The Phantom of the Laundry Room is There Inside My Nose

I've always seemed to have a very keen sense of smell, however, as I am not a dog, this attribute has done little to enhance my existance, most of the time it's just a bother.

I bought new detergent this week, by accident. I thought 'orriginal scent' was the unscented variety of Tide, but apparently not. I knew instantly when I unscrewed the lid that a fatal mistake had been made, but there was nothing for it, and I washed my clothes anyway. I was smart enough not to risk the pillow cases in that though. I swear my nose is too good! I've been distracted for the last three days by the smell of the new detergent. It's there, everywhere I go. I keep noticing it because it's not normal. It's not that it's a bad smell, it's just different, and my nose keeps bringing that to my attention. I have no idea how long it'll take to get used to it. I may give up and go buy the right kind before I do laundry again.

This brings me to an odd topic though.....You see, I'm on this quest, have been for years. There are these two elusive smells that I really like, but have been unable to find the source of. They are both 'clean' scents. One smells distinctly like clean laundry, but a very particular variety of clean laundry, and the other smells like some kind of bar soap. I've smelled them on other people a hundred times, but I've never been able to actually find a bar soap or detergent for sale in the grocery store that smells precicely like those ones I like. It's really very perplexing. How can they be in such common use, but not commonly found in the market? Of course the idea of asking people what soap and detergent they use has crossed my mind, but the trouble is I've only smelled them on people that I don't know well, and it would just seem really wierd to be asking your UPS delivery man what kind of soap he washes with =p It'd sound like some kind of lame pick up line or something "You smell so clean! I just love your detergent!" So while I'd love to try lots of different soaps to try to find whatever this one is, I also don't think my nose could handle all the other ones in between....sigh....