Think about it

[Pix]

On other aspects of society being destructive I'm just sharing something because I think it's amusing.

I don't smoke. I tried it twice (once when I was 4, another when I was drunk and for some crazy reason smoking cigars became a fad among women of Russian descent who took advantage of my addled mind to try one without bothering to instruct me in how to properly smoke a cigar first) and got sick both times. I generally considered it expensive and nasty but there's a lot in life like that so I generally tolerated it as long as butts weren't littered about (or, much worse, tossing a lit cigarette out a car window which I've seen done) among some other things. I used to provide ashtrays but stated those who didn't use them wouldn't be allowed to smoke in my home. The smell did get into about everything, though sometimes (in my younger days) it also helped cover up the scent of pot that also got absorbed.

I think it was about 5 years ago (and no longer allowed for ashtrays in my home) when I was helping an older guy who was recovering from surgery. I was in his fossil of a truck (clutch, manual choke, lever to roll down the window, etc, IIRC it was a model from the 60s) and given his age I just shrugged off his smoking as to them it's completely normal, and it was his truck after all...I was glad he had his window down even if it was because it was a hot day and his truck lacked AC.

He pulled into a McDonalds with cigarette still in hand as he made it to the drive through window...and the lady flashed a No Smoking sign at him.

I couldn't help it...I just started laughing out loud. His truck was pouring out far more noxious fumes (bet it was technically illegal in California) into the window than his cigarette (which I recall the smoke actually coming to me so that I cracked the window hoping to draw it above me)...and it's friggin McDonalds with their noxious grease combustion let alone infamous food. Even to me that No Smoking sign was absurd.

[Pix]

Btw, an interesting observation I had of myself recently. I was having mouse troubles so I got a wired USB. And then I was glad that I wasn't using batteries anymore. But it wasn't the issue of batteries because I had that mouse for years, and while I took minimal efforts to conserve them I didn't replace it until it wasn't convenient anymore. Before it was a twinge, but now that I've actually changed it's become a lot more important to me.

I think that's part of being human. I read of one guy who thought it was okay to smoke on his sabbath when he fasted from pork but then he was a smoker who didn't eat much meat. If the guy loved bacon he probably would've figured it would've been okay to have bacon that day, too. Heck, there used to be a guy who posted a lot on GS saying how important it was to accept morals as promoted by the Catholic Church or otherwise we'd become depraved without moral guidance, yet somehow he was fine having sex with strangers on nude beaches and gay saunas and he said something about the Catholic Church being wrong on that one issue. It was inconvenient to accept that aspect so he didn't.

And I've always marveled at such cognitive dissonance...and now I get to marvel at it in myself. :redface:

[Pyromancer]

The only habit I found that releases the tension of dealing with people is a baseball bat over their head... Unfortunately that is illegal in all areas except North Dakota - but who wants to live there? :eek:

Honestly, for those of you who never picked up the smoking habit (which is great and wonderful) you cannot comprehend what it is to be a smoker and what it is like to quit smoking.

Yeah sure, many have quit - but even they will tell you that the habit never fully leaves and they spend a good deal of time combating the enemy of tobacco in their head.

Most people who smoke do so because it relieves tension. Its a stress reducer, and while you may be all high and mighty about your ability to handle stress without a smoke, the reality is you most likely have a lot more 'issues' and 'habits' to relieve tension.

This whole 'anti-tobbacco' campaign is based on faulty data to begin with, furthermore, peer pressure to quit doesn't do anything to make a smoker more prone to quit - if anything it makes smokers wants to get up in your grill and blow smoke in your face until you turn blue and die.

Why? Because you are adding stress - and smokers don't handle/process stress like you do.

Okay, so I don't smoke, never smoked...I don't understand smoking, but I do know a bit about addiction. I've heard medical professionals say that nicotine is the most addictive drug in existence, and I believe it. I have a friend from my 12 step group who spent 20 years addicted to alcohol, IV morphine, oxy and heroin. He beat all of those...clean and sober for 19 years...but his nicotine addiction is (literally) killing him. He has emphysema. I can't tell you how many times I've watched him sink to the point where he can't breathe well enough to walk across the room. And he says, I gotta get off these things and slaps on the patch. And a few days later the breathing eases a bit and he's lighting up.

I got to the point with alcohol where I was drinking when I desperately didn't want to drink. I get where he's at.

So yeah...I hate smoking, you can't smoke in my house or my car and for fucksake use some Scope before you kiss me. But I won't condemn smokers...I was condemned too often and too harshly over my own addiction to ever pass it on.

[Beaux]

Properly this should be under "Humour" but there's an underlying message that is really quite serious. So all you smokers, think about it,

Where is it that you live, where people who smoke are coming to your house, getting in your car, and rubbing their smoke filled cloths all over you?

You cannot even smoke in bars or restaurants here in South Carolina. Nor is it legal to smoke on college campus', within 50 feet of a public building, park, school, ect...

So how is it affecting you if I sit on my back porch and smoke a cigerette...?

~Beaux

[yousir]

Lol londoner through a tiny bone into the room and we all pounced on it like rabid dogs.

You just all need to accept that we are all entitled to my opinion.