Far Away

Every day is so different and still always so much the same.  After springing ahead yesterday for Daylight Savings Time and getting up an hour earlier than early usually is I thought for sure I would knock out super early.  That didn’t work out the way I expected.  After watching 2:00am come and go I finally slept only to awaken again just after 5:00am.  I rolled around and around listening to the pouring noisy rain and the gutters that don’t work properly due to lack of proper maintenance on my apartment managements part flooding over onto my porches, air conditioning unit, window sills, and into the pools around my foundation which ultimately will be the water that is and will continue to flood my basement knowing I had to sleep and wondering if the need for extra sleep lately has been fueled by the possibility of fighting some lurking illness.  Of course as 9:00am rolled around I was finally feeling sleep lingering just around the corner.  It’s odd to me that waking up at 11:00am suddenly made me feel much more like an animal resembling human than I did prior to the miniscule 2 hours of sleep.  I decided recently though that I am going to allow myself to sleep whenever I feel like I need to unless I HAVE to be somewhere.  It doesn’t mean I will ever know what it’s like to feel well rested and refreshed, but it does mean that I am listening to my body to the best of my ability and trying to give it what it needs as much as I try at other things in life.

After completing the awkward task of writing my own bio for some PR related activities down the pipeline, having to ask important people to please resend an important email in another format since I’m the only person in the world that doesn’t have the appropriate business technology package on her computer, and doing hours of online research related to my business to stay up to date with pop culture and style only to see an article stating that Sarah Jessica Parker isn’t a fan of the Sex and the City prequel The Carrie Diaries and deciding that SJP is the classic case of always says what would be politically correct in that sickening “I’m going to cute everyone into liking me” way that only actors exhibit and would never say that even if she really does hate it, I was able to settle in for a few evening shows and my normal nighttime routine of writing and editing.  It is always during this time that I reflect on how tired I always am and how inefficient I feel my day was or wasn’t and decide whether that given day was a good one or a not so good one.

Ironically tonight my pondering occurred while watching the latest episode of The Carrie Diaries (since many of the shows I choose to watch are selected due to their pop culture relevancy.)  I think a lot about how my life and experiences relate to the rest of the world and wonder how many of my friends felt tired today and tried to decide if they do is it because of Daylight Savings Time or the rainy grey day or do they suffer from insomnia like I do or is it just a blah Monday for some of them?  Don’t get me wrong.  My day wasn’t bad.  It was just one of those days heavy on the normal and light on exciting.  I needed something to stir my mind and my senses which came in the form of a scent.  I’m always changing what I wear and adjusting my routine because it is what I do and the basis of how I make a living.  In fact I make an effort to change it up in at least one way every single day.  It just so happens that my work dictates that today I change my fragrance.  The thing about fragrance is that it really has to suit a mood when you are trying to relax and perfumes don’t always invoke the same relaxing experience that say a candle might and every time I pull out a fragrance I haven’t used in a while I always wonder if this will be the fragrance disaster experience we all fear.  It had been so long since I have used this particular perfume that I almost couldn’t find it even though it was hiding in plain sight.  When I finally spotted the bottle of Far Away tucked down in my perfume sea I tried to mentally prepare for the experience I was about to invoke.  Would this scent match my need for a relaxing sleep inducing evening or would it fire up my brain and my senses?   Just before spraying I read over the fragrance description which is “dreamy florals, softly spiced amber and woods.”  Momentarily I was caught up in the mental debate evoked by the number of teacher friends I have of “should it be spiced amber and woods or spiced amber, and woods?”  Then I refocused and started to worry… florals… I’m not a fan of many florals.  Spiced… spiced often to me translates into mildly rancid and biting.  I started to worry that this might be a fragrance that would keep me up tonight too since those two descriptive words are often an indicator of a fragrance I don’t easily acclimate to.  So as I envisioned myself tossing and turning and not being able to get away from the scent on my pillow, my sheets, my hair I pressed down and sprayed… and the scent memory came rushing back to me.  It’s not a harsh fragrance at all.  In fact it is much more calming and soothing and subtle than many baby powder based fragrances that are typically considered to be the mildest of all fragrances available and are often marketed for young girls.  I was able to enjoy it for hours without feeling like I needed to run at top speed to try and get away from it.  It was new and interesting without being alerting and assaulting. 

For tonight I think I will be able to relax and have my version of a good night’s sleep, but tomorrow’s agenda?   The dentist.