The elixir

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GlytchMeister
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Re: The elixir

Post by GlytchMeister »

Not wearing perfume is actually a clever trick to finding a good partner. If they can't stand the way you smell, then you two are probably genetically similar in the immune system department, so your offspring won't have a very robust defense against pathogens.
Also, if they gag at your smell, your pheromones don't smell good to them. You literally repulse them on a biological level. So if you were to stay together, you'd constantly have to cover up one of your defining characteristics.

If two people just can't stop breathing each other's BO, there's a higher likelihood of their offspring being healthy... and a higher likelihood of enjoying physical intimacy... which can, if approached correctly, foster greater emotional intimacy, communication, and overall a more satisfying, happy, and healthy relationship.
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
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DinkyInky
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Re: The elixir

Post by DinkyInky »

Dave wrote:You have my sympathies and appreciation! I'm allergic to a lot of aromatics (inherited this from my mother's side of the family), and have to take a deep breath and dash past those perfume kiosks. Getting past the duty-free perfume shops at the airport is one of the more annoying aspects of traveling for me.

Years ago, the admin at a startup I worked at, came in wearing Georgio one day... by mid-day I had to go home, with a migraine-like attack that left me aphasic... I was literally unable to tell my wife what was wrong. Scary stuff!

One of the things that impressed me about my wife, when we first met in '84, was that she never wore perfume. The rest, as they say, is history. :D
I cannot say this enough; coffee beans. Another trick if you don't mind beverage abuse: buy a dark, dark, espresso or turkish coffee if you've already checked your baggage in. After you are safely away, pitch it. Barring that is putting freshly pressed handkerchief in a bag of coffee beans days before trip. Take it out of beans and place into another bag. Open bag at airport, use hankerchief to stave off the stench.
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.

Aphyon chu kissa whol l'jaed.
--Safyr Drathmir
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GlytchMeister
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Re: The elixir

Post by GlytchMeister »

Am I the only one here who can close the airway leading to the nose, keeping nasty smells out? It's a movement with the back of tongue and I think it has something to do with the soft palette, up top and in the back.
When I shut that off, air doesn't flow through my nose at all, so I don't smell anything. I can, with enough willpower, walk through a high school boy's football locker room that has had a sewage line burst in it, and not smell anything, while still breathing freely.

I wouldn't... that'd be nasty. I wouldn't breathe that stuff in. Ew. I'm just saying I have the ability to. I'd probably just over-oxygenate myself and hold my breath to get through something like that.
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
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DinkyInky
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Re: The elixir

Post by DinkyInky »

GlytchMeister wrote:Am I the only one here who can close the airway leading to the nose, keeping nasty smells out? It's a movement with the back of tongue and I think it has something to do with the soft palette, up top and in the back.
When I shut that off, air doesn't flow through my nose at all, so I don't smell anything.
I can also taste it in the air, so there's nothing short of not breathing it that helps, hence my juju bag o' joe.
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.

Aphyon chu kissa whol l'jaed.
--Safyr Drathmir
Warrl
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Re: The elixir

Post by Warrl »

DinkyInky wrote:I also only wear perfume on my skin that is chemical free
Excuse me, but I find that expression annoying. The only thing that is chemical-free is hard vacuum. The sort you find about a light-year from here in any direction. Any physical object - including air and water - is 100% chemicals.
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DinkyInky
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Re: The elixir

Post by DinkyInky »

Warrl wrote:
DinkyInky wrote:I also only wear perfume on my skin that is chemical free
Excuse me, but I find that expression annoying. The only thing that is chemical-free is hard vacuum. The sort you find about a light-year from here in any direction. Any physical object - including air and water - is 100% chemicals.
Excuse me also, but I find your response annoying and pedantic, and I'm an Aspie, and as such, I had to take years to learn how to not be so hyper literal.
I also don't always pick up social/emotional cues, and respond in what is to me a precise polite manner, but to some, a cold, blunt, abrasive manner. So apologies if I seem such.

While made of chemical components (raw elements combining to form other compositions), air and water are not chemical except as an extremely literal term.
What most of the folks I know in perfuming call "chemicals" are mostly used for preserving shelf life, adding colours, or because it's expensive to derive in nature, and use solvents to extract the essences...and they don't use it.

The perfumes I wear are made from NON chemical extraction methods, as in, rose otto or jasmine oil that is fat extracted, and not solvent extracted.
There are no propellants, nor preservatives in the perfumes I speak of. They are extracted or distilled from natural plants, then blended in a carrier oil such as organic cold pressed olive oil, grapeseed oil, or fractionated coconut oil...all organic plant materials.

I do make perfume myself, so I do know a bit about it. I can say "chemical free" and most folks understand it, because I add no chemicals to prolong its shelf life, nor do the vendors I purchase from.

I promote and support fair trade, self sustained organic whenever possible, because I have violent reactions to many chemicals(in this definition, preservatives, colours or solvents used in extractions of said scents) in commercial mass produced perfume.

In mild form, I get a mild migraine, hives and a smell like I got sprayed by a polecat, in extreme, larger scale migraine requiring intervention, blisters or a chemical burn, anaphylaxis reactions, bronchial irritation.

On that note, you'd think I would know enough to stay away from them, but I like the smell of nature, and adorn myself with scent that often evokes a place or time. I had to learn to make it myself until I discovered these small independent perfumers because I didn't want to live in a bubble and have to avoid such novelties. Yeah, reactions like I had at an old job are scary, but they don't rule me. Once I realised it was the chemicals gave me these reactions, I don't let them touch my skin.


So yeah, chemical free. We're gonna have to agree to disagree on the definition.
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.

Aphyon chu kissa whol l'jaed.
--Safyr Drathmir
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Dave
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Re: The elixir

Post by Dave »

The first definition for "chemical" which comes up when I web-search includes "noun: a compound or substance which has been purified or prepared, especially artificially." I think that definition is entirely valid; it's a very common usage of the term in most peoples' understanding. "Artiicially" probably means something like "through a high-technology industrial process" to most people who use the word in this sense.

Looked at this way, cold-pressed olive oil is not a chemical... you can make it yourself in your back yard and kitchen with a homebuilt olive press. Oleic acid, solvent-extracted from cold-pressed olive oil and then purified via urea crystallization (see US patent 4601856), is a chemical.

Where the boundary is between "chemical" and "chemical-free" (or "natural") is going to vary, depending on who is speaking.
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Re: The elixir

Post by Julie »

Okay Sarge...I read the "other" ending (didn't wait for Halloween because I hate waiting :P ). It was good. You're right that it felt kind of rushed and incomplete...and it certainly was a little frustrating as a reader to have everything up to that point be a dream, but the way you wrapped it up with your own visit to the Library...that I loved. :) *hugs* Well done, sir!
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And see that life is beautiful."
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jwhouk
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Re: The elixir

Post by jwhouk »

What'd ya mean, it wasn't a dream? It was - it's just someone else's.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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jwhouk
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Re: The elixir

Post by jwhouk »

Strange how all our characters have come out of all this.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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DinkyInky
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Re: The elixir

Post by DinkyInky »

jwhouk wrote:Strange how all our characters have come out of all this.
Some, not all. Mine came from the Wapsiholics Anonymous thread. Kinda blundered into a surreal crossover, and intrigued a few...individuals.
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.

Aphyon chu kissa whol l'jaed.
--Safyr Drathmir
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Just Old Al
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Re: The elixir

Post by Just Old Al »

DinkyInky wrote:
jwhouk wrote:Strange how all our characters have come out of all this.
Some, not all. Mine came from the Wapsiholics Anonymous thread. Kinda blundered into a surreal crossover, and intrigued a few...individuals.
And some of us heard a party going on, and crashed the gate...
"The Empire was founded on cups of tea, mate, and if you think I am going to war without one you are sadly mistaken."
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GlytchMeister
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Re: The elixir

Post by GlytchMeister »

And one of us got hired for a simple decryption job, fell down a rabbit hole, and ain't never comin' back out. it's reassuring to know that the world is crazier than you are.

John, on the other hand, is like a bad penny. :P
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
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Sgt. Howard
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Re: The elixir

Post by Sgt. Howard »

What astounds me is how much I have changed as a result of this writing- Writing about Greg has caused me to examine myself rather thoroughly- and find things I don't care for. I have been migrating more towards Neil with his patience and wisdom and away from Greg with his quick and violent temper.
Heh- I have also re-established how much I adore Miss Annie. Greg's eyes will wander, but never his flesh. I have found my eyes are happy to dwell upon Annie-
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Re: The elixir

Post by Sgt. Howard »

I saw this and what came to mind was when the lot of us went pyro in this storyline... seems appropriate... enjoy!
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autotwb2191.html
Rule 17 of the Bombay Golf Course- "You shall play the ball where the monkey drops it,"
I speak fluent Limrick-
the Old Sgt.
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Re: The elixir

Post by lake_wrangler »

Reading through again, and came upon this, on page 11:
"Please, Neil- you CAN'T go public with this- there are too many who will hate you, who will want to kill you... I am NOT going to loose you again..." Phix was beside herself with worry.
My immediate thought was: "Isn't being loose with Neil how she got pregnant in the first place?"
:mrgreen:

Thoroughly enjoying the re-read. Will now go back to page 12, to continue reading.
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Re: The elixir

Post by FreeFlier »

I've re-read this a couple of time, and quite enjoyed it . . .

But late last night I was thinking: Where does Neil have his tree planted?

--FreeFlier
Warrl
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Re: The elixir

Post by Warrl »

FreeFlier wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 12:37 am I've re-read this a couple of time, and quite enjoyed it . . .

But late last night I was thinking: Where does Neil have his tree planted?

--FreeFlier
He won't say.
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Re: The elixir

Post by FreeFlier »

Warrl wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:16 pm
FreeFlier wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 12:37 amI've re-read this a couple of time, and quite enjoyed it . . .

But late last night I was thinking: Where does Neil have his tree planted?
He won't say.
Quite sensibly.

--FreeFlier
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Sgt. Howard
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Re: The elixir

Post by Sgt. Howard »

FreeFlier wrote: Wed Apr 06, 2022 7:46 pm
Warrl wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:16 pm
FreeFlier wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 12:37 amI've re-read this a couple of time, and quite enjoyed it . . .

But late last night I was thinking: Where does Neil have his tree planted?
He won't say.
Quite sensibly.

--FreeFlier
DAMN STRAIGHT he won't say!!!
Rule 17 of the Bombay Golf Course- "You shall play the ball where the monkey drops it,"
I speak fluent Limrick-
the Old Sgt.
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