store (there was a fee), and then drove over to CompanyName Repair Center to get my refund. I checked their storeroom on a whim, but the only washer/dryer in stock was the one I just returned.

I hoofed it over to a proper CompanyName store and purchased a machine for full price. Much to my dismay, there were no sales and no rebates. It was very disappointing. You'd think that with the economy tanking, CompanyName would be offering incentives. Nope! Apparently, they are still moving stock.

I discovered that when you pay out the nose for something, CompanyName is more than happy to deliver on a weekend. I scheduled a Sunday drop off.

Sunday rolled around. The guys from CompanyName arrived. They took the old machine out to the truck. They brought in my new washer/dryer, started to connect the new machine, and then all hell broke loose. The welding on the pipe gave away, and the pipe that fed water to the machine fell on the floor. The water was still on, so we all got a good spray, as did the rest of the room. I turned the water off, and made the obvious suggestion that a plumber would be in order before they could finish hooking up my new machine.

CompanyName called me to schedule a new time for the installation and suggested that, in the future, I should turn the water off. Thanks for the tip, guys! Too bad you did not tell me that before. I've done exactly one washer/dryer installation in my life. A little more upfront advice is always appreciated.

The plumber was not able to make it until the next day. I hauled my dirty clothing over to my parents' place - I was experiencing a severe shortage in clean everything - and spent the rest of the evening wash clothes and bemoaning my fate.

Fortunately, my plumber is both prompt and capable. He installed a new copper tubing, connected the washer/dryer, and called me over for a test run. We discovered that the outlet was not working. The old machine had been plugged into the 120-volt outlet. The new one used a 240-volt outlet, and this sucker looked like it had been dead for some time.

I called the electrician. He came out. It took about 3 hours for him to discover the problem and fix the issue. I was finally back in business.