ride ride ride, hitching a ride

An hour and a half to kill until Speech class kills me...

What to do, what to do?

Since I carry my LIFE around with me in my backpack, you know I have my handy copy of No One Cares What You Had For Lunch.

(I should totally do that Flickr thing where you take a picture of what's in your bag... Oh, right, here it is.)

Anyway, one thing I absolutely cannot stand in a guy is any sort of tobacco habit. My ex-boyfriend started smoking when he was a senior in high school, and I hated it. To quit, he started chewing. BRILLIANT. I honestly think this is the most disgusting thing in the world. Actually, three of my boyfriends (including the current one) have had friends who chew. Let me tell you, cleaning up your basement after they've been over and finding half a pop can full of tobacco spit isn't that great. I mean, what girl WOULDN'T love a can of some dude's nasty spit? Thanks guys, I'll cherish this FOREVER. All the guys I know who chew also seem to have phlegm problems. Thanks, but I'd rather not hear you eject your entire respiratory system through your mouth.

I also think smoking is extremely stupid, especially for kids my age. Our generation grew up with all that D.A.R.E. shit, signing papers that said we'd NEVER do DRUGS EVER, BECAUSE THEY WILL KILL YOU EVEN IF YOU ARE IN THE SAME ROOM AS THEY ARE. But most of us went on to do recreational drugs throughout high school, and some of us decided that wasn't enough and ended up in rehab after a semester in college. I get that. I get wanting to try new things. What I don't get is seeing black lungs and nasty teeth and wrinkly faces and fucked up voices everywhere you go and thinking, "Hey, that looks fun."

I'll be honest. When I was in high school, I smoked cigarettes. (HOLY SHIT, I know.) My boyfriend was 18 and he'd buy me expensive packs of cigs that tasted like chocolate mint and cherry. I also loved smoking clove cigarettes, that tasted like RedHots. I figured, if I'm going to do something detremental to my body, I might as well do it with something that tastes delicious.

But my mom smokes. She's smoked for a long time. I don't know when she started, but I'm guessing it was sometime around high school/nursing school. She smoked when she was pregnant with me. And she's tried to quit. I can't count the number of times. She's tried the gum, the patches, hypnosis, everything. But she can't quit. I know she wants to, but it's easier to keep doing it then quit.

So my question is, to those in my generation, why are you trying to set yourself up for a lifetime of addiction?

And aren't you FREEZING when you take a smoke break outside?

(And isn't it embarassing when you know non-smokers are laughing at you as you do a little dance to try and warm yourself up?)