The daily dull
I'm going through a phase of dullness. Working, drinking cappuccino (not (yet) Yogi tea), eating and sleeping some too, hanging around in Rose Street and Second Life. Business as usual, you might say. I hope your lives are more interesting.
That is all.
Well, perhaps a tiny bit more, equally dull but in a different way. I wrote about the smell of Frankincense, and how it was not quite what I was after. I happened to walk past the friendly neighbourhood hippie-goods emporium again on the weekend (which I have done twenty times or more since writing that piece), and on an impulse went in and described to the owner what I was looking for. We talked about the alternatives and possibilities, and then she pulled out a packet of quite different stuff, handmade in Bangalore and specially imported by herself, and handed it to me: a present. "You are a regular customer, you're always coming in and buying things here." I found that very odd, because in my eyes I am hardly a customer at all. In the nine years that the shop has been open, I've twice bought silk scarves there, one CD and a book (all as presents, I now realize), and each time she has given me some little takeaway including once making a present of a little Ganesh figurine that I wanted to pay for. I feel vaguely guilty about taking these things, and wonder how she can make a living by giving away her merchandise.
The new incense is warm, vaguely sweet and fruity, and is burning in Rose Street as I write. Hopefully it will drive away the bad vibes and stink of architectural modelmaking. It's called "Satya Sai Baba Nag Champa", made in Bangalore by Shrinivas Sugandhalaya; no website, photos of the packaging will be forthcoming.
Labels: dull, miscellany, whiffle
posted by Udge @ 11:04
6 Comments:
Udge, as a retailer, I can tell you that some customers we notice. Immediately. That every time thereafter, when they return they establish their presence (thinking of John Suler and online presence here). Others may come daily and yet never become regulars in our minds. I think it may be a little like Second Life where an avatar makes an original choice or says something you never heard before and you realize you find that person interesting. While the majority simply are not.
Introducing new odors at work? What if the others don't like it?
Glad you are feeling better.
Dull is good. In real life it beats exciting every time.
There are different grades of incense. I think the Japanese ones hit the spicy rich notes better than the Indian ones that hit me as way too sweet. Easily internetted.
This reminds me of the assistant who always zeroes in on me in the local video game store and asks if I need help. I wonder just what I've done to be so memorable.
Is that I wear a scarf? Do I look like someone who doesn't play many games? Does she think I look like a shoplifter? o_O
Pacian, I think that any retailer would notice a space cat in a scarf.
You sound like a flaneur. Do you walk the streets or do they walk you?
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