I was sitting at my desk doing the monotonous everyday work: typing, listening, letting my right foot press on the pedal while the lefty rests, as usual, permitting the varicose veins mapping on my legs, which by the way I despise and prohibit me to wear shorty shorts, seep in on the casual atmosphere of the work area. Out of that suffocation, my nose favored a familiar smell I have not scented for a very long time. It was like the smell of rain, the aroma that I always loved no matter how pungent it may be. It always reminded me of the typhoon I learned to grow up with and missed since the desert sun never served me any consolation like it did. It was the smell of mixed saltwater, grass, soil, earth. It had the hint of mint which made its presence stronger than it should be. Most of all, that smell reminded me of home. And it made me feel better, while sitting at that same chair every single day, while letting my fingers fly through every letter in the keyboard, while the tired eyes soar through the prints appearing on the screen; that familiar scent made me feel better for it meant home is never far away than it used to be.
It served for me, and me alone, that it may be a fact every Filipino child grew up knowing and using this immediate remedy for colds. It may have been a part of the culture of nurturing moms everywhere. Or maybe it was popularized by that commercial of a mother running to the side of an ailing child while rubbing his back with the gooey mint gel. I really don't know for sure. But my mother, which I consider as one of those nurturing moms even if I spent most of my tainted years barking at her nuisance, always reminded me of rubbing that spot under my nose with the viscous substance, especially when rains are about to pour down hard. Maybe that is why it reminded me of rain. Because I never had the chance to smell true rain. My nose hairs were blocked by that eucalyptus fragrance and I associated it with the downpour.
I have to admit it made me feel good even if I didn't know what it was made of. The scientific makeup of normal things I use every single day never bothered me. The sight of that small, blue plastic container with a green lid marked with its famous insignia was enough explanation for me to consider it as one of the marvels man has ever created. Or maybe not that of a genius, but close enough.
Nostalgia, on a side note a word i used to associate with natalie imbruglia for a reason i still don't know why - maybe because they almost rhyme - must be a word that embodies who i am. I enjoy nostalgia, there is no better way of a "pastime" or to even "past the time" by reliving the past. But i take a lot of caution of getting this hobby or personality or trait get to me. Because most of the time the past can drown you, make you addicted, or get you drunk in melancholy memories that prevents you from facing the present, which is basically what you just have. The past is a good company when you look back at happy memories. The sad ones are the true bitch. And i am certainly not the type who gets uplifted by bad memories, reverse psychology if one should say. Memories are like black is black and white is white. There are no gray areas.
I hope that combining these two elements that are dear to me will give more meaning in resuscitating this blog once again. It has been more than a year, almost two maybe, that the planet of the monkeys' (my previous blog, planet of the aps) voice had been heard. Now that planet has exploded, similar to the intensity of the big bang theory, to give life to a new earth, or maybe in a smaller sense, just a new me (quips).
I hope that my hopes for this blog will finally flourish like the clearing of my breathflow whenever I inhale the scent of that vaporub.
I hope that my hopes for this blog will nurture nostalgia but not only stay there, move forward and create new memories to be nostalgic about.
I have finally resuscitated my blog. And it's getting harder and harder to breath for me (I just had to put that in, I'm having an Lss - Last Song Syndrome - of Maroon 5's Harder to Breathe).
Enjoy.
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