BSmack wrote:
25 years ago you used to be able to smoke in just about any normal public place. Now some people are being told they can't even smoke in their own apartments. I'd say there's some provocation there.
Nor should you be able to smoke in an apartment. It's
borrowed property, not owned property. Do you have any idea how hard it is to rent out an apartment after a regular (say, a pack a day) smoker has been living there and puffing away for a year or more? In addition, they have to repaint all of the walls and ceiling to cover up the tar, and replace the carpet (cig smoke laughs at shampooers), costing them well above and beyond the deposit amount. If they don't want to go to those lengths, 4 out of 5 people won't want to rent the place because it fucking stinks.
War Wagon wrote:Well good for you. Reformed smokers are usually the most intolerant of the anti-smoking crusaders. Same with drinkers.
I used to smoke about a pack a day from age 18 to 28. Now, other than if I'm just passing a smoker on the sidewalk, the shit gives me a splitting headache, so yeah, I'm all for the smoking bans in public places, but not out of some misguided hypocritical principle bullshit.
I also have a very addictive personality, and my philosiphy is that if *I* can quit,
anyone can quit. So less sympathy for smokers anymore. I don't begrudge anyone their vices though, as long as I'm not subjected to it. As long as smokers keep to the designated areas in stadiums, workplaces, etc, I don't have a problem with it. I remember how bad the urges were to smoke one an hour or so, so I empathize with them a bit.
War Wagon wrote:Speaking for myself, there's no way I could quit smoking unless I quit drinking first. Been there, done that, and decided that I enjoyed drinking and smoking more than not drinking and smoking.
The day I decided to quit, I went to the smokiest bar in town (I was in Minnesota at the time, so all bars allowed smoking) and spent the whole night there, figuring that if I could handle THAT kind of torture, that I could handle quitting. I did it, even though it was a bitch, and I used that to motivate myself from then on. i.e. "If I could handle not having a cigarette that night, then I don't need one today", etc. I also started going for long walks and rollerblading a few miles several times a week, so that I could get all of that shit out of my lungs. I also knew that the more I cleaned out my lungs, the less I'd be able to handle going back to smoking.
The main reason that I decided to quit is that (even though I didn't have any at the time), I decided that I wanted to see my kids and grandkids grow up and didn't want to die in my 50's, like my Mom's Dad did due to a pack a day habit with Lucky Strikes. I knew that if I kept smoking into my 30's that I'd probably never stop.
Anywho, best thing I ever did. Not having that monkey on my back and that drain on my wallet is a great feeling.