Life-long I've been allergic to bad smells.  If I were employed as "professional nose" for a perfumer or winery, others might cut me some slack for my shoulder shuddering when sniffing a dastardly scent, but no...I'm known as being "too sensitive."
     Years ago when I traveled as part of my job, I often had to change rooms if I detected an unfavorable smell.  The first place I looked was the bathroom shower curtain.  I don't know if hotels regularly change curtains, but a scrim etched in pink, green, gray or black  is a dead giveaway that the drape is moldy and needs to be banished.
     Recently I read that the quality of one's dreams are affected by scents.  So if the bedroom has an attached bath in need of scrubbing, guess what?  You're likely to have nightmares.  Not nightmares of the Scrubbing Bubbles coming after you...oh no! more like fear of an gruesome alien abduction complete with screeching sound effects.
     Of course it makes sense that Bath & Body Works sells "pillow scents" in lovely odors like vanilla and lavender.  Unless you've been attacked by a rare orchid or lavender plant those fragrances will likely give you good dreams as well as good sleep.  It wouldn't be good marketing for Bath & Body Works to bottle and sell a pillow scent called "eau de gym shoe," "flop-sweat," or "landfill."
     Dr. Alan Hirsch, a nationally recognized smell and taste expert and the founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, discovered that men are most attracted to scents of  lavender, pumpkin pie, donuts, and black licorice.  Women are most attracted to black licorice, cucumber, baby powder, pumpkin pie and lavender.  Attraction was measured as "additional blood flow to the penis" in men and "additional lubrication in the vagina" in women. 
     No wonder fragrance and perfume is a bazillion-dollar industry worldwide.  Not only are we seduced by advertisements for celebrity perfumes, but merchants of all kinds subtly use fragrance as a means to gain greater access to our wallets.
     After a long day at work, I'm ready to jump into my jammies and nod off to dreamland, but wait...!
     "Uh hon...are those Good & Plenty candies hiding under my pillow or are you just glad to see me?"
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     Gene laughs at my ability to get free steak dinners.  I don't plan on getting 'steak from heaven' when we go to our favorite restaurants, but it happens.

     I don't get my meal for free if I order chicken or pork.  But there's something magical about my relationship with steak that does it for me.

     I'm not one to complain about a meal.  I have images of the wait staff or kitchen help playing  fast and loose with my food before they return it to me, so I typically avoid complaints.

     But on the rare occasion when I am out and order a steak, I have exacting standards.  If I order the meat "medium-rare" they send it out well-done.  If I order the meat "with no seasoning" they dump salt & MSG on it like snow on a ski slope. 

     I don't want to pay for a steak that is burnt or one that freaks my palate, so when the manager asks (on the first bite), "How's everything?" I sweetly reply, "Uhmmm.  I ordered my steak medium rare" or "I ordered my steak without any seasoning."  I know the response by rote: the manager apologizes and orders up another dinner for me. 

     If the first steak was slow, the second one is even pokier. And of course I get concerned.  Exactly how much play is going on in the kitchen? By the time my new steak arrives, everyone else is finished eating and my salad has settled nicely in my stomach. My tummy tells me, "It's too late to eat a whole dinner now!"  So I end up taking half the steak home.

     I really appreciate the free steak dinners, but my husband is convinced that I'm sending out some strange vibe that is blocking restaurant staff from sending my dinner out right the first time.  If that's the case, I hope the vibe also prevents them from playing "plate in the pants" with my second steak before they send it out...
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