Aging

  • Start date
    • •
  • Replies 342 Comments
  • • Views 35,192 Views
Very sorry for your loss Muddy.
 
plommer
15032203_1264831543586827_5778338288213015926_n.jpg
Click to expand...

I love this...
 
Here is my brother in better times. His name is Al and you can see how he got the nickname Alfro.

That thing on his lap is a TV remote.

To0zrlG.jpg
 
Outstanding. :10: Good-looking member of the -cat family.
 
That's kinda funny and fitting - that he would get the -cat thing by virtue of his connection to me - same way that I got called Stevefro, even though my hair has never been anything like an afro - just because of him.

There are people in this world who still call me Stevefro.
 
I will respond to Stevefro no problem.

My sister got called Suefro too. She was not really part of our crowd and I don't think she ever got called that to her face, but when being referred to, yap. Suefro.

The hair was powerful.
 
Chucked a whole crapload of my brother's books.

I offered to look after the cleaning out of his apartment. But my sister and dad wanted to do it. So fine. Go ahead. Let me know what it cost and I will pay a share.

So, among many other things, they toted 4 large, heavy bags of books outta there. :facepalm:

I'm not talking about books he wrote. Just books. Like half of them, he read once. A handful maybe more than once. There are a bunch of Stephen Kings which would not even have been his. Some woman from the past.

Some of them are very good books. We had very similar taste in reading material. It was a pretty standard thing that if I read something really weird, I would get him a copy the following Christmas. I saw a bunch of stuff like that in there.

So my sister asked me if I wanted them. I said yes, I will gladly take them. And I hauled these heavy bags of books home at Christmas.

And now I have chucked them. I have done her a favor but she will never know.

Maybe I'm a heartless bastard? Maybe, when I move in a couple months, I should haul a few hundred pounds of these books with me? For sentimental reasons? And make space for them in my new place? And dust them once a month. And maybe look at them from across the room and cry once in awhile or something?

:dunno:
 
I feel that smoking cigarettes is pointless and stupid.

I feel I can say that since I smoked once upon a time. I am not just being finger-pointy.

Only thing I am not 100% clear on though: I often comment how it does nothing for you buzz-wise. Like I find alcohol and other drugs understandable and forgivable to a degree, because they do something for you. A buzz. Cigarettes do nothing for you other than relieve the feelings of withdrawal created by cigarettes. And of course it's habitual.

Again, as an ex-smoker, I am not theorizing. I was aware the whole time I was smoking how I was getting absolutely nothing out of it. Doesn't mean it's easy to quit - but yap.

BUT occasionally I will hear a smoker describe something they get from smoking which would be in the same category as a buzz. Like oh my gawd that first smoke whenever, blah, blah, blah . . .

And they're talking like one talks about a buzz.

I personally feel they are just contriving what they have to to convince themselves they are not just being completely stupid and weak. Humans are a defensive race with an incredible capacity for believing what they wish were true. But I guess it's also possible people have a different smoking experience than I had and there really is at least something - a little bit - sometimes.

But I doubt it.
 
Are there still people who think smoking looks cool?

I see a girl smoking and she immediately drops at least two points on my superficial 1-10 rating.

I see a guy smoking and I think, "What a retard."

Not even getting into an analysis of what is going on - just the look of it. Standing there sucking on the thing.

What a retard.
 
Sounds like Mudcats brother's health effects and death from cancer have really shaped his view on smoking. He's obviously emotional.

Broadly, I don't see it as any different from any inherently risky activity. I see how people might enjoy it just as much as eating fatty foods, drinking sugary drinks, driving fast, etc. etc. Sure it's a risk/reward thing. I think at this point the risk side of the equation is completely defined - AND it's been not completely known to everyone in the past. However, I don't think Mudcat is giving it fair play on the reward side by saying it's zero. It's easy to summarily say - they taste gross, people smoking them look uncool, their is no physical effect from consuming them, etc. Those are conclusions, and I tend to disagree with them.

1. If you've never gotten a buzz from smoking a cig you're doing it wrong. That tingly all over feeling is a delight. Not to mention cigarettes are proven to be an appetite suppressant. So much so that the risk of obesity is markedly lower in smokers.
2. I love the taste of a cig. Am I brainwashed by the association between the taste and a nicotine fix? Probably... But give coffee to a kid - actual black coffee - you think anyone actually likes that shit?
3. It's a social activity in some places. I've met smokers while smoking, i've bonded over cigarettes with friends and i have it on good authority that some people DO think that chicks who smoke a) are more attractive and b) put out more.

I'm not saying the risk/reward is balanced in favor of the reward side or should be for every individual. I just think that denying there is any reward or benefit is undercutting anyone's credibility.
 
The pope character in The Young Pope smokes cigarettes. It seems pretty clear that is supposed to be cool. Someone is thinking it adds to his unexpected Papal kickass-ness.

I just think, what a retard.

I was once such a retard - but at least I didn't do something as transparently silly as buying in on a random religion.



The actual pope - Francis - seems okay a bit. He seems to be the one guy to really acknowledge how silly religion is, talking about how the bible should not be taken literally and of course everything was not just made by god basically waving a magic wand.

Like obviously, religion is made up nonsense and every religion ends up in the category of Mythology.

Odd that the Pope is leading the push on that though. Pragmatic. Admirable in a way. But odd.

No idea if he smokes cigarettes.
 
Cigarettes calm my overactive nerves. I smoked a pack a day when I moved to Toronto to cope with all the strangeness of living in a foreign land (don't laugh) and only being able to speak my second language.

It's totally gross though. My lips would swell from a mild allergic reaction to whatever chemicals are in there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.