Okay, blogger has changed over to another new format for posting, and I don't like it. It currently feels like blogging for dummies, and it annoys me.

Then again, today I feel annoyed by ... well, nothing really. However, there's a friend of mine who's probably vastly annoyed by me, especially lately. See, smoking really bothers me. Sure, when it's a group of scrawny little 14-year old girls that are taking up sidewalk space, it annoys me. Get the fuck out of my way, you useless little punkettes. I don't care that they're destroying their health, I just care that they look like morons and they're blocking my way. I have two jobs, I'm more important.

But when it's a friend of mine, it bothers me a lot. When it's my family, it bothers me a lot. When it's someone that I know well, that I care about, it bothers me a lot. Everything about it bothers me -- the smell, the waste of money, the idea of what it's doing to their bodies, the fact that they have a total addiction to something that's so detrimental to their health, and the fact that kissing a smoker is gross. As I describe it: look at an ashtray that's been used a bit. Now, lick it. That's the joy of kissing a smoker.

Admittedly it's not that bad when it's someone that doesn't smoke that often, but it's still generally, overall and extremely unpleasant. I love kissing, so why spoil it with something as noxious as smoking?

So I generally avoid dating smokers wherever and whenever I can. It works out well for me. Right now, the vast majority of my friends (I'd wager 99% of them) are non-smokers, so it's rarely an issue for me. However, in the last few months I've befriended someone who is a smoker, and so we harken back to the original thesis of this (past the blogger bitching), and we get around to my actual point. That is, I feel bad that I've been nagging at this person so much for smoking, but at the same time, I can't seem to help it. If we were just acquaintances, then I might not say much about it. But we're close, and I care about him, and so I nag. Then I feel bad, but I can't seem to stop.

I don't get smokers. So many of them claim they want to quit, but I can't help but believe that it's all horseshit. Complete and utter horseshit. If you want to quit, then quit. Don't fuck around and say that you do and whine about how it empties your pocketbook and how it's so bad for your health and how much you hate it... it's like listening to the coworker talking about how much he hated his job all over again. If you're not going to fucking do something about it, then shut the fuck up. Tell me to fuck off if someone teases you about quitting. Don't say crap about how you know they're right, and you really should and you want to, when your tone states, "I'm too fucking lazy to quit 'cause it's just easier not to and we both know it and I'm just saying all of this to appease you."

*grump* Yeah, so that's that. Urgh. I bit my nails for years and years -- I only quit it about two months ago. I'm not saying it's completely comparable, but it kinda is. I wasn't able to quit until I really wanted to, until I got tired of it. The same goes for smokers. My parents quit smoking after thirty years of smoking a pack a day. I can't help but think that if they can do it -- after a thirty year habit -- then every single person I know who has smoked for a year or two or three can quit, they just have to actually get some willpower and do it.

I know this is basically an open letter to my friend who I've been bugging. This is all of my frustrations and whatnot compiled into one mass rant. It'll probably happen again, but here it is for now and posterity. The thing is, it seems the more I care about someone, the more it bugs me, hence the nagging. I didn't nag my parents, 'cause I knew it wouldn't do anything to change them. Part of me feels like I could change things if I nag my friends, though. Part of me thinks that if people cared enough about how I thought, they'd change. That's totally unfair -- it's the old, 'If you loved me enough, you would' -- but it feels that way, sorta. Kinda. I dunno.

Anyhow, the last few days have been kinda quiet. I chatted with Mark for awhile last night, and that was good. What else? It's been quiet. I said that already. I thought I had things to say, but I can't seem to recall them. I'm off for now, otherwise E won't stop whining. :P