I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke. I will not smoke.

My hand’s already tired (not copy-pasting). Guess this is sort of working. I commemorated my last pack on November 11th, but deep down lied to myself and those in witness. I haven’t bought a pack since, which is a good first step..

I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit. I want to quit.

I realized a few days ago that the reason I can’t seem to stop is the temptation all around. I wish they would implement more non-smoking regulations around Lebanon. Another crazy idea I got was that if I got the close friends who smoke around me to stop, I could stop. Then again, you can’t really change anyone’s behavior unless they’re ready to.. so it’s gonna come down to my own fierce will-power to mentally and physically reject it.

This actually took my mind off of buying a pack.

One point, me. Zero point, cigarettes.

death cigarette

What would you choose? Cigarette advertisements with cowboys and sexy women or a cigarette that says DEATH?

I was shocked to discover that this thing actually exists! And was even more shocked that people actually buy this stuff?! Seriously?!!

Hearing this first from my professor, I thought this was something that includes some-kind-of-illegal drugs but hearing more, I sensed that it’s just an ordinary cigarette with extraordinary packaging and marketing strategy.

I would have understood why people would buy this cigarette. Well, it’s something out of the norm and gives the “truth” point blank, so people might be curious about this…but my professor said that this was a serious business in the UK, as in people actually buy this because they prefer this than other cigarettes available in the market.

But ethically speaking, I could not fathom the idea behind this cigarette. For me, it’s like selling death and people actually paying for their death?!

Although in contrast, I appreciate this more than cigarette adverts with cowboys and women and some more women. A part of me actually appreciates the “truth” in its advertising strategy. I just couldn’t figure out why people buy it.

A very f***ed up strategy. But hey, I don’t smoke… never tried one and have no intention of trying, so who cares?!

…just a flick that’s all it takes. Just a small little gesture puts the fag is out the window. Why they hell do people do this? Why do smokers throw them out the window? They do it so casually. It almost seems like their is nothing wrong with this.

Most of the time you won’t even notice it. Most of the time you can’s see as the small slightly burning butt comes out the window and bounce along the road. No you don’t, but it happens everyday and I’m sure more then you think it might.

Yet at night you can see this sort of thing. At night the act is so visible. You can see the hot burning tobacco slide and skip down the freeway. Yet people think this is ok. It’s not ok. It’s anything but ok. It’s just as much littering as me chucking an apple core out the window. not that i’ve don’t that. Yet it’s nothing for people to toss there cigerete buts into the street.

No one says a word about it. We all let it slide. I’ve done it. I’ve seem friends just toss there their half lite cigarettes onto the grass. I’ve seen the devastation around UWM. You can’t smoke on campus so everyone stands outside and smokes. In the spring you can see the best gathering places for this. when the snow melts there are hundreds of stale wet butts littering the grass.

I don’t want to demonize smokers. I don’t care if they smoke or not. I would just like them to be as considerate as I have to be about littering, because it is a big deal. It annoys me and just isn’t right. It’s littering.

An article in Saturday’s Guardian newspaper offers a sad reflection on 21st Century values.

Looking at what assets rose the most in value during the first nine years of the century (the ‘noughties’), they discovered that the big winners were fine wine and cigarettes.

A case of Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1982 which would have cost you £2,613 at the beginning of 2000 (already a disturbingly large amount of money for 12 bottles of wine), sold at the end of October this year for £25,500, an increase of 876%.

And shares in British American Tobacco, whose brands include Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike and Pall mall rose over the decade by 454% with Imperial Tobacco – makers of West, Gauloises and Rizla - not far behind with an increase of 400%.

Although this was the decade that saw smoking outlawed in public places in the UK such as cafes, bars and workplaces, these two made their vast profits partly by exploiting lucrative new markets such as Nigeria and Pakistan.

So it seems that producing wine for the obscenely rich or peddling a proven cancer-producing drug to poor people in developing countries is the best way to increase your wealth.

How very, very sad.

Oblast’s Pryluky. The visit follows a controversial veto by Yushchenko of legislation that would have hiked the excise tax on tobacco products. Ukraine’s cigarettes are among the lowest taxed and cheapest in the world, contributing to a high rate of smoking and more than 100,000 smoking-related deaths each year.  Read on

Alright, here is the second part of the blog about signs. This will finish them up for this time at least until I find more that I can share with everyone. Have fun!

Please comment I would love the feedback

If it is not in use, then why is it there?

if there is a sign, is there not already a problem?

invisible what? People?

hahaha wow

where are we not supposed to swim?

where am I supposed to park my flying car?

what to say about this one...?

100...mph?

to..ease congestion?

keep left...when there is a huge hole there?

have fun with this one

hahaha wow

evil construction workers..

even though this is not a sign, it is still amazing

how do I get in?

better hope it is not to serious

I am glad they made it plain

watch out for those dangerous gravestones

All customer complaints should be taken care of this way

I hope they have a cell phone

Thanks to whoever made this bilboard

poor cockroaches...:(

what is this gate guarding?!

does this guy still have his job?

bummer, I wanted to cross when cars were moving

does the local trafic have flying cars?

only in America

but...I don't speak dog!

but I already gave my arm and leg last time I got gas!

can buggies go 55?

fine failure

Rock me back and forth, goodnight.
Your image fades to shades of white.
Kiss me as you hold me tight.
But you’re forever gone.

Your voice whispers in my ear.
Your bodies warmth as if you’re near.
My heart’s forever yours my dear.
You never loved me back.

Images to seal my heart.
The truth I kept in the dark.
Excuse me as I fall apart.
You were never really there.

Think back to times of you and I.
I realize I want to die.
A coal in your diamond eye.
You loved me never
And I forever you.

Never ones to shy away from their freedom in Christ, reformers love their cigars. They also enjoy pipes, clove cigarettes, and cigarillos. In fact, most forms of tobacco are acceptable with the exception of cigarettes, of which there is a divide among old and young reformers. The old reformers who used to smoke cigarettes are now telling the young reformers they shouldn’t – but mostly for health reasons.

As a general rule, cigar smoking is relegated to testosterone laced “guys nights” and to times when the kids are sleeping and there is some serious theology to be read. As accompaniment, whiskey is preferred, beer is acceptable (only if it’s microbrewed, see #2), and coffee is a fallback for when you’ve had too much whiskey or beer.

Thanks to an old pipe and cigar smoking buddy of mine, Lyle Wallace, of whom I’ve shared many a smoke, for insight in the crafting of this installment.

Light ‘em if God has so chosen to foreordain you to have ‘em.

Sometimes when reading a story in the newspapers, I have to ask myself because I can’t ask the folks in the story What in hell were they thinking when they did something stupid.

In a small towns in my home state of Tennessee, a dude shot himself in the face while cleaning his .22 caliber rifle. He supposedly emptied the rifle before he started cleaning it, only he musta forgot the bullet in the chamber. He said he had been drinking but he wasn’t drunk. My question is how did he manage to pull the trigger while cleaning the gun?

I’m glad I dont smoke. Two inmates at the prison in Middle Tennessee escaped, stole cigarettes and tobacco from a store and then return to the prison. Now they musta known when the authorities found the cigarettes and tobacco, they would know them fools had done escaped and come back. Course, now they got some extra time for escaping and burglary.

The cigarette habit is truly bad for you.

Criminals, I have always said, aint too bright.

While in the “remembering” mode I thought with the anniversary of his death just a couple of days away, it might be an appropriate time to jog a few memories with regard to an advertising icon who many of my visitors will be familiar with from their pasts. Many of you may not remember Johnny Roventini by his given name but nevertheless, you will surely remember him as an advertisement icon from the 1930s into the 1960s. That of course is assuming that you are around fifty-years old or older.

Johnny was only twenty-two years old working as a hotel bellboy when he was “discovered” by an advertising mogul who hired him and began using him in Philip Morris cigarette advertisements as a hotel page yelling, “Call for Philip Morris”. Johnny was a dwarf only forty-seven inches tall and weighing some sixty pounds but with his new found popularity he soon became the product spokesman for Philip Morris. A Philip Morris executive once described Johnny as a “living trademark”.

Many say he is probably best remembered in his and Philip Morris’ association with the “I Love Lucy” show in the early fifties which enjoyed immense popularity. Below is a memorable commercial from that show….

done

Lucille Ball was one of those unfortunate entertainers who got singled out by the “House Committee on Un-American Activities” in 1953 being accused of having communist ties. Those charges were eventually disproven after a long, hard fight but during that time Johnny traveled to the Desilu Studios in Los Angeles and stayed there giving Lucy his complete support and that of Philip Morris itself. It is said that Lucy very much appreciated that support and Johnny’s sincere concern for her well-being during those times.

Johnny passed away of natural causes at age eighty-eight on November 30, 1998. You can read more about Johnny by going here - “Johnny Roventini – Wikipedia”.

Promo Magazine
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning more than a dozen online cigarette sellers that they may be in violation of the new regulations against selling most types of flavored cigarettes to U.S. citizens and have 15 days to prove that they have stopped those sales or risk government action.

A ban on the U.S. sale of cigarettes flavored with anything other than menthol went into effect on Sept. 22 as part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

That law, enacted in June, gives the FDA power to regulate the content of tobacco products, along with the marketing and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, and the impact of ads for those products on young people. The new law also lets the FDA limit the amount of nicotine in products and block labels such as “light” and “low tar” that appear to offer “healthier” cigarettes.

So some of us like BBT absolutely hate large scale cigarette smoke in places that clearly say don’t smoke, but we respect smokers’ freedom to light up.

She was completely taken the moment he blew his luscious Tipalet Blueberry cigarette smoke in her face.
Seductive.

Quand je vous parle de télésiège, vous pensez immédiatement à ceux que l’on trouve dans les stations de sport d’hiver, dans les Alpes ou encore les Pyrénées. Et puis il y a celui plus atypique situé à Paris afin d’éviter de monter les centaines de marches qui mènent vers la Basilique du Sacré Coeur.
Mais il en existe un encore plus improbable que le funiculaire de Montmatre, au coeur des Flandres, dans une zone où la distinction entre Belgique et France reste floue, j’ai nommé le Mont Noir.

Ok, tu me dis qu’il y a un télésiège, mais à quoi il sert ? Il n’y a pas de montagnes chez toi ?
Des montages non, des Monts oui. Et le téléphérique situé au Mont Noir n’est pas utilisé pour aller skier mais pour accéder à un autre Mont, là où les routes et les chemins de traverses ne peuvent emmener le visiteur.

Et le Mont Noir c’est quoi ?
Véritable repaire à touristes, il réunit chaque week-end des milliers de Français venus chercher des cigarettes moins chères qu’en France, des bouteilles d’alcool de 5 litres au prix d’1 litre (Martini, Suze, Johnny Waker, etc.), des bières belges et du cuir chez Edisac à prix discount (du moins c’est ce qu’il est affiché, mais en réalité les prix sont semblables à ceux de la France).

Il doit son nom aux bois sombres de châtaigniers qui le couvraient à l’époque. A son contre-bas se trouve la maison de famille de l’écrivaine Marguerie Yourcenar dont le terrain a été transformé en Parc Départemental et où il est agréable de se balader et d’admirer les superbes jacinthes vers le mois d’avril.

En été, il est impossible de circuler en voiture, il est impératif de se garer à plus de 2 kilomètres de cette longue rue noire de monde (le Mont Noir ah ah ah !). Durant l’automne et l’hiver, la rue est moins bondée, mais les irréductibles fumeurs viennent s’approvisionner et profiter de la vue exceptionnelle pour boire une petite chope.

Et on va où avec le télésiège ?
Déjà, il s’agit du seul et unique télésiège de la région, ça vous l’aurez bien compris. Il a été construit en 1958, année de l’exposition universelle de Bruxelles.
Il a été imaginé afin de relier le Mont Noir (131 mètres d’altitude) au Mont Rouge (143 mètres d’altitude), un autre Mont des Flandres encore plus haut en altitude.

En prenant ce super ascenseur vous pouvez admirer l’un des plus beaux point de vue de la région et vous aurez la sensation de voler vers l’infini que le ciel peut nous offrir.

Il est ouvert de 13 h 30 à 18 h 30 les samedi et dimanche entre juin et septembre et le dimanche toute l’année. En Juillet et août, c’est toutes les après-midi qu’il est possible de décoller. Le départ s’effectue côté belge au café Le Cordoba. Et ça coûte 4 euros.

Those must have been  some magic cigarettes! Striking to see how blunt  cigarettes advertising could be…

sometimes i have stuff to do

sometimes i feel like dyin

i wish i wanted to go home

wait i have no home

the future looks bleak

sometimes i feel like i will live a great life

sometimes i feel like i should  die pretty soon

last night i had a dream about jenny lewis and ernest hemingway

jenny lewis and i were  waiting at a bus stop near the sunland park mall on the westside of el paso texas

we smoked cigarettes together and i held her hand

it was august , it was hot, the sun was setting

jenny lewis looked at a palm tree

i looked at some cars

she said ‘ were not taking the bus’

i said ‘ how will we get back to our houses than’

she said her friend ernest hemingway is picking us up

i looked at a palm tree and put my head down and said ‘ okay’

she said ‘ we can’t hold hands in front of ernest hemingway’

i said ‘ why’

she said because ernest hemingway likes me and i don’t want anybody’s feelings hurt

i said well it should not matter because your my ” girlfriend” and that is what people do when they are going out

she said yeah  but i like him too and i don’t want to ruin my chances with him

i said ‘ how is that supposed to make me feel

she said your acting like an asshole

i said  i am not acting like an asshole

she let go of my hand

ernest hemingway’s car pulled up to the bus stop

i said i am not getting in

she smiled and said ‘ okay’

i got close to her face and tried to kiss her

she pushed me away

and ernest hemingway beeped

and yelled ‘ stay the fuck off my girlfriend’

she got in the car and kissed ernest hemingway

ernest hemingway sped off in his shitty car and it made ‘ loud noises’

i texted her ‘ i’m going to kill myself’

i woke up and remembered that  it was not a dream

the whole thing happenned and but there never was jenny lewis or ernest hemingway

just some stupid girl and some loser who worked at subway or taco bell or some other shitty job like that

and it never took place in el paso texas

for  thnxfgvngs day i will say thank god :

that we broke up

that i never really even liked her  so  it’s easy to forget what she looked like

that  she ended up more unhappy than i was

for the other girls that i meet who are 1,000 times better

azns

my new found abilty to spot out sociopaths/bitches/losers/sadists/hippies

i don’t give a shit

i am sometimes hopeful for ‘ good things’ to happen to me

i feel overwhelmed in general

i want to lock myself in a room with a lap top and a fast internet connection and maybe a supply of vegan treats and rockstar energy drinks and bottles of adderall

i will be alone for two months

i did that

i felt simple

i felt alone

i did not feel happy but i never felt intense feelings of sadness

i went two months with out going outside or talking to a person

i went to buy some vegan treats  twice but that was it

and  i kept my head down and said nothing

it was easy

Well it’s been 2 days now and I haven’t had one cigarette. I know going cold turkey is next to impossible, but what choice do I have? My health is getting bad…

So the other day I was trying to find a good way to motivate myself to quit smoking. I ran through the usual reasons: better health, longer life, etc. But none were powerful enough.

Then I started thinking about all those fat corporate bastards who run the cigarette companies I was giving my money to. Like if you were walking down the street, and a long limousine rolls up. Out comes this fat bastard in an impeccable suit and he says to you in a drawl, “Ah say – young man, times are tough my son, would you mind helping a brother out? Maybe like ten bucks a day for the rest of your life. See my jacuzzi needs fixing, and my 4th mistress needs a new boob job, and blah, blah, blah.”

Like I said, it’s been two days. I’ve noticed that anger is good motivation for me when it comes to dealing with bad habits.

Dear Diary,

      I have a confession to make. Since moving last february I have made friends with a female gas attendant at the ESSO near my house. After coming in several times, she warmed up to me and we started talking and then she started to ask me personal questions to get to know me better. She asked me if I was married or if I had a boyfriend, and since I am such a private person in general I simply said no. She seemed as if she was raised in a very traditional home and wouldn’t be open to “unconventional lifestyles”  so every time she asked me I would answer no. 

     After about the 15th time of asking me through a couple months I finally relented and said yes, I indeed did have a boyfriend. She asked how we had met and I fabricated a story of how I had met my new prince charming. Over the course of several stopovers for smokes and chocolate bars in the coming months, I would give her little updates on my relationship with my new, gorgeous, and extremely athletic boyfriend.  Every now and then I would throw in some trite obstacle like “we had a fight” or “he is being difficult”  but then we would always make up. 

      It has now been 10 months and I cannot stop! The other day when I was buying my cigarettes, she asked how he was. I said we were doing great! She asked if we were going to get married but I said we were not at that point yet.  She asked me if we were thinking about moving in together and I said “actually yes, that is something we have discussed” Diary she was so happy for us! I said it was a good idea for us to live together first before I think about marrying him.

    Dear diary I think this has gotten out of hand. But, I cannot stop! In a few months I am thinking of telling her that my boyfriend has proposed to me!  Dear diary, help me!

With all my love and respect my friend & confidant.

xoxoxo Miss Singleton.

I’ve been meaning to comment about this since September, but I’ve been busy (and lazy).

So back in September, Obama passed a bill making it illegal to sell “flavored cigarettes”. As a Djarum Black smoker (on occasion), this broke my heart.

I’ve read two different reasons for the ban – 1) flavored cigarettes encourage underage smoking, and 2) most flavored cigarettes aren’t made in the US, therefore all the US gets is sales tax from the sale.

Here are the Smoker’s Hack arguments:

1) When teens start smoking, they usually steal cigarettes from their parents. What parents smoke flavored cigarettes? (Besides gay goth parents)

2) Flavored cigarettes are EXPENSIVE! If teens are going to spend their money, it’s going to be on cheap cigarettes like Basics.

3) If the US doesn’t like the import of these cigarettes, then they need to step up and make a good product. I love supporting the US – so get on it.

BUT – get this – MENTHOLS aren’t banned.

Why not menthols? Last time I checked – MINT was a flavor. Kools and ‘Ports are cheaper than cloves, easier to get than cloves, and more influential people smoke menthols than cloves.

I wonder……

There was a time where cigerette packages were not full of horribel warnings but beautiful cards for collectors with the passion for cartophily – the hobby of collecting cigarette cards! Sport and cigarettes might not be the perfect combination, however these cards from the 1930s are gorgeous – I would buy the cigarettes just to get the cards… but I guess it would not work in these politiacally correct times?

.

.

.

.

Found on designobserver

The smell of cigarettes kills my soul and makes me ill. I’m sorry for the children who will undergo gene therapy to have their TRPA1 gene shut off. Science Daily wants us to know that some people cough habitually because they are constantly exposed to cigarette smoke and other crap in the air. I think they’re all just unhealthy. Eat more broccoli, it rebuilds liver cells.

But more about air, I am a Libra and am extremely susceptible to air. There are people on this earth who walk by me and emit no scent. Most people do have scent though. Give me a scent and I am violently taken back to another time.

Ah, I digress. So there are protein receptors on our lungs and they are activated by acrolein and other crap and trigger a coughing reaction. We are a chain reaction. Life is a big fat chain reaction. Let the dominoes fall…

Oh and yea,

I suppose if the president of these United States — and especially His Articulacy — can be criticized for his grammar, anyone is fair game.

And so, Dan Neil, writing in the Los Angeles Times, laces into National Geographic, of all things, for a faux pas of its own. Obama has taken lumps for imprecise use of the first-person singular personal pronoun — though heaven knows he gets enough practice — but with National Geographic the issue is adverbial.

To be specific, Neil points out that the National Geographic Channel has been running a spot announcement designed to reinforce “the brand” with largely vacant language. One gets the impression that Neil could live with the vacuous message if only it didn’t lead up to this tag line: “Live curious!”

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

In other words, friends, enrich your existence by being curious — but you got that the first time. How much of a tempest this is depends on the size of your teapot, but it does call to mind the campaign that those of a certain age will remember: “Winston Tastes Good Like a Cigarette Should.” This slogan was used by Winston from 1954 until 1972, and its longevity had everything in the world to do with its effectiveness. English teachers and grammarians bristled and fumed, perhaps enlightening some who would have been unaware that a phrase in such a comparative construction must be introduced by “as,” not “like.” At the same time, the sticklers succeeded in calling even more attention to the rapidly growing cigarette brand.

At a certain point, Winston responded to the criticism with a new slogan: “What do you want, good grammar or good taste?” Presumably, “none of the above” was not an option.

For Dan Neil’s column, click HERE.