Ishmael wrote:Trolls win.

You must be quite a winner.

Quitting is so easy.. http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/01/25/sm ... topstories

I just quit. I hate not smoking. But I love the fact that I'm no longer smoking. Got to respect something that can cause double think.

not crap

So, OK. My dad just went back into the hospital once again today. He's in for cellulitis, which is an inflamation of the tissues and where they connect to each other. This is caused by bacterial infection. He's set up on IVs for the next few days.

My mom said he should be out in a few days and should be ok, but the tone of her voice wasn't very assuring.

Why is his face completely swollen up from cellulitis? Because his teeth are rotting out of his head, and the dentist has not yet yanked them for fear that his gums wouldn't heal properly.

Why wouldn't his gums heal properly, and why are his teeth rotting? From radiation treatments he underwent seven years ago.

Why did he undergo radiation treatments seven years ago? Because he had cancer in his throat, tongue, and the roof of his mouth.

Guess where he got the cancer from? Yup, smoking for 25 years straight.

I understand that susceptibility to specific cancers is probably genetic--after all, some people smoke their whole lives and all they have to show for it is yellow teeth. So i have made it a point to not be "that guy" and constantly tell people that they shouldn't smoke, because look what happened to this one person i know who happenes to be one of the most important in my life.

After all, just because my dad has a permanent speech impediment from missing part of his tongue, and is in and out of hospitals twice a year now, and is probably fucking dying at age 59...well, that doesn't mean every smoker in the world will. I get that, so do what you will.

But man oh man, this isn't fun.

My brother and one of my sisters smoke. I think they're fucking idiots for doing so and i wish so much they would quit, because we fucking know it's in our family and we know what it can do to us.

Smoking = CRAP. Please indulge my momentary weakness; i promise i won't lecture you when i see you light up.

Sorry to hear that, Doctor Awkward.

The fella across the hall from me, Ed, smokes two packs a day, but he's schizophrenic.

These days I only smoke every now and then, on average five times a week. I prefer to roll my own cigarettes when I have that option.

Question: Are cigarettes one rolls for himself less damaging than filtered cigarettes out of a pack? Less additives, etc.?

I'm just amazed that smokers don't understand how disgusting cigarettes smell and how they seem to be oblivious to the fact that people who don't smoke don't want to smell that nasty shit or breathe smoke into their lungs. I mean is it necessary to smoke a cigarette every five fucking minutes? I mean you're inhaling hot smoke into your lungs like twenty times a day I just don't get it.

eva03 wrote:I'm just amazed that smokers don't understand how disgusting cigarettes smell and how they seem to be oblivious to the fact that people who don't smoke don't want to smell that nasty shit or breathe smoke into their lungs. I mean is it necessary to smoke a cigarette every five fucking minutes? I mean you're inhaling hot smoke into your lungs like twenty times a day I just don't get it.

To be fair, i really don't find the smell all that disgusting, despite the fact that i don't allow smoking in my house or car. I've been around it all my life, though.

Sorry about your father, Doc. I hope he gets better.

I'm a smoker, and I respect people's wishes about not smoking in their home or car. It's like what Matthew said, you need a firm decision to quit. Some people can give it up quick, while others wrestle with it for years.

This one is more complex than simple crap/not crap.

First off smoking is crap because it damages your health, but unlike most other addictive drugs does not provide a noticeably pleasurable buzz. No wonder it is one of the legal ones.

Second, yeah as noted people who act like it their god given right to chain smoke a couple packs a day regardless of circumstances and being considerate of others around them, are human crap. Then the ones who get indignant and act like you are stripping a fundamental human right to have them refrain from their damaging habit for an hour or two are just idiots. I will believe their strong convictions for rights of the individual as soon as they likewise fight to get cocaine and heroin addicts out of jail who are similarly addicted to drugs and self absorbed.

However indulging in an occasional cig if you got your habit and your sense of entitlement are in check, is not a bad thing and therefore not crap. I made myself very uncomfortable a few years ago resolving to quit the habit entirely. After torturing myself with abstinence I gave in to the craving and kept it just to situations where I wanted to smoke. Which is only the once or twice a week when I am out getting liquored up. During the three or four days between hanging out in taverns I do not smoke tobacco at all. Then again America as a whole has a real issue with you are either doing something or not in a fascistic binary fashion, rather than just indulging in things in moderation from time to time. All the twelve stepping militant prohibitionist philosophy that has a strangle hold on drug treatment in the States does not help matters either.

Still in sum total of two craps and one not crap adds up to crap. There are better drugs out there than tobacco.