I'm guessing other people have this challenge of being more grossed out by crowds post-COVID? Before COVID I had no qualms about crowds and in punk spaces I've been in some of the sweatiest, stinkiest, shoutiest rooms known to man. I can still handle crowds but now I think more about people's respiration and clouds of mingled breathing. Smiller would tell you that I'm extremely sensitive to scents, especially artificial scents, not like they give me a headache or anything. I just obsess on lingering scents and get something akin to a panic attack if I can't escape one. A laundering experience in Thailand led to nights of poor sleep. I carry my own Dr. Bronner's because I would rather eat with dirty hands than ruin a restaurant meal with soap smell. I am shocked and appalled by how many upscale, well thought out restaurants have smelly soap.
Which brings us to not exactly an artificial scent but a phenomenon I've suffered through TWICE recently: someone near me having salami burps. The first time was at a show, smiller is going to have to help me out here which show, I know I mentioned it to him later. The second time was at David Cross at the Crest last night (he was pretty good, very anti-Christian and his digs at Sac were the funniest part to me).
More grossouts after the jump and also food stuff
