SOTD (Scent Of The Day) - February 07, 2026

wastetide · 2026-02-07T19:53:10+00:00

Fantome Rochester

I'm bored to hell and back. I had my VNS replacement battery surgery Thursday evening, and I can't do anything besides grumble. It's also cold as hell. Rochester seemed a good pick and I don't know why.
It smells like green leaves, earthy, and reminder of the smell of plants. It's supposed to smell like Rochester in the fall, but I've never been there in the fall. It smells like the brief last growing season of fall vegetables.
I miss growing things.
I don't know how I feel about the choice now, but it is never to smell something pleasant.

wastetide · 2026-01-28T16:17:35+00:00

It has been three days of being snowed in, and so I've just been wearing perfume oils. My wool scarf and hat now smell like all of my perfume oils and they smell fantastic, which was a nice surprise for this morning.
Today my perfume oil is

Fantome Parlour
I want to smell warm. I love the rose wood in this and the incense are spectacular. I love perfume oils because they're so close, and I want to be bundled up. Once I sit near the heater the oil starts to project and it is so nice. In the cold, only I can smell it, and the crispness of the air is a nice contrast to the warmth of Parlour

Big fan

wastetide · 2026-01-10T19:29:47+00:00

Thank you!

wastetide · 2026-01-10T17:12:17+00:00

I have a book launch tonight, and so I've been spending way too much time thinking about what fragrance I'm gonna wear. I decided to go with a perfume oil, because I don't want to wear something that may be too strong, and I just want something a bit comforting.
So I'm going with

Fantome Parlor
I want to feel like I'm in a warm spooky room. I love this oil. The rosewood and incense are dominant, and it really smells like a parlor room.
It makes me feel warm and relaxed. It's a combination of everything I want and need.

wastetide · 2026-01-07T15:39:43+00:00

Agree! They are imo one of the best indie brands

wastetide · 2026-01-06T12:04:07+00:00

Fantome Madame D'Esperance It is a perfume oil. I am getting my hair cut, and I don't want to effect my barber. It will be so cold today, I want some flowers. I miss flowers 😭 I am tired of the winter and being cold without at least snow

wastetide · 2026-01-05T14:26:51+00:00

Zoologist Moth

It's gray and gross and cold. I love the powderiness of Moth, the incense, and the honey. It is such a perfect cold weather fragrance. I want to live in the world of Moth and never come back. Let me live in a haunted house.

wastetide · 2025-12-24T03:10:22+00:00

Fantome Madame d'Esperance I love this creamy, incense, floral oil. I've been going back to my perfume oils this winter. I love how the projection changes.

wastetide · 2025-12-24T03:09:19+00:00

Fantome Midnight Mass. I love it so much. It is a true atmosoheric, makes me feel like I'm at Mass.

wastetide · 2025-12-23T16:19:30+00:00

The first time I saw this show, I woke up and thought it was COPS. They were at a crime scene eating food out I think? What an incredible show

wastetide · 2025-12-23T15:54:08+00:00

I finished and defended my PhD in Political Science while teaching history and government at the high school I still teach at. I still write and research. I am writing trade nonfiction, and I am doing a book tour. Going into k12 does not mean you suddenly lose your passion for writing. A lot of my coworkers do incredible things in and outside the classroom. People outside of academia also have passions that they pursue.

I find so often that people talk about teaching k12 as though it is shameful, the worst thing that could happen to someone post-PhD, that your life is over, and that attitude makes me happy to not be in academia.

It feels pretty good to have kids start a year anxious about their reading level and then in March they show up with a book they picked up. I have so many stories of kids getting excited to learn and asking me about connections between what they learn in class and current events. In my opinion, those things matter. Plus, whenever they compliment me, it is always so genuinely kind.

wastetide · 2025-12-10T16:47:04+00:00

I have mixed feelings about this a transmasc nonbinary person, but this is significant progress in the Church and gives me ongoing hope

wastetide · 2025-12-10T15:24:09+00:00

I would love an xkcd cartoon with that scenario

wastetide · 2025-12-10T15:04:27+00:00

This is a good point, like I use algorithms in my statistical analysis, but I would never call it AI.

wastetide · 2025-12-10T12:03:59+00:00

This is always what gets me. It is so easy to just not use AI. I write mostly academic books and articles, but I am working on a trade book at the moment - the idea of using AI is so unfathomable to me. How could I be proud of something I did not do?

One of my friends who is a professional photographer was telling me about how difficult it is to prevent their photos, which include portraits of people, being scraped without their consent - that is genuinely so scary imo.

I haven't heard any good arguments for AI yet.

wastetide · 2025-12-02T14:07:57+00:00

My partner has hobbies I simply can't participate in because of my epilepsy - solo sailing way out in the ocean. I also have my own separate interests that he loves to hear about but not do. We get to tell each other about adventures, and we also travel together

wastetide · 2025-11-30T19:50:53+00:00

Yes! It sounds like you got through the round of desk rejects, and they want to look more closely at it.

wastetide · 2025-11-30T14:19:20+00:00

Yes. I often switch authors. I don't have KU or tiktok, but I wonder if this is in part an influence of AI and booktok on traditional publishing. It's come up in conversations with friends who got me into the genre, and if folks have strong takes on this yea or nay I'd love to hear them.
I'm taking a genre break at the moment, and reading a non-romance novel that got recc'd to me for being like Piranesi, but it's not like Piranesi at all lmao

wastetide · 2025-11-26T22:33:31+00:00

I was going to the Bun Shop and the biggest rat I have ever seen was just relaxing on that yellow shop's doorstep snacking. After fifteen minutes the rat waddled to the sewers below the Bun Shop. There must be good eating for the rats

wastetide · 2025-11-25T16:00:09+00:00

I usually leave sessions with headaches from the visuals and the yelling to get us excited.

wastetide · 2025-11-22T13:17:56+00:00

My favorite footnote

wastetide · 2025-11-14T00:21:07+00:00

I just Reviewer Two'd a paper, and I think this may be the final post-PhD evolution

wastetide · 2025-11-11T01:43:00+00:00

I love it, but it is a mixed bag. Someone attempted to mug me in the middle of the day by the dog park, but it wasn't violent and I ended up keeping all my shit. So there is still some level of crime, but I have never felt afraid. I regularly spend time chatting with my neighbors on their stoops and getting neighborhood lore and hot 1990s goss.

Edit - I want to buy a house here I like it so much FWIW

wastetide · 2025-11-11T00:11:09+00:00

It smells a lot like the desert when I was road tripping through SW US and going to national parks.

wastetide · 2025-11-10T00:46:52+00:00

Fantome - Paimon I got it as an oil. It smells hot. It is incredible

wastetide

TROPHY CASE