Hot Cheddar X-hibition
This week's Cheddar X has seen the addition of another new blog as the word spreads. My responses to this week's questions are below. Interested in getting away from the coma inducing Friday Five? Join up and take a bite out of the Cheddar!

1. What are your top three favorite smells?
In no particular order because I do like them more at different times.
Fresh basil, either just picked or still on the plant, I love cinnamon basil, holy basil, sweet, ruffles and every other variety I've ever come across and tried.
Tomato plants - there's something about the buttery smell they put off that just resonates with me. Seriously, I'll stick my face into one of our plants and just breathe it in for a little while. Its a truly fabulous odor.
The Sea Breeze off the Bay - there's something old and new about standing above the beach at the end of my street and inhaling winds that have blown in from across the ocean. The combination of the moistened air with the salt, dust and whatever else can be borne across the miles. The smell of the beach is one of those things that reminds me of youth, of the timelessness of the ocean, of days spent making sand castles, of launching my body into wave after wave, of the motion of the ocean, of the taste of the salt, of the hot sand leading to the cooling water.

Honorable mentions: fresh sack of NorCal chronic (sorry Mom, but it really does smell wonderful), fresh peppermint, fresh spearmint, fresh chocolate mint, onions and garlic sauteeing on the stove, P's skin before she's showered and its just her, hot chocolate, bike oil, gasoline, the air while pedaling in the redwoods on UConn up to the water tanks, jasmine, sage, lemon anything, lime anything, mangos, orange juice and freshly dried clothes.

2. What scents on men/women do you find most attractive? And what scents to you absolutely despise?
I don't know from scents on men so I'll pass on that one. But on women, I like those subtle perfumes that aren't overpowering, just there when you get around to noticing it. I should note that I could be horribly crude here and quote The Bloodhound Gang, "You know what I really like in a girl? Me!" but I'll abstain from going there. Light fruit, light spice, light musk, whatever is nice as long as the scents match up with the personality and are not too strong. People who lather on perfume and cologne really, really, really need to consider other people having to inhale the toxic vapors. A little goes a very long way, folks.

Smells I hate on people? Easy. Patchouli, three day or more stink, enough perfume to stun a charging elephant, cigarette stink, stale beer, basically olfactory evidence of last night's debaucheries afternoon. What else? Perpetual garlic breath or other distracting halitosis. I've been told that Americans are too smell-o-centric compared to Europeans but I don't really know how to respond to it, if we are then so what, bathe!

3. What was your worst nickname growing up?
Any variety of Orgy or Orgasm as a play on my last name that starts with "Org". Or "Noid" was another one I never really much cared for, especially since the knob who gave it to me was far, far more annoying than I've ever been (well maybe not ever).

4. What nickname did you want to have?
I went through a period where I wanted to be called Patch, I'd been forced to wear an eye patch all summer long and liked it (though I can not recommend taking mushrooms and walking through the woods with no depth perception, my face was scratched up for a week and a half). EB has been nice enough to remind me of a time when I was at Arizona State when I wanted to be called Adonis for some bizarre reason.

5. What was the last trick you pulled on someone?
It must have been on P and was something of the low level variety like telling her there was no more coffee or something stupid like that. But we had started to get into practical jokes in the office before Hardy quit. Maybe those will return someday. Although I know its horridly juvenile, I'm a big fan of the old joke, "Want to go and get some ice cream? Yeah? Then would you mind getting me some while you're out?" Yeah, our house is a laugh riot (or is that laff riot?).

6. What was the last trick you had pulled on you?
Same thing, P messing with me. Nothing serious and no malicious intent involved whatsoever.