2023-07-29 Sandalwood
- Brush: Yaqi Metal Timberwolf
- Razor: "Germany"
- Lather: Haslinger - Sandelholz
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Varen
- Fragrance: Chatillon Lux - Weinstrasse
Sandalwood: Sandelholz, indeed.
I think this is interesting: If the
Online Etymological Dictionary
is to be believed, the sandal- part of sandalwood is cognate with the word
candle, and traces back to a Sanskrit word along the lines of "wood for burning
incense." It seems to be unrelated to the footwear word sandal. Etymology is fun!
Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: On the topic of word-fun, I'm
far more proud of this than I have any right to be: the name of each is a
non-English germanic word;
Sandelholz and Weinstrasse are both German and Varen is Dutch.
The razor also kind of ties in, because it appears to be
made in Germany.
That's literally all I know about it. Well, that and that it handles like a
less-bitey Old Type.
#FOF
I didn't think I was a fan of sandalwood, because my first experience
therewith was from one of Maggard's empty tubs, which had been from a
sandalwood soap (I don't recall which), and I found it unpleasant.
Sandelholz provided a different experience. It started unremarkable, its scent
faint and its lather unimpressive. By the time I was done, the lather was much
stronger, and the scent it provided was rich, warm, soothing, and even
classically manly. I don't know what that other soap I tried was, but this is
much better.
That said, I still hesitate to call myself a fan sandalwood.
Following it up with Varen, the strong oakmoss and vetiver fit right in,
bringing some green to the wood. The lavender note of Varen seems to come
through more in the aftershave than the soap, where it feels more like a subtle
afterthought at most, u/oswald_heist. As such, the lavender offers a smoother
transition into the florals of Weinstrasse.
As an aside, I feel like my smell-sensor has learned a lot over the past few
weeks, during which time I gradually became better at picking out individual
notes. I still have mixed feelings about that, if I'm honest. I still feel that
a scent should be appreciated for its whole.
At the same time, though, it seems comparable to, say, a color. As a simplistic
example, take a single color in the RGB colorspace. The color is its own thing,
but one can still identify that it's more red or blue, or dark or light, without
losing sight of the color as a whole. With scents, you can identify, say,
oakmoss or tobacco or nacho cheese without losing the overall experience.
Weinstrasse makes me realize that, though I've made strides, there's still much
to learn. Specifically, there's a bunch of notes here that ~~I'm not
familiar with~~ I haven't learned in isolation, i.e. honeysucke, iris,
helichrysum (?!), coumarin.
The scent certainly reminds of white wine off the top, accompanied by floralness
and... something sharper that almost competes for the attention of the wine,
which must be the blackcurrant, I dare guess. As those fall away,
the oakmoss and musk (musk being a note that I learned on day 1 of these Games)
affirm their presence. I realize I'm largely just describing how top/base
notes work, but hey.
Fun fact: white wine comes from red grapes! The difference is that the grape
skins are removed from the grapes during the production of white wine, whereas
red wines get their color from the skins that are left on.
Challenge Accepted:
I'm of the opinion that this challenge should be re-framed to reflect what it's
really about. It's not about the judges or their scoring. Never has been.
It's about recognition of Games well played and identifying the players who
~~require mental health treatment~~ have demonstrated devotion to the Games.
I think it's pretty clear (not to mention heavily hinted by the djudges) who's
in the top running for the Games. In no particular order, u/MrTangerinesky,
u/Priusaurus, u/OnionMiasma, u/hugbckt, u/hairykopite, u/tsrblke all seem to be
top contenders.
As such, u/tsrblke also seems pretty likely to take the top-scoring ROTY spot.
As for #photocontest, a quick glance at the portal seems to indicate that
there's only a few who have carried through with that contest hitting all the
days and themes. Notably, I've had an eye on u/chronnoisseur42o throughout
the month. Meanwhile, I doubt I did myself any favors with a couple of, uh,
"liberal" interpretations of loosely-defined (or simply non-defined) categories.
#photocontest
Photo: Society
This one was probably the trickiest to figure out how to do—or rather, what
to do. I've just been winging it from day to day, so I missed a few days when
this could have been easier
(Pei Wei folks having lunch or people walking by the park, for instance).
Last night was pretty stormy, and we had
dime-sized
hail here in the desert.
That's not unusual for this time of year; our summer storms are characterized by
massive raindrops, which are big because they form as hailstones; on occasion,
they manage not to completely melt as they careen through the firelike air.
As a result of the storm, internet went out for a while last night,
and it was out this morning and is out still.
What's one place where people go to use the internet when not at home?
The library! I mean, I don't, but people do.
A regular public library was an option, but the university has those neato
wooden steps. They weren't there in my day, though. I might have been able to
try to get the effect such that my little pieces of wood blended into the
steps, but I figured it probably wouldn't have been worth the effort.
I did, however, wait around for someone to use the stairs there (to no one's
surprise, not a lot of students in the university library in July) to really
get the society theme pegged.