aversions and attractions
When pregnant, moms develop odd super powers and aversions that sometimes stay. For me, it was a well developed sense of smell.
I can tell if someone has been drinking the day before on their pores and if they have a bad diet. I can’t kiss a person with bad breath, or a bad undertone to their breath. I get nauseous from the scent of shiitake mushrooms because of my stepmom's Thai cooking when I had morning sickness with Liam 28 years ago. It’s that bad.
I want to smell like soap and lavender at all times, but most of the time I smell like the sea, and I’m salty. Like really salty.
My ex and his family could never really be around scents like perfume because it gave them bad headaches, so I’ve lately been indulging in good smells like fabric softener and car freshener. I like to bury my face in fluffy towels fresh from the dryer, and in the collars of people’s shirts when I hug them if they smell clean. I’m not the biggest fan of heavy cologne.
There was a horrible smell happening in my car that I wrongly assumed was from the saltwater soaked swim clothes I had tossed on the back rubber mat after paddling. The scent lingered even after I took them out and I couldn’t find where it was coming from. Hawaii’s tropical climate lends itself to aromas of all kinds. I just wasn’t sure what to expect.
Dive fins, mask, skateboard, paddle, change of clothes, a bag of snacks, art supplies and my laptop. Where was it coming from? We plucked a whole head of Kahili ginger off roadside Kaloko and tossed it on the dashboard as air freshener. I blamed the general public. The air has been voggy, and we smelled something similar out on the ocean while paddling yesterday. There’s been a gross looking algae bloom in the harbor, and general plant debris sloshing around. Also the volcano has been intermittently going off. Was it sulphuric? Kyle suggested it was probably the “assholes at the dump,” without much further explanation.
Whatever it was, it wasn’t going away, and then I found it. The new cooler. I left poke and hotdogs in the new cooler and forgot about it for at least two weeks since we went camping in Volcano. Oh my god. It was unreal. I found it while I was in the public parking lot by the pier and started yelling. Running it to the trashcan, it tipped sideways and spilled onto my hands and between two toes. It’s like the bog of eternal stench. It’s not coming off. I’ve scrubbed I’ve rinsed I’ve sanitized. This is a problem. What do I do?
I've been spending time with a lot of good people these days that I enjoy talking to, we got a blessing today from a giant Hawaiian with 10 kids, who kept them on speakerphone while he prayed over us.
I met the most giant muscle guy I’ve ever seen in my life. I swear his arms must have been as big around as my body. He was on a motorcycle and trying, alongside a 28-year-old armed DLNR officer, to clear us out of Kua bay at sunset. I introduced myself and pulled up my sleeves to compare biceps since I’ve been low key working out y’all. I could tell he was impressed, so I introduced him to Alize (my steering blade) and my metal collection, and then asked if he wanted to square off. He just laughed.
The moon has been nice the last couple nights, and we saw a satellite cross over us, and recently Kyle found a couple of meteorites on the beach that are pretty tripped out looking.
At Magics this afternoon, I made tourists listen to a giant shell that was gifted to me from a very dear person by telling them they had a call. The Londoners were unamused, but I did manage to make a new friend by stopping her to request she explain every tattoo on her body in depth —- a chick blacksmith visiting from the mainland, and I got her number. She and her boyfriend are on a Hawaii trip after dating for 8 months, which I commented was a little fresh. But then again I try to make everyone travel with me no matter how long we’ve known each other.
A Portuguese man-of-war was inadvertently scooped out of the water and onto one of our paddlers arms the other week. I'm working on multiple painting projects at the same time -- my car mural (cranky about it), a painting for my brother and a new menu sign for Kaya's Cafe. There’s just a lot going on these days. All kinds of things.
