Calvin Klein, Axe, and me!

I remember sitting in Lower Dining Hall in college and a friend pointed to a guy in line with a backwards baseball hat [a requirement to get into Boston College for males; for females, your name has to be “Jenn.”  Or “Jen.”  BC let me slip through so they could fulfill their 1996 “exotic” quota].  “That’s Mike Gabelli.  As in Gabelli Hall.”

I don’t know what it’s like to have a dormitory named after me.  No one has ever dedicated a book to me or acknowledged me in a film’s credits.  It seems like everyone in Chicago has an honorary brown street-sign but me.  I don’t know what it’s like to go to a restaurant and be able to order “the Saya April Reuben.”  A musician did once give me a shout out at his show – “Thanks to Saya and her crew for coming out!” – which I took to mean he wanted to marry me, but it turned out he had no such desire so I don’t count that, and still sigh every time I hear Train’s Drops of Jupiter.

But I now DO know what it’s like to have a custom-made cologne, inspired by yours truly, created, and it’s pretty damn cool.

I [stupidly?] gave a presentation a few weeks ago to an audience of techies, as part of the Solo Life and as a challenge for myself.  Though the forty-eight hours leading up to and including the presentation were stressful and horrid, one of the resulting goodies was that little vial above.  I shared some of my various lists, including my Boyfriend Criteria; number one is “Smells like Campfire.”  When I shared this with the group, a few chuckles rippled through the crowd and a guy raised his hand and asked, “Do you want him to always smell like campfire, or just occasionally?”  Perpetually, of course, I responded.  After my talk, the question-asker found me in the hallway and said he was a chemical engineer always looking for fun projects, and that he could probably create a campfire scent in an afternoon.  I thought he was joking.  But his various ensuing phone calls, texts, and emails, including a “Can you come be in the presentation we’re giving to a grant committee about creating the scent?” showed me otherwise [they won the competition by the way!].  And when he showed up at a Mac ‘n Cheese Mingler a couple of weeks ago with this vial and I sniffed the liquid, I knew he was for real – oh my goodness, yum!  It totally smelled of acoustic guitar, s’mores, jeans and hoodies, and John Denver songs.

If you’re interested in Smoque [the sassy name of the campfire cologne] or some other amazing scent [he’s also trying to perfect a bacon-scent], you can sign up to be kept abreast of the project’s progress.

Saya-inspired scent, check.  Now, how does one get one’s face on a stamp?