The Patchouli Incident of 2002

In 2002, I came down with the worse case of Influenza I have ever had!  Up to that point, most of my illnesses were kidney, bladder, and/or Urinary Tract related.  I was miserable!
I went to my voice lesson with Dr. B.  I wouldn't have gone, but my friend Joey was coming to work on a duet with me.  We started singing, and waves of nausea started flooding over me!  She looked at me and said, "You're green!  What's wrong?!"
I looked at her and said, "I'm sick! I need to go home!" 
She stated something about, yes, go home.  She didn't want to get sick, or something like that.  This was the week the choir was going on a tour.  I walked into Dr. Z's office, which he had a student in there, but I didn't even care.  I looked at him and said, "I'm sick. I'm going home. I'm not coming to choir rehearsal today!"
He looked at me and said, "Umm, ok."  I walked out and went home.
Around this same time, the Broadway musical "Rent," one of my favorite shows of all time, was in town.  I had already bought a ticket to go. My friend R. and I had already decided we were going to Applebee's for dinner. We went to Applebee's.  All I ordered was tortilla chips with ranch and a Sprite.  I could barely stomach them, but I still ate.  After dinner, we headed over to Tilson Auditorium. 
We get in our seats, and it turned out, a bunch of our friends and fellow music students were sitting around us.  We all had the cheap seats!  The guy in front of us, M. had brought a date.  I recognized her, but didn't know her very well.
Here's the thing, it was like she had dumped a whole bottle of patchouli oil on herself. We sat down, and were waiting for the show to start.  All the sudden, the patchouli smell got to me!  I ran to the restroom!  It wasn't fast enough!  Those red and white tortilla chips where coming up now!  And of course, there's a line in the ladies restroom!  Finally, someone leaves, and as I open the door, the vomit hits the wall of the stall. It was disgusting!  As I'm puking, I can hear the opening notes of the show starting.  That would be the SECOND time I've missed the opening of that show!
I cleaned myself up and the wall of the stall, and headed back into the theater. From that day on, the smell of Patchouli makes my stomach churn!  I had a co-worker that used to wear it.  As soon as I walked in the door for work, it didn't matter if she was in the room or not, I could smell it!  I told her the vomiting story more than once, to try to get it through to her, but she still wore that scent every once in a while.
What brought on this memory is, a customer came in wearing a perfume that smelled like it.  Now, this is an older customer.  She's not someone I would have thought would wear that smell, but she did.
And now, I have to go think about something else, as to not make myself sick.