As I sit here in my cubicle at work I smell smoke, and even begin to feel the effects of the smoke. It’s a ton worse outside of the office. The picture above is just of the Salt Lake Valley, and the fire isn’t even that close to where I am. It’s a 3,200-acre wildfire near Cascade Springs in Uinta National Forest– and the weather is stagnant. I guess it was a planned “controlled” burn that is obviously way out of control. At least it wasn’t some idiot who purposely lit the mountain on fire in order to get sent to jail.
The real reason I decided to write about this is that lately I’ve experienced smells that brought back memories, much like how certain sounds or songs can bring back very vivid memories. I didn’t really notice the smell of smoke up at the house, but when I got out of my car at work, it was pretty strong. The smell sorta reminded me of a campfire, but more than that, it reminded me of certain areas on my mission where someone in the neighborhood would burn trash in order to avoid having to pay for the special bags that you were required to dispose of your garbage in. The haze outside is also reminiscent of some of the larger cities I served in that had problems with polution. Even though the smoke is a negative thing it brings back fond memories. Strange, huh?
Another recent experience took me even farther into my past. Last Saturday I stopped off at the grocery store in the morning to get some stuff to make samkyupsal with Joel later on. After going through the produce section I wandered past the bakery, I can’t remember why. What I do remember is that I caught the aroma of what smelled exactly like the sweet rolls my grandma used to make. Ah, I used to look forward to those sweet rolls every time grandma would come to visit, or when we’d go to visit grandma. She always made them, and they were so good– glazed with a layer of frosting and with various flavors of jelly at their center. It is tragic that no one ever learned to make them like Grandma did. She’s now too old to make them anymore and Mom doesn’t make them, and I’m not even sure if she knows how. This smell was almost like a ghost or phantom from the past, because it tantalyzed me, brought back memories of being a child, yet I could not find a pastry there that resembled Grandma’s sweetrolls. As if my sense of smell had been decieved… There was one that was similar looking with the jelly-filled center, and so I bought it, but there was far less frosting and the flavor wasn’t very similar, how disappointing. Perhaps grandma has that recipe locked away somewhere in her memory….
Comments
12 responses to “I Think I’m Getting the Black Lung!”
Sloanie, sounds like you like eating like I do.
you are mostly talking about foods.
Anyway I like your sentences.
bye~
man, that post title reminds me of when megan was pregnant. whenever she would cough, she couldn’t take enough air for a real cough, so she just do these puny little hic hic coughs. Then she’d always add in a perfect zoolander accent, ‘i think i’m getting the black lung…’
Yeah you should see it down here in Utah County. It’s horrible and I have to work out in it all day. You can’t even see the mountain. That was hillarious about black lung. I’m starting to feel like that. Woke up yesterday all plugged up with a nasty sore throat and this is just making it worse. ah well.
Miyoung– it’s true. In the end it seems like all of my posts go back to food, 흐흐흐…
Yeah Josh, the little wimpy cough is what makes the “black lung” quote so great 🙂
I’m sorry for you Jake. You should have some kind of mask or something to filter out the pollutants.
It is way horrible down here in the valley. Also, for the record, smell is your strongest sense in recalling memories. The moari people of Australia and New Zealand will greet you with a head to head touch and take a big wiff, to help them remember that moment. You just pray that people showered when you are to do this 🙂
Interesting. I’m not sure what my opinion is on this one– sometimes a certain song can evoke more vivid memories than any smell, because a song can usually be nailed down to a more specific time period…
I give you that, songs have huge evoking factor, first song you danced with some one, stuff like that. But smells, granted not always pleasant are way strong, from fresh baked cookies remembering days at grandma’s house, to the smell of an apple or anything. Smell is way strong, so just agree with me :p
that ia one of my favorite movies 🙂 you guys need some more rain to wash all that nastyness out of the air.
We need some rain for water…
ha ha. that’s exactly what the smoke reminded me of. Good ole Korean smog. Oh, how I miss the phlegmminess. Those were the days. The funny thing is that I’m serious, and not being sarcastic (for once). we should go get Korean sometime.
hey trav, don’t forget the blue snot. oh yeah. blue snot, baby
Nasty