Old Lady Smell

Have you ever had one seemingly insignificant event snowball to effect, and even ruin, your whole day? I had that kind of day today. I woke up, on a Saturday, at about 7:30. I had decided last night to use a movie pass I got at work (read previous post). Well the theater I had to go to is in Novi, which is a fair distance from my house. In fact it’s about a 40 minute drive with virtually no traffic. I didn’t fully realize this when I headed out.

I got to the theater and quickly realized that the majority of the people gathering were old enough to be my grandparents. I was listening to rants about their grandkids not being able to find work after graduating from law school. I heard one lady complaining that she is being denied her pension benefits because she can’t technically retire because her ‘disability’ won’t let her serve out the mandated time-served-formula.

Then it hit me. Ok, more like it hit my nostrils… the smell of old woman. I know you’ve smelled it. It’s difficult to describe, but very recognizable. It started out very faint, almost indiscernible. But it grew. But, by that time the crowd and grown and I was trapped in my row of seats. I was still in a descent mood then, so I figured I’d deal with it, and everything would be fine.

About ten minutes or so into the movie I realized this wasn’t worth the price I paid for the free pass. It was ridiculously awful. Which meant my mind was wandering and then I started thinking about the smell. By the end of the movie I had to get out of there. I felt myself getting grouchier by the minute. The fresh air outside didn’t help because my coat had been sitting next to smelly old lady. The fumes invaded my nostrils all the way home.

My mood for the day was set and there was little I could do to get back on track. Now, I did get a few productive things done around the house. I even ventured out into public again. But quickly decided that I wanted no more direct human contact for today.

All this because of old lady smell.