blah blah blah

I’m almost a month late for Thanksgiving but we’re in that time period between Canadian and American and since most of the people I talk to on a regular basis are Americans… I’ll just pretend this isn’t weird to be thinking about this now.

I was, as usual, reflecting on life and shit last night and was considering myself pretty lucky. I don’t have everything I’ve ever wanted but I have a lot of the things on that list. And I have everything I need. My life is roses.

I struggle with the thoughts in my mind frequently but I am aware those are just the products of a combination of illness and lifelong habits. It’s not just the big things I appreciate – house, husband, etc. – but it’s teeny little daily things. Out of the blue moments and glimpses. For an example, this. One morning, after a night of doing whatever it is that I do on my computer all night, I was having a cup of tea and looking out the kitchen window. It was raining and gloomy (my favourite weather) but it was bright and warm in my kitchen. I had a spark of recognition.

I am weirdly aware of physical space and that is the area where my imagination is strongest. When I’m reading, I don’t picture characters or anything like that like most people seem to. (There is no wishful star casting while I read.) But I automatically see the environment where the story takes place. Sometimes it’s a place from my past (an old house I lived in maybe) or sometimes it’s somewhere I’ve never been. I don’t see people’s faces but I do see how they move around. (I’ve spent some time thinking about this a lot before too. I guess it makes sense. It’s how I see the world. When I’m talking to people, I am often not looking at them but rather the space we are in. And I have this weird spatial memory too. I remember directions well not from rote but by feeling. I can go into a place I have been in once before, years and years ago, and instinctively remember it. Anyway~ way off topic…)

My point was…  In that moment, I saw in real life a version of an idealized fantasy place I had daydreamed about since I was a little girl. I must have seen something on TV or somewhere that had a particular gradient of colours and light in a kitchenscape with rain out the window. I wanted to go to that place. I wanted to sit at the table, sip something warm and comforting, and stare at/listen to the beautiful rain. I used to try to draw what my imagination saw but never could do it justice. Suddenly, as an adult, there I was, witnessing something tangible I had wanted for years. I was thrilled. I felt like the universe had said, ‘okay, this one is easy. you can have it.’ Of course, I’m sure this makes absolutely zero sense to anyone but myself.

The best part of all these small “dreams coming true” is that I am cognizant of it as they happen. THAT is what I am most thankful for – the ability to see what I have given to me and appreciate it. A lot of people are miserable because they can’t see the good in their life or stop and, essentially, smell the roses. Little gifts are given to us all the time. If you don’t realize that, you can’t receive them. We all want big things in life but it’s being thankful for the little things when they pop up that keep me going when the big picture is not so pretty.

Happy Back to the Future Day!

There are posts EVERYWHERE right now about Back to the Future and what came true and what didn’t. It’s amusing. Crazy to think of all the inventions that have changed the world since 1985. And a little more than disconcerting that instead of focusing on how amazing that is, people are using an old (albeit awesome) fantasy/comedy movie as their measuring stick of progress.

Yeah, yeah. I get it. All in fun. And I wish I had a pair of self-lacing Nikes too. (Not really. All my shoes are pre-laced and I just slip them on. Except my hightop Chucks. Give me THOSE self-lacing! Game changer.) Anyway… Point is I’m sitting here marvelling at all the technological changes that have happened, even in the past 15 years, let alone 30. Like this! I was so excited about the idea of taking the internet with me outside of my home, everywhere I go. And, yeah, glasses are a terrible idea but people not watching where they are going and looking at their screens is still a problem.

And the things from the movie that are real now… Video chat? Supercool. Let me tell you, Skype is great. My friend and I joke about how it’s an asshole for dropping our calls so often, but when it comes down to it, seeing someone move about their space while you are in yours and talking to them across the world is mind-boggling. Yet we just accept it now. It’s normal.

3D movies? IMO, only good for animation.

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I always liked the idea of scheduled weather. No one seems to have mentioned that.

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I will also put it out there that I am so glad cars don’t fly. People have a hard enough time controlling them on the ground. Adding the extra dimension of dealing with vertical positioning at the same time would be a disaster.

This is the sad thing:

Well, we still have The Fifth Element…

As with EVERYTHING ELSE in life, I am oddly picky with the scents of soap I use. IDK if my sense of smell is just way more sensitive than most people, but the majority of stuff on the market makes me… very uncomfortable. (I was gonna say gag, but let’s not resort to hyperbole.) The worst offender of liquid hand soap is public washrooms. IDK what that shit is or what it has in it that makes it smell so awful, but I can’t use it at all. (I’m talking about places like McDonald’s or the mall or wherever. That pink crap. Blech.) I can’t stand it on my skin and having to smell it for the rest of the day. It’s so bad that I carry my own hand soap in my purse for emergencies. (Don’t get me started on hand sanitizer…) I don’t even let Hubby wash his hands with that stuff (or give him shit when he does) because I can smell it several feet away.

We had been using a particular scent of hand soap at home for the past few years – Method green tea – but they recently changed something and now it stinks like over-the-top old lady flowers. I was distraught. This meant I had to find an alternative. Unfortunately, green tea is one of the only ‘flavours’ that isn’t wholly offensive to me. Most things are way too strong or just gross.

I remember Softsoap used to make a white tea that was nice. Like everything else I love and grow attached to, it was discontinued. And before that, I forget the brand but I can picture what the bottle looked like, there was a ‘green tea and verbena’ soap I used. I think that was the first green tea one I came across. I actually shed a tear when they quit that one.

I knew it was going to be a task to find something I could use. I went to the store and picked up several bottles of crap to try. Here’s how it went:

We were using Method’s Green Tea & Aloe Foaming Hand Wash. Before they fucked it up, it was nice. I like the foaming ones. And since it’s a ‘hand wash’, not soap, it was light. Good for the environment too. That was a plus I’ll miss.

Next I tried this~ Bio-Life Green Tea & Aloe Foaming Hand Soap. Hubby works for Shoppers Drug Mart (Canada’s biggest drug store chain – like a Walgreens? Maybe?). Bio-Life is their store eco-brand. It’s basically a knock off of the Method one. But smelled nothing like it. It was okay but too strong smelling. Now, I haven’t used aloe since I was a kid and had chicken pox, so I’m unclear but I don’t remember it smelling like that. There was no detectable green tea smell either.

I thought I’d try to get away from the green tea soaps (but still stay on the Asian continent… Lol.) and attempt something else. I picked out this Softsoap Jasmine Oasis Foaming Hand Soap. *barf* I couldn’t even use it a second time.

Let it be known, I DO sniff these out thoroughly at the store before I buy them. I guess when it’s on your skin or mixing with water or something, it changes. Also you can’t tell how strong something is going to be by just sniffing at it.

My last bottle was the final option. If this didn’t work, I didn’t know what I was going to do. (The fact that these all made it home with me just means that there were literally hundreds of others that don’t make it off the shelves into my shopping cart.)

President’s Choice (a grocery store brand that branched out to become something bigger – honestly, IDK how to explain it…) Coriander Tea Hand Soap. Not a foaming one. Too bad. And not an eco-option. Boo. And although it’s green, it’s not labelled as green tea. Just tea. Which I guess is good because it doesn’t smell anything like green tea. I’m not sure I know what coriander smells like either, but this… Hmm.

I like it.

*ding, ding ding* Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

Thank. God.

It’s bizarre. When we were in Japan in 2010, we stayed one night at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Roppongi and, like I always do, I pilfered the bathroom supplies. Since we were only there one night and I didn’t have foresight to raid the maid’s cart, we only got one bottle of each of the shampoo, body wash, and body lotion. I have no idea what it was but it smelled lovely. Even after it was all used up when we got home, I kept the empty bottle.

This soap smells very similar. Every time I wash my hands, I inhale and remember that trip. Really, what more can you ask from a hand soap!?

We’ve now been using this one for months. Please, please, please, PC… Don’t discontinue it.

I would like to say~ this IS a review but I wouldn’t necessarily take what I say to heart too much. I’m sure most people would have no problem with the other soaps I tried. Or with the dozens and dozens I passed up at the store for that matter. My reviews of things are just for fun. I have odd and extremely narrow tastes.  …Except when it comes to music, movies and fan fiction. 😉  Hahaha. Oh, I’m still picky with what I like in those areas, but you can trust that if I do actually find something I like enough to tell you about, it will definitely be great.

That said, if you ever see this soap, try it. It’s beautiful.

Update: I like to hoard it. You know… just in case.