I’ve recently decided that I desperately need to alter my relaxation to stress ratio in favor of the more positive of the two aspects. Decisions like “I really need find more ways to relax” tend to change the way you look at things, activities, the cost and complication of acquiring things and of participating in activities. It also can change the places that you LOOK for relaxation and methods for achieving the effect in general.
I personally feel that starting with the easiest, most readily available method of relaxation is the best way to free up thought-space to better enable the “creative” conjuring of relaxing ideas. For me, that means reading or in extreme cases of distress, not even something that mentally involved. There are occasions where if I even have the energy to be conscious (read: anything beyond constant sleeping), I have only enough consciousness at my disposal as to make watching television as challenging of a task as I can handle outside of necessary function. At that point, I can’t even watch movies unless I didn’t have to make the choice of which one to watch in the first place. This is a VERY bad place to find one’s self.
UNLESS…the boob-tube proves to actually be informative for a change. We know that’s rare but even more rare that a commercial — that capitalist trap of eye-candy — is for a product that can legitimately make me drop my jaw in awe, envy and excitement. When suddenly you see the very PRODUCT which could virtually CURE you of all of your stress and tension and woes with just a mere purchase…it’s a day to chock up as an “amazing TV” day.
Enter, THE VIBRACOUSTIC (by Kohler). The currently most BAD ASS bathtub I have ever seen.
After seeing the commercial that made my palms sweat with wondrous anticipation, I immediately thought two things: #1, I bet you have to use JUST the crap they pre-program the thing with like those stupid “white noise”/”spa” sound machines and #2, I bet that thing costs as much as a small car.
Well….as it turns out, it’s a good thing I don’t waste my time in casinos or playing Lotto because I was wrong AND right… The sound system on this awesome tub does come with specific, pre-loaded tracks which are designed to utilize acoustics in a fashion that morphs music into hydro-massage-therapy. Additionally, you CAN load your own music into the system for a customized experience. SCORE!
On the down side, the part I WAS right about sucks pretty badly. According to KOHLER’S pricing on their website, these tubs range from $5, 670.00 to $7,770.00. OUCH.
Can’t they have a heart?!? The common folk are in DIRE need of this sort of relaxation due to added job stress (layoffs: fear of being laid off and/or the added burden of picking up the work that was left behind when OTHERS were laid off), economic stress (even IF someone still has a job these days, almost no one is getting a raise any time soon and that’s given that they didn’t already LOSE money under the guises of “saving jobs” by cutting a percentage of all employees’ salaries). We working folk desperately need some way to avoid the cardiologist!!
I have a VERY sensitive nose. I can smell that someone smoked a cigarette 2 days ago. I can smell when some no-good man has been whoring about. Thankfully, I’m not limited to nosing out only the stink of this world. Pleasant, subtle scents are also at my olfactoral disposal (even if there is a disproportionate amount of good vs. evil odours in the air). Unfortunately, much like the great tales of this and previous millennia, Evil often poses as Good; in this case, in the candle aisle, at the incense shop and at the perfume counter. In other words, this also means I can’t stand strong fragrances/perfumes/colognes. Only if they’re not too powerful can I stand scents in any embodiment. Even then, I typically favor fruity or natural scents.
Understanding that, it shouldn’t be difficult to guess that I do NOT hang out at perfume counters, in “head shops” or even the oh-so-popular candle stores. I did, however, inadvertently stumble upon a candle line that caught my attention called “Modern Alchemy” by the company, D.L. & Co. Just based on their product naming, design and their scent descriptions, I might have to start saving up my pennies to give a couple of their pretty (and pricey wares) a go.
I’m not very trusting — especially with advertising — but even if these candles and fragrances smelled like putrid garbage on a sweltering July day in Atlanta, GA, I’d probably still have to at LEAST get my hands on the “Seven Deadly Sins” collection…just to say I had it. I mean, what if someone one day ponders aloud in your presence: “I wonder…if ‘sloth’ had a smell, what it would smell like?” If you had this candle collection, you would KNOW!! And if you’re like me, you’ll also find it HIGHLY amusing that it is (among other aromas) a “cannabis” (the plant more commonly known for its intoxicating effects) scented candle. To be honest though, I guess my inner nature-girl/hippie always thought the plant’s sharp, citrus smell refreshingly clean — even if I never understood why anyone would enjoy the effect of sounding like a moron and being a worthless sack of flesh as a result of smoking the stuff.
Most of the fragrances and candles by D.L. & Co. are very sophisticated in their scent base and quite crafty in their themes and artistic presentation. Just upon reading the choices of fragrance combination, I would expect most of these candles (even the ones that DON’T include the cannabis flair) to be pretty heady and dense (i.e. burn in a REALLY large room — maybe with some doors and windows open too for good measure) but also very unique. Some of the others sound incredibly fresh and considerably lighter. I’m fairly sure the lighter scents will be more appealing to my hyper-delicate snout but I have to admit that the other, more complicated varieties still sound intriguing.
In the event that you’re interested in scraping YOUR pennies together to check these fragrances out as well, I’ll let you cheat and start with a couple of places I found that actually sell them (since the company doesn’t sell their Signature line or Modern Alchemy line directly from their website it seems).
Modern Alchemy can be found for purchase at these and other sites:
