Confessions you probably knew: I am irreverent.
Now that we’re through the climactic anti-climax of the Golden Globes and Jodi Foster’s proclamation that really wasn’t — seriously, who didn’t already know she was gay, or more specifically, who really cared? — I figured it was time for my own public admission. So since I’m here being confessional, I suppose I have an urge to publicly say something I’ve never really been able to air before. It’s an admission that I’m a little nervous about but I’m just going to put it out there. I’ll need your support on this.
I’m irreverent. Yes, I am. I’m irreverent.
No, I’m kidding — but I mean I’m not really kidding, but I’m kind of kidding. Seriously, though, I know this must come as a shock to anyone who’s read some of my reviews because I try so hard to keep a lid on things. But behind the formal and proper exterior, I’m actually a sarcastic and cynical soul. I’m not going to honor that admission with a reality-blog or a fragrance release.
As if anyone cares. Given the number of folks who either dislike me, detest me, or hate me outright, I’m definitely no Honey Boo Boo.Honey Badger is much more like it.
In all seriousness, I’ve had more than a few
epiphanies this past month, whether in personal or professional life or about my work on Scentrist or other endeavors.
One of those is that my irreverent style is not going to be liked or loved by everyone. In fact, my wife and I were having the discussion about some events personally, and being the great sounding-board she is, we both came to the conclusion that we learned one thing from recent events. It was a lesson on authenticity. If someone can go from ‘liking’ you one moment to bashing you in the next, the reality is that they weren’t very authentic as an individual as a first place.
The other is the type of attention or drama that tends to attract and the outcomes of that. Those were difficult lessons to accept until I recognized that those sorts of people feed off the attention they create. In my day, we called those folks “drama queens”. In today’s parlance, they’re known as “divas”. Either way, they’re a waste of time because people will always play to the diva, right or wrong, never realizing that they only care about themselves. It actually makes for a very lonely life.
So after considering some of those lessons-learned, my wife and I made some decisions. You’ll probably see a few in the direction of this site. While I don’t wish negativity on anyone, we are simply going in our own direction.
- Someone once told me that “going native” can have a terrible effect on your perspective. It’s a concept that really does hold true, and I realized that over the past couple of months, I’d lost some of that in becoming perhaps “too familiar” with some folks in a very tightly-knit and inward-facing group. And I think it’s affected our perspective. Rather than being negative, we’ve chosen to keep a healthy distance and maintain our own perspective. Nothing personal, and we’re enjoying the peace, love, tranquility and overall lack of drama in our lives.
- Not everyone will like our irreverent style. My wife and I have both said that “we’re an acquired taste”, and I think most people who follow Scentrist will agree. That isn’t a bad thing. If you try to please everyone, you’ll end up pleasing no one, and worse yet you’ll end up losing your sense of self. If you prefer a different perspective, or want to follow a site that doesn’t always review positively but tries to be truly objective, we thank you for following us. Just don’t expect much butt-kissing or fawning in our treatment of a topic — we’ll be fair, but we won’t pull punches. If that makes us a little less popular with some, then so be it.
- And if some people just don’t like our irreverent style, the real truth is they probably haven’t really gotten to know something unique about us: authenticity. If we’re an acquired taste, we’re surely also an authentic one.
- We’ll never win awards. In fact, we’re not even trying because that isn’t our purpose.
Most bloggers do one thing wrong when they write a blog: they do it for the wrong reasons. Scentrist isn’t written to demonstrate how flowery or literate we can be. We already know who reads us, why, and what they expect: No-nonsense, candid (sometimes irreverent), direct information and writing. So we’ll get to the point, give you the information, and let the reader get on with their life because…well, they’re too busy to spend all day reading web pages.
We write for our audience, not ourselves. After suffering through a host of review sites where I asked whether they were going somewhere or just running laps, I began Scentrist with one theme: Make your point.
With that said, a couple of final announcements.
- A big “thank you” to everyone that has been following us, ‘Liking‘ us and reading us now for more than a year. Without a lot of fanfare, our one-year anniversary was this past October. We’re not giving out freebies, no gimmicks, we aren’t making huge announcements, we’re not going to jinx ourselves other than to hope you keep reading us as long as we keep writing for you.
All the best and peace for 2013!
Andy & Anna
So sorry to hear all that, if I have at all understood the whole idea. I have said before I've been learning quite a lot from your texts, and I must not be the only one. There is always plenty of room in the process of learnig today what we didn't know yesterday. The one thing that stricks me the most is the fact that you sound just like a normal person, a man, talking about "perfumes" and the industry behind ithem.Just clean prose about somethign some people do care about. I hope everything turns just alright in the end. There is still time to wish a Very Good Year, to all of us.
Three cheers for authenticity and irreverence!
I respect your opinion and especially your irreverence. I'm sorry to hear you could not work out certain difference and mend some relationships. Keep doing what your doing and the ScentTrist will flourish. As for your reference to goodsmellas… It is its own entity and has no real relevance here. Another time, another place.
"I understand", Frunk. I can't walk a mile if others won't take a step. 'Nuff said.
Thanks, Shera! Feels good to "get my groove back".
Thanks, José. If others gain something from the site, then we accomplished our purpose for being. If anything, this just gives us a lot more clarity toward getting to that goal. Cheers!
Thank you, too.
I've been enjoying your barrage of new posts, Andrew Buck! Keep up the good work!