"It's not fair," a colleague and friend -- you're upgraded to the "friend" status when you start playing badminton together -- said a few days ago over lunch. "We smokers pay taxes, too, you know. In fact," he continued with what could've been venom, "in fact, we pay more! Given the ever increasing cigarette prices and whatnot."
Another colleague and friend replied, "That's because the gamen will have to pay more and sooner for your health insurance. Most people are expected to live until they're 65. You smokers might not be so lucky..."
Or unlucky, I reflected, depending on which way you look at it.
"...so they'll have to pay sooner. That's why they're so biased against smokers."
You learn something new everyday.
The conversation took place at one of the coffeeshops soon -- as in tomorrow -- to implement those designated smoking zones. In this particular coffeeshop's case, the demarkated area comes in the form of an umbrella-sheltered, err, area not wider than two feet in diameter. (But don't hold me on this, I suck at estimating distance -- or software development effort, for that matter.) Then there's this makeshift ashtray attached to the umbrella pole. Talk about making smokers bond.
Honestly, I kinda felt for this smoking friend of mine. He can't smoke at home now that he has a baby. He can't smoke in public parks by law -- well, it's not really enforced, but with this city why take the chance? Now he can't smoke at coffeshops, either. Poor guys, him and his fellow smokers. We've had several Smoke-Free Days. They would never have a Smoke Freely Day.
I myself have never had anything against smokers. So long as they don't ask me for money for them to burn or blow the smoke generously towards my newborn child, I'm cool. Do whatever you want. It's your body, your temple. I admit, I would love it more if my friends don't smoke, but that's more out of concern for their health than annoyance.
Nor have I ever had anything against smoker-haters. All right, I have a problem with those who stereotype female smokers, but that's about it, really.
I won't launch into the familiar, never-ending debate on how smoking does or does not kill and who should respect who. I'll leave that to the experts on our mailing list. Although, years ago a friend -- can't recall who, but the statement sounds like what this guy would've said -- argued that smoking actually improved your health. Because when you smoke, you tend to exercise and watch your diet more, to counter the negative effects of smoking. You can stay smoke-free all you want, but if you keep on munching those Big Macs without doing any regular exercises, well, you might end up in a movie.
I guess I just wanna say that at times like this, living -- staying -- in a city such as here, I can't help but be thankful and feel lucky that I kicked the habit twelve years ago.
PS: Dear, I'm not insinuating anything with this entry -- just be yourself *smiles*.
PPS: June 04 can breathe easily; the record's safe for now. Well, it's been fun and intellectually challenging to say the least. Someday I might have another go, who knows?
PPPS: when I asked you to smile, I didn't want you to turn into this -- don't!
Current music: Metallica - The House that Jack Built
Current mood: happy
>you're upgraded to the "friend" status when
>you start playing badminton together
Now THIS IS unfair! :) :) I never had a chance to play badminton with you, so I can't be your friend? :)
The most important thing is that smoke is not good for anyone's health. It's not good for the smoker himself, and it's not good for those poor non-smokers who happened to be near the smoker while he smokes.
We have to DISCOURAGE people from smoking. We have to do the best we could to CONVERT smokers into non-smokers. And this is one way to do it.
If someday the government decides to ban cigarettes just like the way they ban chewing gums, I would support it. Really! :)
Not fair, eh? :) :) Too bad! :D :D
Kalo soal ini gua nggak ada komentar aja deh :)
Tapi gua yakin arahnya pemerintah sini emang ke situ: penghilangan rokok sama sekali. Nah, si temen gua itu aja udah mulai nyerah, pengen brenti ngerokok gitu.
kasian sekali para smoker didiskriminasi. merokok ato tidak merokok itu kan keputusan pribadi.
anyway, the new rule doesn't affect me though.
Kalo ada orang ngrokok, dan asapnya cuma buat dia (ditelen misalnya), dan asapnya sama sekali nggak kecium ama gue. Silakan aja. Lha wong ngerti resikonya kok.
Yang paling sebel adalah:
- menjadikan toilet sebagai area untuk merokok
- menjadikan angkutan umum alasan untuk merokok (kalo ditegur, dianya malah nyolot, kalau nggak pengen asap rokok ya naik taksi aja!)
- merokok dekat manusia lain yang tidak suka asap rokok
Intinya, kalo mau merokok, pikir 1000 kali, asapnya itu bakalan mengganggu orang lain apa nggak. Kalo nggak ya silakan. Udah ada hukum alam kok. Ngisep racun, ya bukannya tambah sehat, kan?
-Masih banyak celah kok nyerah-
tapi kan.. tapi kan...
ah sudahlah.... :D
PS: i miss you too *wink wink*
Misyu juga nih, Jack.
ihiyyy..
coba digandeng.....
nggak kuku deh..
*bukan kuku bima*
Yang ini (ngakunya) nggak suka digandeng, Yol.
Tapi cewek kalo ngomong A, sebenernya maksudnya B ya. Hmm...
heh, jangan generalize gitu
nggak semua bilang A trus berarti B
A berarti A
tp bisa jg
A berarti B
nah loh!
Kalo gitu enak dong, Yol.
Teoremanya:
A => C
C ≡ A V B
Jadi:
A => (A V B)
≡ ~A V (A V B) [pake de Morgan]
≡ ~A V A V B
≡ true V B [~A V A selalu true]
≡ B [true V apapun selalu true]
Jadi kalo ngomong A, lakukan aja B, pasti bener :P
Sayangnya cewek-cewek nggak ngikutin logika *keluh*
jangan bawa bawa gender deh ren.
cewek bisa jadi irrasional, tapi cowok tuh moron yang autis.
*garang mode: on*
Tapi suka kan? ;)
hahaha..
moron autis.... hahahahaa...
gile...
btw, FX, de morgan itu nggak berlaku dalam hal ini. Semua teorema matematik diskrit nggak applicable.
kalo berlaku, namanya bukan cewek.
Kalo kita main logika, ntar situ minder, berasa kesaing?
Sini? Bison kali?
*memancing Bison komen*
ya suka dong!
kan irrasional... :p
He..he..he.. kok mancing-mancing ? ya gw emang minder sama orang yang irasional, mau cowo atau cw. Masalah de morgan tanya Alwen aja Ren, ahli lapis logik.
ren, bukan nya cewek gak ngikutin logika. cuma cowok yang kurang memahami teori probabilitas :D
Iya deh, ampun, Rin. Gua setuju kok, cowok itu cuma paham logika yang 0 ama 1, bener atau salah. Sedangkan cewek otaknya jauh lebih kompleks, cowok nggak nyampe :)
Ck..ck..ck..sudah, anak-anak, sudah, jangan pada kelahi.
Son, lapis logik itu apaan sih? Kok kayaknya enak, ya? Gue jadi laperrr...
Juwi, Juwi. Makin nggak beres aja lu gua baca-baca.
Tapi gua juga jadi laper sih. Bukan karena lapis logik tapi karena udah mau jam 7.











