I quit social smoking this year. And it is harder than cutting down. Chris and I both quit, and stupidly tested ourselves by heading to the Commnunist daughter where I annoyed everyone with a twitchy leg and shredded coasters.
Anytime one of us felt a niggle of temptation to smoke, we would visualize the other in a hospital bed, gasping with a respirator (we would even make gasping sounds to encourage one another, a charming party trick, for sure).
Kudos for Richard K. for starting the cold turkey.
For the record, in the case against smoking: 1>Dying nasty death 2>Making loved ones watch you die nasty death 3>The Man 4>Stinky everything 5>Premature aging 6>Numb fingers in winter 7>Advertising for big tobacco 8>The hideous wrinkly mouth smokers get. 9>Only one in every six is actually enjoyable. 10>oh yeah, visit any old age home and the ex smokers/smokers are the fucked up ones in wheelchairs and the hospital ward. The non-smokers can at least get about a bit without having to call wheel trans.
The reasons to smoke hardly stand up. I am going to try to be honest here: 1>The private moments you can take away from work, social scenes, stress. 2>Makes you feel vaguely badass 3>Helps digestion 4>cameraderie with fellow smokers 5>A way to measure time/separate events 6>A way to reward yourself for completing something 7>I know this is going to get flack, but hell, some people look cool smoking. I, however, am not one of them. Neither are you.
