6/16/25. #16

1. Wendy's grease/fries/hamburgers.

2. Fishy lake smell and smoke from campfires.

3. Cold fried chicken and fixings from church buffets.

4. Cookies/brownies.

5. Dog shampoo and pet feces.

6. Weed.

7. Industrial strength cleaning supplies.

8. Mold.

9. Taco Tico

10. Whatever that vacuum carpet deodorant powder stuff was from the dollar store.

My mom was a fast food worker. She worked at Wendy's most of my childhood.

I practically lived outside as a child. I was a lake baby as well. My grandparents had a RV camper. My parents worked all the time so they were the ones who raised me. Lots of smoke. Some of it cigarette. Lots of fish. Lots of cookouts. My grandparents were the opposite of my parents and their fundamentalist culture. They disliked the church and did their best to ensure I was happy. Spoiled even. Which brings me to....

Church buffets. Those have a unique smell of so many foods combining in a kitchen/dining room without appropriate exhaust and way too many people. I spent a lot time preparing and attending them. I can still sit here and remember that smell. Cold chicken and mayo stands out the most.

I personally loved to bake so lots of cookies and brownie experiments happened. The smell that stands out? That easy bake oven - and the raw/burnt plastic batter smell. Yeah.

There were a lot of dogs. A lot of animals actually. Ducks, rabbits, chickens, guinea pigs. Large parrots and talking birds.

Weed was school/neighborhood, not at home. As a sheltered child I didn't know what it was but once I figured it out? It was like having a beacon for it. I could smell it everywhere.

I accompanied my grandpa as he worked, he was a janitor and other odd jobs. So lots of industrialized chemicals. And dusty boxes of opening up giant rolls of toilet paper and paper towels. Things like that.

Mold is a weird smell to describe, it has an invisible yet prevalent heavy feel to it. The mobile home I lived in? Was old and filled with it. After it was destroyed in a weather event - my parents got a brand new one. Didn't take long for the cardboard walls to develop the same kind of smell. But also spending so much time outside, it's there. I spent a lot of time gardening.

Taco Tico...bags. I should probably clarify. The crinkly paper bags filled with the tacos. It's a unique smell. You know how some people like to smell a fresh batch of microwaved popcorn? I'm weird that I like open smelling those taco bags. I was exposed to every type of authentic taco there was so it wasn't about the food. It was about the experience of those cheap bagged tacos. It was like 10 cent tacos. I didn't care what they tasted like although I thought they were decent. It was a 10 cent taco. I was poor. I used to collect and pick up coins so I could go buy tacos. That kind of childhood habit carried into young adulthood.

Carpet deodorant. It's overpowering fake flower smell. The people around me sprinkled the white powder everywhere. I'm not nostalgic for childhood but sometimes, I just want to sprinkle some of that shit in my car or something. I don't even understand my own thinking on this.