| Smokers are taking the bait. |
[Jun. 16th, 2008|12:13 pm] |
So, I've been keeping up with the news lately, and let me tell you, the recent rise in the cigarette tax in NY is working. According to the news, its expected that 150,000 people will quit by the time the year is out. Considering that this is NYC, I really don't think that is a large number, but they're using the numbers from their quitting hotline. I imagine that a lot more people will quit, especially those in low income areas because they will not be able to afford the luxury anymore. I got a deal on parliaments and camel wides from my local 711 (three packs of parliaments for the price of two, two packs of camel wides for the price of one) and I'm wondering if that will be the last time I buy cigarettes there. I've been looking into buying a rolling machine, and in the last couple of days out in Manhattan I have seen quite a few people with cigarettes they rolled themselves (one of them even asked me to borrow my lighter and thanked god that there were still smokers in the city).
I already have a fierce guilt trip for being a smoker for a few reasons, so this tax doesn't really help. One, I can't tell my parents or any member of my family for that reason, even though my aunt smokes, my grandfather and grandmother smoked, and my mom smoked. My family thinks its a filthy habit and even though they would never tell my aunt how to live her life, they'd have no problem telling me. And two, my boyfriend moved in with me in early May. He's a non smoker, but my room mate and I are, I smoked about a pack a day, but cut down to half that, usually. He doesn't like the fact that I smoke (his father and brother also smoke) and would prefer that I quit, even though he knows he has no right to harp on me about it. He recently had his first asthma attack in ten years (about a week ago), which, he thinks was caused by my smoking. Honestly, I'm not sure. He lived in a household with smokers before, and when he lived in upstate NY, I visited him for ten days and smoked like a chimney the entire time, while he was around and nothing ever happened. Due to my guilt about it, I haven't said anything to him about this, although I sort of want to say, hey, maybe you have a breathing problem now because of the steel dust from the subway, or from the bad air quality in the city (we had a heatwave recently and the air was so thick with smog you could have cut it with a knife). But, like I said, I feel too guilty about it. After his asthma attack, I moved my smoking to whatever room he wasn't in, but I think it sucks. I like to be able to sit in our bedroom and read or watch a movie or talk to him while having a cigarette, not go into the living room or bathroom alone to have a smoke and come back. I've always dated non-smokers for some reason, and it was okay with me to go outside and smoke when I went to their houses or something, I looked at it the same way I look at going to a bar or something. It wasn't my property, so the nice thing for me to do was go out and have a smoke. Plus, I never had to go out and do it alone. Even if it was the dead of winter, my SO would come outside with me and shoot the breeze while I had my puffs. This turned into a rant...but, not an angry one, I just feel like (as I'm sure we all do) I'm getting the short end of the stick here, and I don't want to damage anyone's health or anything, but, something is going to have to be done about this. |
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