deja vu (fr. already seen) is one of the recognised psychic phenomena that is associated with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). patients with this neurological disease would have a sense of familiarity with something that shouldn’t be familiar at all, prior to (also known as an aura) a seizure.
today i experienced an alternative form of psychic phenomenon. no, i don’t suffer from TLE. as i was driving to work, the car aircon smelt just like the one in my dad’s car in KL. with the scorching summer morning sun outside and 宇多田ヒカル on my iPod, i might as well be driving on jalan damansara en route to 1utama.
during coffee break, i had another one of this olfactory experience. on of my colleagues was making some coffee when i swore the room smelt like… err… my gym. no, not the changing room lah!
it’s really weird as these are in fact very much like auras in epilepsy, especially if i can’t find out the source of the bau. the gym was explained by the fact my colleague admitted to using deodorant (right guard + coffee aroma = gym coffee room). the best one i had was many years ago in the medical school library when i smelt airplane food. i really like airplane food! yum! if there was the hum of a rolls-royce jet engine next to the library window, i would have sworn i was on my way home for the summer break.
are these experiences trying to tell me something?
aura 1: balik malaysia lah oi.
aura 2: you have a belly like a fat bastard. go exercise before you have a coronary.
where are my gym shoes?
