I SMOKE!
"So...I'm sitting in front of my computer with a smoke and yesterday's cold coffee...life is good."
When I was a youngster, brightly colored billboards with virile cowboys on horses wanted me to become a "Marlboro man"! Many, many famous actors and actresses smoked! Night show hosts like Johnny Carson smoked on his show. 6 o'clock news anchors smoked right on tv! Parliament smoked! Sports heroes smoked and huge sporting events were sponsored by cigarette manufacturers!
I smoked in my doctor's office. My doctor smoked. My minister smoked. I smoked on city buses, in taxis and on jet planes! I smoked in malls and grocery stores! This was the norm and an accepted practice.
I could sit at ANY Tim Horton's, hospital room or fancy restaurant and fire up a smoke even if 2 feet away a family was eating expensive steak and they hated the smell of smoke. They didn't have a right to complain!
Now that I have been a "Marlboro Man" since the 60's, everyone wants to punish me for it and make me feel like a second class citizen!
Now...I am in complete favor of the new rights of the non-smoker but I believe these empowered tree-hugging, whale-saving, protect the environment extremists have had it too good.
Now when I smoke OUTSIDE of a cafe, restaurant, office building, at the open-roofed Skydome, etc., these folks still find reason to ....., whine and complain, and give a little cough at the sight of a cigarette!
What? You want a smoke free country now!?
If everybody quit smoking today, you'll all be crying about why your taxes double next year!
Your smug smile of disgust at my cigarette is an attempt to disguise the fact that you are 300 pounds and load your food with salt and sugar. You sit in front of the tv with the remote and gorge yourselves with pop and chips! And...when you're full, all you do is gossip and tell your friends why you are so much better than a smoker. And...you used to smoke!
I'm at least fit and get outside even if it is to have a smoke!
Soo...before you point the finger, before you open your mouth to complain about my smoke, before you give the "fake cough" thing to let me know you are disgusted with me and don't have the nerve to say anything, before you give me that old lady sourpuss, eye-rolling wince of disapproval, remember, it wasn't always so and I, like most, were heavily indoctrinated with pro-smoking propaganda and peer pressure to smoke back in the 50's and 60's. It wasn't completely all my fault. Can't wait to start vaping this week as electronic cigs are virtually non-offensive to anyone else except...those people that are offended at the mere sight of anything that even resembles a cigarette. To them I say, "Blow it outta yer butts!" Do some research! This is making smokers healthier!
Recently, I made it to 9 weeks of no smoking. I caved in on the very day of the ninth week. I found I just wasn’t enjoying myself and unless you used to smoke, wouldn’t understand. I no longer went to the lake in my car to sit and listen to some tunes or read, with a Tim Horton’s coffee and a smoke. Although many people complimented, encouraged me to press on and said how great it was that I had quit, for me, it wasn’t so great! The cigarette often was a reward or motivating factor. If I vacuum the living room, when I am finished I’ll sit down and have a smoke! I like to have a smoke while at the computer. Smoking and fishing go hand in hand! The 6 hour drive to Hamilton without a smoke was unthinkable!
I am back to my normal, fun-loving self. The overwhelming pressure to conform to what people would like to see as normal, is off! Yep…I know you can tell I smoke because you can often smell it on me and I am very self-conscious of that and do everything possible to prevent smelling like an ash tray. Listerine in the car…some Axxe body spray as well and of course, gum. I am fussy and all but the most sensitive olfactory capabilities can smell I smoke in my apartment even though I run an air filter as well as a fan that draws my smoke outside through the balcony screen door.
Yep...at the age of 60, do you not think that by now I know smoking is not good for my health?
I love living in Elliot Lake, the clean air, scenery and wildlife and there's nothing like having a smoke here compared to the cities however, I am moving back south to Hamilton at the end of March 2011!
Just a sec...puff, puff...aagh! That's better!
"So...I'm sitting in front of my computer with a smoke and yesterday's cold coffee...life is good."
When I was a youngster, brightly colored billboards with virile cowboys on horses wanted me to become a "Marlboro man"! Many, many famous actors and actresses smoked! Night show hosts like Johnny Carson smoked on his show. 6 o'clock news anchors smoked right on tv! Parliament smoked! Sports heroes smoked and huge sporting events were sponsored by cigarette manufacturers!
I smoked in my doctor's office. My doctor smoked. My minister smoked. I smoked on city buses, in taxis and on jet planes! I smoked in malls and grocery stores! This was the norm and an accepted practice.
I could sit at ANY Tim Horton's, hospital room or fancy restaurant and fire up a smoke even if 2 feet away a family was eating expensive steak and they hated the smell of smoke. They didn't have a right to complain!
Now that I have been a "Marlboro Man" since the 60's, everyone wants to punish me for it and make me feel like a second class citizen!
Now...I am in complete favor of the new rights of the non-smoker but I believe these empowered tree-hugging, whale-saving, protect the environment extremists have had it too good.
Now when I smoke OUTSIDE of a cafe, restaurant, office building, at the open-roofed Skydome, etc., these folks still find reason to ....., whine and complain, and give a little cough at the sight of a cigarette!
What? You want a smoke free country now!?
If everybody quit smoking today, you'll all be crying about why your taxes double next year!
Your smug smile of disgust at my cigarette is an attempt to disguise the fact that you are 300 pounds and load your food with salt and sugar. You sit in front of the tv with the remote and gorge yourselves with pop and chips! And...when you're full, all you do is gossip and tell your friends why you are so much better than a smoker. And...you used to smoke!
I'm at least fit and get outside even if it is to have a smoke!
Soo...before you point the finger, before you open your mouth to complain about my smoke, before you give the "fake cough" thing to let me know you are disgusted with me and don't have the nerve to say anything, before you give me that old lady sourpuss, eye-rolling wince of disapproval, remember, it wasn't always so and I, like most, were heavily indoctrinated with pro-smoking propaganda and peer pressure to smoke back in the 50's and 60's. It wasn't completely all my fault. Can't wait to start vaping this week as electronic cigs are virtually non-offensive to anyone else except...those people that are offended at the mere sight of anything that even resembles a cigarette. To them I say, "Blow it outta yer butts!" Do some research! This is making smokers healthier!
Recently, I made it to 9 weeks of no smoking. I caved in on the very day of the ninth week. I found I just wasn’t enjoying myself and unless you used to smoke, wouldn’t understand. I no longer went to the lake in my car to sit and listen to some tunes or read, with a Tim Horton’s coffee and a smoke. Although many people complimented, encouraged me to press on and said how great it was that I had quit, for me, it wasn’t so great! The cigarette often was a reward or motivating factor. If I vacuum the living room, when I am finished I’ll sit down and have a smoke! I like to have a smoke while at the computer. Smoking and fishing go hand in hand! The 6 hour drive to Hamilton without a smoke was unthinkable!
I am back to my normal, fun-loving self. The overwhelming pressure to conform to what people would like to see as normal, is off! Yep…I know you can tell I smoke because you can often smell it on me and I am very self-conscious of that and do everything possible to prevent smelling like an ash tray. Listerine in the car…some Axxe body spray as well and of course, gum. I am fussy and all but the most sensitive olfactory capabilities can smell I smoke in my apartment even though I run an air filter as well as a fan that draws my smoke outside through the balcony screen door.
Yep...at the age of 60, do you not think that by now I know smoking is not good for my health?
I love living in Elliot Lake, the clean air, scenery and wildlife and there's nothing like having a smoke here compared to the cities however, I am moving back south to Hamilton at the end of March 2011!
Just a sec...puff, puff...aagh! That's better!
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