Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Smell is the Strongest Trigger of Memory (part 5)
After a two-month hiatus, I am finally going to be back in the workforce, this time doing a 180 and heading back to where I came from: the corporate world. In a job interview for a small company, I was asked the inevitable question of "Why New York?" to which I answered, "Why not?" And then I proceeded with my "big fish in a small ocean" analogy, saying that I wanted to attempt being the big fish in a big ocean. It's a long way ahead, but as a cranky physician-friend recently said: The world is your oyster.
Would that be Malpeque? :o)
I am writing this because my sense of olfaction betrayed me once more. In an effort to start an office job with the least expense possible, I searched my closet for anything remotely professional-looking, and found a dusty garment bag buried deep behind T-shirts, jeans, sweatshirts, and the hospital scrubs I now need to give away. The garment bag became a treasure chest of memories from the old country.
Five years ago when I made the trek to North America, I packed my favorite clothes and some office outfits to use for job interviews and the like. Five years later, they remained unused and in pristine condition. I just needed a fashionista's judgement on whether they were still kosher for the corporate world. Turns out that most of them were, and today I decided to iron shirts and pants in preparation for my big day.
I don't know if it was the heat or the steam from the iron but the fabrics all let out a faint pleasant smell which instantly brought me back to Manila. Detergent powder, cheap fabric softener, and a hint of dishwashing liquid -- this is what I have so far. But along with these sensations come images of my life as a yuppie wannabe in my early twenties: the EDSA smog, train and bus rides, and the ikot jeepney ride in the university that took me to my afterwork graduate classes -- all to build character, I used to say.
Now let's put that character to work. Hopefully it's not Mickey Mouse. :o)
I thought it deserved reposting...
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Smell is the Strongest Trigger of Memory
Lately certain smells have transported me back to the past: a front porch overlooking a cutflower factory, where I sat in my night clothes drinking hot chocolate; a beach with "gold" dust in the sand where the current nearly scared me; the smell of oil and textbooks, cigarettes and cat litter, bagnet and vinegar, laundry soap and Pine Tree air fresheners dangling on a crowded bus stuck in traffic on EDSA.
Where is this all coming from? These are all tales of youth, passion, despair for the sake of despairing, and love for the sake of knowing you're capable of it. Days turn into years before you can even count them, last Sunday my hairdresser said that 30% of my hair is gray.
I'm in my freakin' twenties!!
I'm turning 29 next month and part of me is saying goodbye to youth and all its splendor. I'm such an expert at wallowing, I think I've wallowed too much and now I'm forced not to deal. At all.
My dual layer DVD burner has a VCD in it that's labeled "Young Teen Sluts."
Porn is the opiate of the masses.
