Fear the Crab

I bought my truck today! I got a great deal, and all the options I wanted, and everything fits into my budget. It’ll take at least a month or so before the truck gets here, as it’s the new 2003 model. Toyota City is going to call me when the truck arrives, and at that point I will bring my current car in for appraisal towards the trade-in. After that it’ll take perhaps a week to install the dealer options, and then I get to take it home. I must remember to fix that air conditioner compressor before the truck gets here, otherwise that will really lower the trade-in amount. Once that truck is mine, I need to make arrangements for some window tint, dash cover, and a car cover. I’m not sure where I can look to get a car cover, especially one made for a truck, but I’m certain there’s somebody out there who can tell me, or at least point me in the right direction.

I made the decision to try and quit smoking. There’s news that beginning in October, the price will go up by $1. That means it’ll cost at least $5.75 for a pack, and that’s usually at the local mom-and-pop liquor stores. Department/convenience stores will probably see a 10 to 25 cent markup. If that’s not bad enough, this is only the first phase of the cigarette tax. The plan is to hike the price of tobacco up to $8 a pack. If that’s not incentive to quit smoking, the deprecation of health certainly is. Maile, George and I all plan to try and help each other quit, which I think will be a really big boost in confidence and willpower. By supporting each other, hopefully we’ll be able to resist the urges of lighting up whenever we feel like it.

One of the problems I seem to have with cigarettes is that smoking seems to be part of my daily routine. On average, I smoke a cigarette on my way to work, one right before work, one during a “bathroom break,” three on my normal break, and one on my way home from work. Add to that a smoke or two at home, and I’m close to half a pack per day. Perhaps that’s not as bad as many of the horror stories about 3-4 packs a day, but in my eyes (or lungs, as the case may be), it’s still not healthy.

On a related note, I made an observation that, while many non-smokers see smokers as being rude and obnoxious people, it seems a vast majority of smokers are very VERY polite to one another. I’m sure this isn’t always the case, but I’ve heard and experienced moments where someone will approach a smoker and ask to bum a cigarette. Very rarely will that smoker refuse. There’s also occasions where someone will have trouble lighting up their cigarette, and I’ll walk over and offer my lighter. This smoker is a complete stranger, someone I’ve never met before and I’ll probably never see again, but there I am lighting up their cancer stick. It’s almost strange enough to make you think that if every single person in the world smoked, we’d have world peace! We’d feel kinship with one another regardless of race or religion, because we’re all in the same boat of taking that big drag of nicotine. I can imagine someone from the al-Qaeda smoking a cigarette, when an American GI comes up and asks to bum one, or borrow a lighter.

“Sure, friend!” the al-Qaeda will say.
“Thanks, man,” the GI will say. “Hey, where’s an ashtray around here?”
The al-Qaeda will answer, “It’s a fuckin’ desert; throw it anywhere!”

“Imagine all the people.. sharing a drag or threeee oo hoo oo oo o..”