Nasty Smoke On A Pretty Autumn Day

 

“There was a young lady named Mae
Who smoked without stopping all day;
As pack followed pack,
Her lungs first turned black,
And eventually rotted away.”

 
~Edward Gorey,

  Floating Worlds: The Letters of Edward Gorey & Peter F. Neumeyer

 

First I want to say, if you are a regular visitor to my blog, I mean no disrespect, however, I can't for the life of me understand the act of selfishness you see in the photo. I was, having a wonderful autumn day, thoroughly enjoying the autumn air, it was crisp and cool and just about perfect! I had just ordered myself a lovely Chai Latte from Starbucks, waiting patiently, when the nasty smell of someone's cancer stick wafted into my Mini Cooper.  It was coming from the car in front of mine, and the smell was particularly bad. Look, I just don't get it. You are in line, nowhere near the pickup window, and you're smoking with the car window down. You're obviously not into enjoying fresh air, which is fine, but why are you fucking it up for me?

Is it so hard to keep your window up? Really? You have a nice car, more than likely you have air conditioning, why do you force your stinky cancer sticks on me? Can't you just keep it to yourself? 

 

No really... can't you? Is it that you don't want the smell in your car? Is it that you don't someone in your car to breathe it in? Is it that your left handed, and can't hold the damn thing with any confidence in your right hand? Is it that you just can't wait until you get home? Or any other appropriate place? Can you not think of anyone other than yourself? Well, let me share the following... My mother was a serious smoker. She was a 3 pack a day smoker, and as you might expect, she ended up having a heart attack when I was 17. Bleeding ulcers followed. She had a stroke when I was 22, and a second when I was 23. She had open heart surgery when I was 25, and was diagnosed with emphysema a few years later. How she didn't get lung cancer, from her selfishness, is beyond me. How I wasn't born with birth defects is beyond me. I was born at 4lbs/9oz and 17 inches long. I only managed to reach the very tall 4'11, so maybe I didn't get away from the defects.

 

Let's revisit my questions...

 

Can't you keep it to yourself? 

Well, apparently not! 

 

Is it that you don't want that smell in your car?

No shit. Neither do I! And by the way, if it bothers you, please realize that fully!

 

Is it that you don't want someone in your car to breathe it in?

See my previous answer! 

 

You just couldn't wait until you get home?

BULLSHIT! 

 

Folks, please think about others around you! 

 

Care enough about yourself to not give yourself cancer. You will leave someone missing you. And believe me, they will carry it the rest of their lives. 

 

Believe me. 

 

One day, a well dressed lady took her cigarette out of her mouth, and set it down in front of Starbucks on a dirty edge of a window. A couple minutes later she came out, with her handcrafted drink, put the cancer stick back in her mouth, and walk away, like what she did was okay on any level.

 

 

It is not okay!

 

Please stop doing that. 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Something Interesting In An Ordinary Place

"To me, photography is an art of observation.

 It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... 

I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them."

~Elliot Erwitt

Here is my first portrait of the year! I love taking candid shots of people just living their life. It all began with brides in Golden Gate Park, and from there the project has just evolved. I try not to disturb the subject, because it alters the view of the every day life. I just enjoy seeing people being people. In this case, however, I was a bit annoyed that with an entire parking lot, let alone a very nice car, this man chose to stand next to my car to smoke his cancer stick. Why do people do that? I don't want the smell of their stinky habit in my car anymore than they do! People... please don't do that! Oh well, at least I got a photo out of it! And in a weird way, by the time I had taken the photo set, I was glad I got a chance to capture not just the man, willing to stand in the pouring rain to smoke, but for the chance to photograph the rain as a starring component.

So... any thoughts? Care to caption the photo? 

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

 

Blech

"If we see you smoking, we will assume you are on fire, and take appropriate action."

-Douglas Adams

Let's finish this weekend of rants with one last speaking of my mind, shall we? Does it get anymore inconsiderate then this? The other day I pulled up to a Starbuck's, for a venti sized elixir of life, aka, Venti/Shaken/Ice Tea/Lemonade with Passion Tea w/no sweetener, when I was cut off in mid-stride by a woman who just had to reach the door before me, but not before pausing for 5 seconds to deposit her cancer stick under the proudly displayed sign prohibiting such such behavior. This lady wasn't on foot mind you, she was parked in the car next to mine when I arrived. She stepped from her pristine oldsmobuick, lit up, and then made the decision to share her toxins with the world, knowing she was about to enter a smoke free environment. Sheesh.

It has bothered me for a long time. I don't understand how these useless things can even be legal? Lots, and lots of information available at our fingertips regarding the dangers being caused to smokers, and those around them, and yet even in 2008 folks are still lighting up. You know what breaks my heart. Folks like Dana Reeve, who passed away a couple years ago from Lung Cancer. She wasn't a smoker, but I suspect that the years and years she spent in smoky cabaret clubs entertaining people with her beautiful singing voice, probably left her lungs damaged. Her son is an orphan now, after having also lost his father, Christopher Reeve, to a tragic accident. How many good, but stupid, people contributed to her illness?

I know, I know... stupid is a pretty strong word. I don't use it often, but what would you guess is the intelligence level of someone who still continues to smoke, despite all the information available with the ease of a keystroke? I can meet someone nice, intelligent, giving, and loving, and instantly lose respect for them just because of this choice. The most attractive man on earth becomes hideous to me, just because of smoking. I watched my mother smoke my whole life. I say "my whole life," because she doesn't have a life anymore, she is dead. She would smoke, rather then eat, so she could stay "attractive." She was a fool. We all tried to tell her. She ended up with emphysema, and the lung capacity of a woman of 116, when she was just 50 years old. We won't discuss what life was like for her later in life.

I have been reading a lot lately about how to avoid some of the mistakes I made with Elvis. I want my two new little boys to be with me as long as possible. Alan and I are hoping for at least 20 years. The fact is, this is the last time I will be able to handle raising kittens. They are energetic little ones, and with my ever increasing degenerative arthritis, I know my olden days will be painful ones. It's all about planning ahead. In my travels I have also been educating myself on cancer in pets. I keep wondering if there had been something I might have done to cause the cancer Elvis had. So far I haven't found anything to suggest it was something specific I did, but I am sure that his being overweight, which led to diabetes, probably didn't help prolong his life.

I have learned that pets, cats and dogs, do indeed get lung cancer from the second hand smoke of their owners. The tragedy is that most folks who own pets, do so out of a genuine love for their fur babies. You can't put a value on how much a pet can enrich your life. I wouldn't have taken a million dollars for my Elvis, and I believe that's how most pet owners feel, and yet, there are the statistics which seem to indicate otherwise. Sigh. Maybe it was because I had just had my daily weep of loneliness for Elvis, but as I saw the inconsiderate woman deposit her cancer stick where she did, and in that moment, I had the question go through my mind about whether or not she owned and loved a cat. Sigh.

If you are a smoker, try to rethink your behavior. You must know by now the dangers of your actions. If you are a smoker, please reconsider what you are putting your loved ones, including your pets, through. You are asking them to watch you die slowly, painfully, and when you do die, what you get is rest, while your loved ones live in the pain of facing life without you. If you are a smoker, then smoke in your car, let the rest of us who really want to smell the flowers outside of Starbuck's enjoy them. If you have been smoking for any length of time, you probably can't smell flowers accurately any longer. It's too bad, a rose in December is something no one should have to miss in favor of carcinogens.

As always, I invite opinions. I ask only that you be respectful. Tell me what you think. Do you smoke? Have you ever lost a loved one to Lung Cancer? How about other cancers? Do you believe that smoking should be restricted to inside a person's home only? Opinions, opinions.

-Carly
"Environments"
Starbuck's
Somewhere In The East Bay
December 2008
Afternoon