one real smoke left,

I’m just going to wing it

Smoking.

Nice subject, are we totally aware of its origins ?
The idea was the “prospect of a man, holding fire in his hand”
The availability of fire
Smoke, some of it smells very sweet - incense.
Anyway, after a time it became cachet, for the privileged, who could afford to buy things to smoke, as opposed to buying food to survive.
Ballrooms, drawing rooms, libraries –
A man in an absurd jacket, sitting in a leather chair, in a library, smoking.
See the picture ?
Think of all the characters in movies, let a lone real life, who come off with a believable performance where smoking gave them the credibility.
Smokers generally have a bad boy/sexy girl attitude.
And then smoking became common, widespread and overwhelming in potential profits, huge money.
I used to be kind of jaw dropped at what smoking adventures some of my relatives enjoyed, you know, black cat plain, sportsman, plain, raw tobacco smoking…the full bodied smoke.
Roomfuls of it. Carloads. Smoking.
Its not a wonder I started to smoke.
-Its been an expensive tour.-
How many times have I tried to quit ? Several, some outright quick…went on an adventure each time. Some went further than others and then, I got social and had to ask for a smoke, thinking, ah, one, no problem. Well, if you ask for that one smoke too early in the night, by the time the night is over, you’ve had 3 more. First thought the next morning is a pull. Being able to stop, right there, is a real art.
Its an insidious pull, chemical reaction that says, sir can I have some more, please ? The first drag thunderstrikes your brain. M m good

What’s more insidious is the thorough reluctance of any government to outright ban it.
We all know its bad for you, but we have known that all of our lives.
Its one of those blinkered things.
Stares us in the face true and we pretty much choose to ignore it. It’s not glamorous.
The producers give away a lot of money, its not unethical to take a tobacco company's inducements, especially to get into and stay in politics.

And now the expeditious alarming race to extinguish the fire, once so prevalent in our lives.
No smoking. Anywhere. We will give you a fine!
Throw you in jail, criminal, just criminal.
I think it will get to the point, again, of freedom…what kind of world do we really want ? yes sir, no sir, here are my papers sir ?
I love a couple of media statements – known to police and you have nothing to worry about if you behave…
Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Like a sheep. No ?, then what ? yeah, like, I went to jail for smoking in a car that children ride in sometimes…
Think about it.
I could never be a radical nonsmoker, its kind of a religious type thing to some…
nothing better to do.
Seemingly we can no longer do want ever we want do…
there will be no place for smoking, a puff and your busted.
Smoking, is more than paying tons of bucks for a chemically induced habit…it can kill you. Yes, yes, it’s true, I telling you.

How does smoking affect my health?
A nice hack that I swore I’d never have,
Too many reasons to visit dens of inequity, be entertained, so, go ahead, smoke like a chimney, constant - have a drink if you like.
Get a good dose of ‘smoke head’.
Headache caused by smoking too much the night before, nicotine and general smoke OD,
Have a Nice Day!
- you can actually feel the blood vessel constriction. Worse when hungover.
Advil works.
I can feel smoking killing me. Some days are worse than others. And yet I continue.
Canadian cigarettes have more chemicals than US smokes.
Marlboro, the real one’s from America…different headache, altogether.
Nonetheless, it’s still not a good thing for me.


Lets see if I can conclude this nonsensical obligation that has imposed for 27 years.
Yeah, that long.
Nasty.
Never thought of it in that term before.
Nice-.
Give your head a shake. yeah, whatever.
Yes, give it up, be strong, be brave, persistent and see what happens.
February 1st, 2008.
Set a goal. carry on.
A friend is coming to visit, she doesn’t smoke.
Time in Vancouver. A day off. Me too. Promising all around.
Investigate something, try a good snack.
Look around, see what’s happening its winter in Vancouver. Any fun?

I have 7 smokes left in the pack and several smokable halves on the deck.
I have to clean the tray out anyway, guests, yes, work it.
Alright, so, now publish and hold to the plan.
Talk myself into it.

Yeah, just wing it -

obscurities for the New Year - 2008 !
Good morning. another writing on the wall. Lets look around and see whats going on – environment is all the rage. So is real estate. Witnessing last available waterfront ‘community’, in Vancouver, go on sale. Politics, always politics. It’s raining again, a lot. There is snow on the mountains and yesterday it was ‘cold’. Hockey season is well underway and there went Christmas whereby Canadians got to go to America and buy things at prices never seen in Canada.
New Years 2008. 2 years to the Olympics in Vancouver (read out of town vacation for me). January 2008 leaves 12 more months of George as president. The horror. If offence is ever given, turn the other cheek ok….look to the south and what do you see ? a population of very rich and/or visually famous, who get to travel far and wide to be ‘seen’ and the general masses never having needed a passport and never will. Balance is everything. Swaying the balance is advantageous for a bit. When the pendulum shifts you have to have the strength to hold on.

Are we ready for winter ? Last year, the day the snow began to fall, it started to snow. A lot. The plane was the last to take off from Vancouver for a bit that night. Went to Hawaii. 73 degrees Fahrenheit when we got off the plane. Returned and the snow was but slush on lawns along Granville street. Downtown, it was wet - missed it all. I like Hawaii. Been there a lot, twice by myself. Really like the big island. Take a tour, kona-hilo-kona. At Kona, point the car south and drive – it’s a circle road, you cannot get lost. The climate changes as you go - hot, sunny, windy, warm, rain, heavy rain, steam bath, sunny, windy, hot again. Volcanoes, steam vents, flowing lava, palm trees, rocky lava, sand in 5 different colours – white, gold, pink, green and black - sugar cane, coffee and macadamia nut plantations are all on display as you drive the circle. Like coffee ? Take a look at why real 100 % kona coffee is so expensive – not much if it grown. More Hawaiian flavour and culture than Oahu, Honolulu and Waikiki – in fact, traveling to Hawaii to go to Oahu, Honolulu, Waikiki is no more special or Hawaiian than most of the cities of southern California. Maui is coming up to Honolulu in general traffic and noise. The big island and, more so Kauai, can still impress the feeling that the islands and its people are in Hawaii. There are other islands out there. But they are a secret – don’t want it too too busy. Palm trees and sunshine. Always a breeze. The lanai is a great spot and the beach is a tour. Outdoor pool is a pleasure.

Do you ever get the feeling that the whole opportunity here is heavily controlled ? it has to have some semblance of control or there wouldn’t be many people left…if anarchy reigned. The horror is right. At what price freedom, a quote from somewhere but terribly valid in view of all that goes on, or could.

Limited resources. I wanna fly off about environmental awareness and perceptions here for a bit…go away boy, ya botha me – Foghorn Leghorn, the rooster.

My take on the whole thing (the environment and climate change.) is that it is something we can do very little about to prevent from happening. Its not far ‘too late’, it will happen anyway, right about now. Questions that need to be answered are those of ultimate survival, let alone the weather. (The news said the ozone hole was smaller this year, for the second consecutive year). a magnetic mishmash of chemicals seething about. No immaculate anything. It’s all out of whack. The basis of the demise of humans is evaporation and ability to purify drinkable water…wars will be fought over the supply and ownership of the supply of fresh water in the world. Without water nothing grows. Nothing. Does not have to be fresh, just water. Creatures. All kinds of creatures. Ours is the only one that has self awareness ? As we know it, perhaps, although it’s a big sky out there – we have gone quite nowhere in the sky. At the end of our day, it is where we will have to go to survive as a being…chemistry, physics and mathematics are amazingly complicated sciences. Our ability to understand what goes on all around us is an enormous idea. We are barely sure of an individual’s cellular structure. We can identify them all, but have no clue whatsoever of how a majority of it works. Add a bit of philosophy to the mix. Never mind the ideas of perpetual motion, cold fusion or teleportation. Is the liquor store open ? where is the 7-11? can we get pizza ? – Lets drive. - pressing issues all. Does one have any relation to the other ? yes. Someone had to think about how to make it all more convenient, which entailed research into most realms of science to determine what would work to perpetuate an idea into the subculture of human existence. Science.

I live in a box in the city. I have a perch, not far from the ground and can watch the city move about me. (I smoke, outside on the balcony. I don’t smoke in the box - Haven’t done that for many years. - Honest, it stinks, its not good for me…but what really is ? sitting on my ass typing into the computer is just as unreasonable to my health as smoking.) – right, sure, uh-huh, ok, fine – next,… my perch looks over the park. Watched them build it. Very engineered are these city parks. The money spent to ‘make’ the park is not skimpy. Trees, rolled out grass, benches, flowerbeds and the like – the preparation, tearing down the old wooden beam buildings, some containing asbestos, digging up to ground, sifting it all - A big project to maintain too…nevertheless, the park is enjoyed by many. The bang for the buck is worthy in this example of civic and provincial and federal dollars at work.

The center of the city is a complicated place. Thousands living in very close proximity. Boxes stacked to the sky, at prices, which could buy many acres in another part of the province, that’s what we all generally live in downtown. Designer faucets and high fiber antioxidant smoothies in the morning, a cup of coffee, for which you can pay any price you like depending upon your taste for ‘quality’, thrift or cachet, (Resilient market. Probably better than booze.), a few open spaces, but any kind of food you may have a taste for, at almost anytime time of day. Other concrete towers of boxes contain the offices, where most people who live in the city work. Boxes in the sky, mazes underground for your weather resistant shopping investigation, wide promenades out in the elements, which all feels a little like a ‘habitrail’, . Roads and vehicles…it’s pretty much concrete, traffic, and noise. People walk about the pavement with their leashed creatures, patiently (or not) waiting for it to take care of business, in order the owner can get a good squeeze of the business, while picking it up off the ground, before tossing it neatly into city trash cans. Hysterical really. Size, seems not to matter when choosing your leashed creature, if it fits in the box, all is well – they make plastic bags in all sizes. Um. Part of the scenery. Phreeks hang at the park, some doing more than ‘hangin’. Construction people, smoking a phatty. Off the job…children and their parents having picnics, at times a real part of the community that has been created. Created is true. (have you ever watched the construction of a building up close ? From sod turning to opening day ? - the creation of a new concrete building and all its associated bits is a truly human feat. Every inch of any kind of building that humans inhabit has been put together with human hands, every square inch of it.

enuf.