I don’t remember the first time I was assaulted by second hand smoke, but I do remember having to work in “the smoking room” at the bingo hall I worked in through college and it was hell, but I was forced to go in there and interact with people who were just as nutty as those non-smokers, except they spent double the money on gambling because it seemed that in order to play bingo, they needed to physically attach a cigarette to their lips the entire time they were playing. When Bluetooth devices became popular some years later, I wondered if it was a similar addiction to the way cigarettes were.
I remember smelling like smoke and after a time I got used to it, used to it enough to handle going out to a bar once in a while, but once I stopped working there, once I moved on with my life then I really began to dislike smoke, I never could really dislike smokers, because I was always kind of jealous of them, the ease at which they bummed cigarettes, got to talking and then ended up getting free places to stay and random hookups with beautiful girls, all because they started talking about cigarettes or the weather, because it seems that the only people besides for outdoors nuts or fishermen that care about the weather are cigarette smokers.
Ever since voluntarily killing yourself through an expensive addiction that made you smell bad and your teeth rotten became a multi-party political issue smokers have been kicked out of practically everywhere that they helped create. Sure they are slowly dying off due to cancer, but where would the sleazy club scene be without sleazy smokers, I’m not saying that all smokers are sleazy, there are plenty of nice smokers, but for some reason club smoking always seemed sleazy. I kind of think text messaging has allowed a lot of people to quit smoking because they don’t have to feel like they need to do something at the club while they wait for their friends to show up, now you can always text message and not feel alone, before people would chain smoke or nurse beer, but now you can text. I don’t text, drink much beer or smoke, so I guess I look like a loser when I’m out alone at a concert and have nothing to do with my hands, except latch my fingers onto the ends of my belt and act cool.
I find it kind of weird that I hate smoking, hate the smell of smoke, yet I hate the people who want to ban smoking from everywhere, it just seems so controlling, kind of like the folks who want to ban marijuana, prostitution, gay marriage and suicide, if you’re not hurting anyone go ahead and do it, but I guess that would mean that public smoking is out because you are hurting people – but what if those people consent to second hand smoke, after all they are frequenting places which have clouds of death hanging over those drinking – which isn’t really much better for you anyway.
Come to think of it, it seems that the entire point of “going out” is to lessen your chances of reaching old age. The whole purpose of going out is to find someone to sleep with, yes I have heard that you want to have a good time and have some beers, but you can do that at home and yes going out is for the atmosphere, but the atmosphere is the girls and the potential to get some adds a lot of potential to going out. So right away you’re risking death by getting with random folks, then you drink which is bad for you, you probably smoke too and then you are likely to get in a car with someone who has been drinking but “thinks he can drive” if you get pulled over it costs money and stress and if you don’t you can wind up in a ditch. So you puke your brains out, stress out over DWI, sexually transmitted diseases and maybe not even getting chance to get some sexually transmitted diseases just seems like one death trap after another to me.
Besides for smoke I can’t think of too many other things I have been assaulted by that weren’t physical, oh wait, frying bacon, it’s a frum thing I know, but I gag when I smell frying bacon. It’s so interesting because people who love bacon, seriously love bacon, it’s a thing, just like people love herring. Bacon and herring imagine that, add some cheese and you have a real off the derech Kiddush club.