Day 10: "Write something for which you feel strongly." (Don't I do this already?)
People need to always ... and I mean ALWAYS ... wear deodorant!
Yeah, yeah, I know. Someone will mention that there are people who have sensitive skin and can't wear it or others will say "nature made us this way. It's natural." Blah, blah, blah. Skunks are natural too, but I don't want to smell them. Interestingly, some people can get away with not wearing deodorant and will not have an odor problem. In fact there was a study in the UK, which concluded that approximately 2% of the UK population does not have the gene to produce body odor. But what about the other 98%?
I'm sorry, the foulness from some people can be overwhelmingly harsh. I used to work in a law firm where the woman who sat next to me never used deodorant. Can you imagine what it was like to sit next to that on a daily basis for a year? It was one of the reasons I quit the job! In fact, another coworker and I almost decided to go out and purchase deodorant for her and leave it anonymously on her desk, but decided that it was too cruel. I mean, she was a nice woman, but rank! Like Pepé Le Pew rank!
Do you know there's an entire country that apparently has decided the deodorant is unnecessary? I'm talking about France. Don't get me wrong - I loved France when I vacationed there, but I swear going down into the metro in Paris, I thought I'd pass out from the smell alone. It was that noxious! I wasn't even there during the height of summer. In August, do Parisians have to wear nose plugs?
Now I don't mean that people should go splashing themselves with a bunch of heavy perfumed soaps and dousing themselves with colognes. Gah! That's equally bad. I don't mind the occasional scent, but if I can smell you in the next county, it's too much.
People could start off simply enough with...oh, I don't know...showering! Yeah, that's a good start, but let's follow up with a swish or two under the arms with deodorant. And guess what? You don't have to buy flowery smelling deodorant. There's scent-free deodorant. You can even make your own deodorant. Okay, people let's get cracking on this.
Check out Brian Babylon's commentary on body odor:
Tomorrow's subject: Day 11 - Write something you always think "What if..." about. (Argh!)
I'm sorry, the foulness from some people can be overwhelmingly harsh. I used to work in a law firm where the woman who sat next to me never used deodorant. Can you imagine what it was like to sit next to that on a daily basis for a year? It was one of the reasons I quit the job! In fact, another coworker and I almost decided to go out and purchase deodorant for her and leave it anonymously on her desk, but decided that it was too cruel. I mean, she was a nice woman, but rank! Like Pepé Le Pew rank!
Do you know there's an entire country that apparently has decided the deodorant is unnecessary? I'm talking about France. Don't get me wrong - I loved France when I vacationed there, but I swear going down into the metro in Paris, I thought I'd pass out from the smell alone. It was that noxious! I wasn't even there during the height of summer. In August, do Parisians have to wear nose plugs?
Now I don't mean that people should go splashing themselves with a bunch of heavy perfumed soaps and dousing themselves with colognes. Gah! That's equally bad. I don't mind the occasional scent, but if I can smell you in the next county, it's too much.
People could start off simply enough with...oh, I don't know...showering! Yeah, that's a good start, but let's follow up with a swish or two under the arms with deodorant. And guess what? You don't have to buy flowery smelling deodorant. There's scent-free deodorant. You can even make your own deodorant. Okay, people let's get cracking on this.
Check out Brian Babylon's commentary on body odor:
Tomorrow's subject: Day 11 - Write something you always think "What if..." about. (Argh!)
13 comments:
Yes, shower! And please skip the cologne or perfume! Luckily, I've never had to use deodorant (or antiperspirant)...neither my dad nor brother. Mom said we were lucky we got dad's sweat genes because she did have to use it liberally. I wanted to find something more natural for her (and healthier) and finally convinced her just recently to try patting on a little baking soda. She loved it! Said it worked better than anything. I've shared this with others (that tend to get funky) and it has been unanimously praised. Another option to help absorb moisture is to mix one part baking soda with one part cornstarch. That's all you really need. Just apply by patting it under your armpits. Stink free.
Nice. I'll have to try that although I don't have a huge problem with odor. You must be part of that 2% the study in the UK did. Lucky gal. :-)
Yea, get angry at those stinkos. Arrrrrrrrr!!!! I wouldn't have worked next to the stinky person, nice woman or not. I would have been down to HR filing a complaint. If I could file a complaint against stupidity I'd have to include the HR department. But smelly, they usually are not. I'm another one of those who perspire but rarely suffer from GAPO (Gorilla Arm Pit Odor). I use deodorant/antiperspirant and a body spray. I don't lay it on thick or anything. Just enough so if I do perspire I smell nice and not like an animal.
GAPO? How do you know that gorilla's have bad arm pit odor? Maybe they are sweet smelling?? You have a very narrow view about gorillas. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Here is my rant. Something that I feel strongly about.
This is a tough one. There are so many issues one can opine about such as freedom of choice, same sex partnerships, ineffective government, death, taxes, immigration, legalizing marijuana, education, gun control, etc., etc., etc. I chose cheating. Not the infidelity cheating or the academic cheating because that would command way too much time and space on Sandi's blog. I chose the athletic type of cheating. Why you might ask? Probably because I watched that Lance Armstrong documentary. I cannot wrap my brain around an ego so enormous that he honestly believed that he would never get caught. And it was not just a one time thing either. Why was he not smart enough to quit while he was ahead? Probably because someone gave him the George Costanza philosophy which in essence professes that if you believe it, it must be true. We can assume that A-Rod, Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire and Roger Clemens (to name a few) were all told the same thing. Yep, lie about it now and ask for forgiveness later. But dare I say at least in baseball, a good number of players were roiding. Not that I can pardon them but I can understand it a little more. But Armstrong winning the Tour de France seven times before an international audience and continuing to lie to the world about his steroid use is unconscionable. Armstrong said that it was impossible to win this race without doping. Is he accusing every other winner of doping too? They should all sue him for defamation unless of course it is true. Or is he just saying that he couldn't win without doping? Hello, Lance, then you just weren't the best so deal with it! Now he is groveling for forgiveness and asking for compassion, reduced to a pathetic excuse of a man. At least have the stones to stand by your choices, take the heat and move on.
Why did these athletes cheat? If it isn't bad enough that they reap exorbitant financial benefits, celebrity perks and worldwide acclaim for being famous, then when scandal breaks they become infamous and the cycle resets. Infamy carries with it the same level of celebrity, in a negative way yes but celebrity none-the-less. Why do they get two bites at the golden apple? Isn't that double dipping? Furthermore why do we allow it?
I think they do it because putting all that time and effort into something and coming in second is just not good enough. We are told that we have to win. "If you're not first, you're last." (Ricky Bobby, "Talladega Nights"). Athletes and celebrities are handsomely rewarded for winning championships and awards. Nike is not endorsing a loser. They go to all the cool parties and wear designer clothes for free. They have so much money that they have to give it away and we are grateful for their charity. Spare me please. The burden to maintain superstar status is a heavy one. I suppose this justifies seeking out ways to sustain the competitive edge. But I think they do it so no one steals what they believe they are entitled to. Oh this sense of entitlement is an evil virus.
What incenses me is where the sense of entitlement comes from. Yes, it is us. We allow it, hell we openly promote it. We confer entitlement with our ridiculous hero worship. Why we insist on heroes is beyond me. No one is a hero. We do what we do because we should or because it is what we are getting paid to do. When did an act of bravery or compassion, doing your job or hitting a home run become the exception rather than the rule? Have we become so bored that we have no other option but to place such a high value on entertainment be it in the form of the nightly news, sporting event, tabloids or yes, even Nancy Grace in the guise of responsible reporting (?). We allow our media outlets to sensationalize everything not for its information value but for its entertainment value. Half of what they say isn't even true. And then when we are bored we wave goodbye and laugh as these heroes and idols lapse into obscurity. There are some who will not go without a fight which results in even more outlandish acts for attention. (Miley Cyrus, Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson. . . ). Others, many during the height of fame, retreat into their own selves to waste away because the pressure is too much to bear. (Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix . . . ).
Our obsession with elevating athletes, movie stars, musical artists to lofty heights only to revel in their fall from grace is downright cruel. Our efforts to make non-celebs feel important by rewarding them for random acts of kindness is equally ridiculous. The professionals should not be compensated beyond their salaries for just doing their jobs. In my world appearing in a commercial would be moonlighting and probably not allowed. Is Madison Avenue so devoid of creativity that all they can do is stick celebs in ads? What happened to clever copy and catchy slogans? Alternatively, non-celebs should not be rewarded for doing the right thing, with celebrity status thrust upon them (even of only for a short time) because they adopt that entitlement mentality as well. We have created a society of attention getters with their hands out expecting to get special treatment, willing to go to extremes to get it and keep it.
As for Lance and the others they deserve what they get because they are equally part of the problem for buying into the nonsense of it all in the first place. But the fact that they are still profiting from these dishonesties is what infuriates me even more. Lance is still in the public eye and will be until he becomes irrelevant. But personal appearances, lectures, the book and the feature film about how cheaters never win and winners never cheat will keep him well employed for years to come. For heaven's sake I am even writing about him! Grrrrr...... yes, despite my detest for this brand of social selection where survival of the fittest is in reality survival by relevancy which is dictated by the media, how can you avoid it? You can't unless you isolate yourself from everyone and everything. Because I am not ready to be a hermit I will just have to do my best to ignore it. Thank goodness for 300+ channels and Netflix. And kudos to those athletes who did not resort to cheating and had a reputable careers for themselves in professional sports. There are a few. They still don't deserve hero status because they were doing their jobs. Doing it with integrity and by the rules is what we should be demanding. Sorry Jeter.
Sandi I got that from watching the Planet of the Apes sagas. Damn dirty apes
Marianne, I fully expect that every athlete cheats and uses steroids. This way I'm not disappointed when it turns out they were lying cheats. Tom, oh good, you went with scientific proof. :-)
Science, schmience. Man has been using prejudice all their existence to make decisions. Why not malign sweet smelling gorillas by any means available. Actually, I borrowed that expression from a former girlfriend's dad. He used to say that to his daughter's when they had been playing and were a little schvitzy. And you wonder why women have low self esteem.
Women have low self-esteem? Hmmmpf! I think not! Girls perhaps. Being a woman is reconciling those past episodes of degradation and refusing to allow anyone to ever demean you again. So there you have it Tom.
If only that was 100% true, but I know from experience that it is not. I see it everyday. I'm surrounded by women who are still haunted by their past and have not been able to get beyond their youthful transgressions, degradation, humiliations and childhood emotional trauma.
Then they are not women in the emotional sense. It is a shame though but in many ways it is a choice. Can't wait to read your submissions for today's assignment. I promise mine will be brief
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