cigarettes

[peachy]

smoking, at least cigarettes because here everyone is hookah crazy, has become so stigmatized and my dad smoked when i was a kid and all of that so i didnt really like smoking at all. the entire idea of it is pretty disgusting and repulsive, and cancer etc. etc.

im also not one to deal with stress very well at all. not that i get easily agitated, but i dont release stress well at all and it ends up building up and i end up breaking things, or hurting myself, or something stupid. this is probably some psychological thing that i need to see a therapist about.

but i dont want to spare the time or effort it takes to do that. so what i got accustomed to doing, was taking refuge in the therapeutic nature of writing. almost like the ramblings of underground man from dostoevsky, i rambled on and on in my notebooks and i made some good progress, and my writing started to escalate and blah blah blah.

some things eventually built up and tilted the **** out of me, so i decided to stop writing. no problem, because i had found out that i had a few friends that i could talk to and it was almost the same as writing, except there were more people involved.

but then one of them stopped talking to me, which was alright because they were pretty much a complete stranger, and then another one of them, a childhood friend from a neighboring state, stopped talking to me, and pretty soon i found out that i was back to where i started, and it got to the point where i had no escape and i had no way to let it out.

my destructiveness isnt the sort of thing that is really overt. its not like i slip into some violent rage and become a danger to society or anything. its a lot more subtle but its still noticable to the fact that when i was visiting my mom i overheard her talking about how she was actually scared of me because of it. this is a pretty big wake up call, when you find out your own mother is scared of you.

so i took a step back this time, when my stress started taking hold because i cant find it in me to write and all of my consciences, which is the name i refer to the people i talk to about things that matter, had not talked to me for a very long time, and i decided **** it.

i went to the store and i bought a pack of cigarettes and i took up smoking.

smoking is stigmatized. smoking is gross. its disgusting. its sick. its repulsive. its unattractive. in a lot of ways, it alienates me from society and i like that. this is one of the reasons im doing it.

what it also does is round me out. im sleeping more because i feel more tired. you might think this is a downside, but being able to fall asleep before 2am is very nice, and getting up before 9am and still having enough sleep to not feel like **** is wonderful.

it just slows things down for me. it lets me stop. my problems are still there, my stress is still there but now i dont care about it. its not even that i smoke when im stressed, i just decide every once in a while that im going to go have a cigarette. itll be 10pm and ill decide i need something from the store, so i grab my jacket and walk to the store and while im going i grab a cigarette. stuff like that.

am i addicted to cigarettes? probably. i dont think i am, but i dont want to stop. people say well if i wanted to stop then i could, but i dont say that. youre addicted to cigarettes they would say, why dont you quit. its bad for you they would say. well fine, cigarettes are bad for me. my health is getting bad-- let it get even worse. i dont want to quit.

sometimes when im smoking, i like to imagine that on my cigarette theres a little message. something written there, and each time i smoke a cigarette thats another thing from my life that im burning away. i get absolutely enthralled by the smoke, entranced and intoxicated by it and when i walk at night and i smoke the glow from the cigarette, the flash of the lighter, these are all things that are the sublime and are the beautiful.

what do you think?

[Kire]

Re: cigarettes

Just so you know, smoking from a hooka is WAY the hell worse for you than smoking cigarettes.

You're free to do what you want to do, and if it's worth it, accept the consequences.

[Biggie]

Re: cigarettes

Maybe this belongs in the Imaginari?

Anyways I thought it was okay, but this kind of relates to the annoying myspace blogs of kids that think adding smoking enhances any of there lame entries.

Reason why I quit smoking? Not because its unnattractive, disgusting, yada yada. Because there too damn expensive nowadays. Plus better health is a benefit. I have no problem with smoking. For some poeple its the only relaxation they get (like possibly you.)

Anyways next time you smoke a cigarette, just remember its a damn cigarette. Next time write about mountains or something.

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

Re: cigarettes

i think thats a lot of words to just say you started smoking.

i would strongly suggest you not smoke since its bad for you and quite expensive. i have alcoholism in my familly so i get the urge when stressed to drink but ive worked very hard to repress that urge by not keeping booze around. you should do the same thing and find better ways to manage your stress. an addiction is a horrible way to manage stress and will amplify your stress in the long run.


i wonder if smoking 100 years ago was "healthier" for you then today? i guess their wasnt all those stupid chemicals that they add into them now.

[Kire]

Re: cigarettes

I think it should be mentioned those TRUTH commercials are so lame that they just make kids want to smoke.

[peachy]

Re: cigarettes

Maybe this belongs in the Imaginari?

Anyways I thought it was okay, but this kind of relates to the annoying myspace blogs of kids that think adding smoking enhances any of there lame entries.

Reason why I quit smoking? Not because its unnattractive, disgusting, yada yada. Because there too damn expensive nowadays. Plus better health is a benefit. I have no problem with smoking. For some poeple its the only relaxation they get (like possibly you.)

Anyways next time you smoke a cigarette, just remember its a damn cigarette. Next time write about mountains or something.

its not really anything creative, and its not really something where i think i put in smoking because its supposed to be cool or deep or anything. i think smoking is disgusting and i dont tell people that i smoke.

i was just curious about the whole romantic notion i get from smoking, and this whole smogito ergo sum thing i have going on. do you think im making smoking too much into something poetic, and that smoking isnt really the thing thats balancing everything but rather these poetic cues that im taking from smoking? or maybe that knowing smoking is bad for me and destructive to my body and in a lot of ways my social status and doing it in spite of this helps me affirm my existence and that is the reason why i am feeling so much better although being admittedly worse off, because not only am i not dealing with problems, not only am i not building the social connections i was talking to my consciences or creating in the same sense that i was writing i am doing something that leads to in all likelihood speeding up my own inevitable demise, or at least making my passage through life more uncomfortable?

or maybe im just putting too much thought into it and i just enjoy smoking.

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

Re: cigarettes

I think it should be mentioned those TRUTH commercials are so lame that they just make kids want to smoke.

those commercials are a waste of ad space. better use the money to solve the problem directly through preventing smoking. perhaps banishing smoking around school property, or better yet make it illegal to smoke if your under age (to try to halt teen smoking since adults can make their own decisions). if you need to be an adult to buy them, you should need to be an adult to consume them too.

what is causing people to start smoking in the first place? is it that they help reduce stress or something? might be better to tackle that angle of the problem rather then blab about the health problems since the health stuff happens slowly and seams to be more "acceptable."

an adult is responsible enough to know the problems of smoking.

[Biggie]

Re: cigarettes

or maybe im just putting too much thought into it and i just enjoy smoking.

I think almost everyone puts too much thought into smoking.

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

Re: cigarettes

I think almost everyone puts too much thought into smoking.

anything that comes to your health should be thought about. it would be negligent to not think hard about willingly putting your health in a dangerous situation. sure the effects are minimal per smoke but over time they build up to cause cancer. that right there should be enough to put a lot of thought into it would you say?

[Biggie]

Re: cigarettes

I think there are worse things than cirarettes out there. And all the health risks taken with smoking are well known, considering its been literally been drilled into our skulls by a many unwanted amount of times. Which in turn usually gets poeple who like to smoke get treated like second class citizens.

[JPS]

Re: cigarettes

I never started because my mom had a scare with lung cancer when I was 15, she quit cold turkey and never had withdrawals or anything and she had been smoking for 30 years, withdrawals is a psychological thing.

I just live life by taking problems as they come one at a time, stressing out about stuff isnt going to solve them, if theres no way to solve a problem, then I make a way to solve it, and if I cant make a way to solve it, then Ill deal with it, but either way smoking does nothing for the problem.

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

Re: cigarettes

I think there are worse things than cirarettes out there. And all the health risks taken with smoking are well known, considering its been literally been drilled into our skulls by a many unwated amount of times. Which in turn usually gets poeple who like to smoke get treated like second class citizens.

doesnt mater if their is worse things out there, all things that are bad for your health should be debated by yourself.

you could say there is worse crime out there and police should be focusing on that rather then your petty crime of speeding or trespassing. yet in that case all breaking of the law is treated not as priority to harsher crimes but as its caught. shouldnt you take the same approach when it comes to your health?

im not going to tell you to not smoke, thats your decision. but trying to defend one bad habit by saying theirs worse out there is just bad logic.

edit: ive had 4 people in my family die of cancer due to smoking and one more who is close to death. so im very much against smoking and well aware of the damage it can do.

[Biggie]

Re: cigarettes

doesnt mater if their is worse things out there, all things that are bad for your health should be debated by yourself.

you could say there is worse crime out there and police should be focusing on that rather then your petty crime of speeding or trespassing. yet in that case all breaking of the law is treated not as priority to harsher crimes but as its caught. shouldnt you take the same approach when it comes to your health?

im not going to tell you to not smoke, thats your decision. but trying to defend one bad habit by saying theirs worse out there is just bad logic.

edit: ive had 4 people in my family die of cancer due to smoking and one more who is close to death. so im very much against smoking and well aware of the damage it can do.

Your comparing apples and oranges good sir. If you are of legal age to smoke, and choose to do so isn't illegal. I currently have two grandparents hooked up to oxygen tanks 24/7 because of smoking, and both of them only have the lesser of 3 years to live. Do I blame smoking? No, that was there choice. If someone dies of a heart attack, am I going to blame cheeseburgers and greasy fries?

I'm sorry about the loss in your family, and trust me I do understand. Sure I maybe defending smoking a bit I guess, by focusing more on the pros instead of the cons. I just think the anti-smoking craze should die down. Some poeple need to just chill out and stop seeing a citizen pointing a gun there mouth when there enjoying a drag of a cigarette.

[Caciss]

Re: cigarettes

those commercials are a waste of ad space. better use the money to solve the problem directly through preventing smoking. perhaps banishing smoking around school property, or better yet make it illegal to smoke if your under age (to try to halt teen smoking since adults can make their own decisions). if you need to be an adult to buy them, you should need to be an adult to consume them too.

Is this a joke?

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

Re: cigarettes

Your comparing apples and oranges good sir. If you are of legal age to smoke, and choose to do so isn't illegal. I currently have two grandparents hooked up to oxygen tanks 24/7 because of smoking, and both of them only have the lesser of 3 years to live. Do I blame smoking? No, that was there choice. If someone dies of a heart attack, am I going to blame cheeseburgers and greasy fries?

I'm sorry about the loss in your family, and trust me I do understand. Sure I maybe defending smoking a bit I guess, by focusing more on the pros instead of the cons. I just think the anti-smoking craze should die down. Some poeple need to just chill out and stop seeing a citizen pointing a gun there mouth when there enjoying a drag of a cigarette.

im comparing logical approaches, not the legal aspect of smoking. the law does not dismiss the breaking of its laws just becuase its a less serious crime so you too should also not dismiss "minimal" health problems just because there are worse ways to damage your health out there.

i think some of the problem is that the ads target too large a scope. adults already know the danger of smoking so the targeting should be directed at those who have less experience - the youth. the mass amount of ads against smoking have crossed into being too common and ignorable.

as for anti smoking laws and such i think some have gone too far, but then again why should those concerned about their health have to inhale others smoke? though id like to see a study to see the effect of people smoking on a street has on a walker-bys health - i bet it would be insignificant and would prove the silliness of the laws.


@Caciss: i changed my mind, ill indulge a good intelligent debate.


effectiveness of smoking ads on youth
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...103101158.html

some info on the success of banning of smoking on school property
http://www.math.yorku.ca/ISR/newslet...r.1997/ban.htm

a small blurb on banning the smoking of cigarettes under age (in canada you can smoke but you cant buy)
http://www.tobaccofree.org/news%20ar...NC-Oberver.htm