I just ordered an electronic cigarette. I'm hoping to quit smoking for a pseudo-New Year's Resolution. I've tried everything I can think of to quit smoking, except cold turkey. My Mom quit cold turkey quit a few years ago, and it's worked for her. It was 1986 or 1987 when she quit. She just put them down and never picked them back up. I am really impressed with her strength to do that. I wish that I had her will. I admire my Mom for that. With this in mind; my fortitude and determination to do this is going to be in my career. Smoking is a detriment to my career. When I was in culinary school I learned that smokers have a tendency to over season and under salt the food they prepare. As a Chef who is a smoker, I was told that when I salt my food; I need to add the salt that I believe is enough, and then add more. That was within my first month in culinary school. I have followed that "commandment" ever since September of 2007. I loved culinary school. I have never been one for "conventional" college. Sitting in a classroom for hours at a time, listening to someone talk about some random subject concerning something that probably didn't pertain to the subject that I was trying to learn. But culinary school was something different. Even the lecture classes that I had to sit through didn't seem like I was just sitting through them. I was getting to learn about amazing things, well, to me they were amazing. Nutrition, sanitation, wine and beverage, cost control, procurement and inventory management, culinary management etc.etc. etc. it was all interesting to me. It IS all interesting to me. I still have all the books, and believe it or not; I still read them. On a regular basis. I read through chapters one at a time. I could read them sporadically or in order.
That's enough of that tangent.
We are here to talk about an electronic cigarette and what I'm hoping it does for me what it has done for many others. I want to quit smoking. I NEED to quit smoking. For many reasons. Most importantly; health. My health. Obviously. LOL. Like I said, I tried everything to quit. Now that there is one more thing out there, I might as well give it a try too... right? But yes, health. I know that smoking leads to cancer, and even death. But I also know that my quitting smoking (without assistance) could also lead to death. Quite possibly someone else’s death. Secondly; finances. Once again, MY finances. I believe that quitting smoking could save me approximately $45.50 dollars a week. $182.00 a month. $2,400 a year. The $2,400 a year would be the difference between peanut butter with banana sandwiches and beef satay with peanut sauce, sticky rice and followed by mango with coconut milk and well... more sticky rice. It could also mean that filling a fridge with food other than bachelor food would be nice. Bachelor food = frozen pizza, delivery pizza boxes, frozen and/or instant Chinese, Chinese delivery, frozen hamburgers (with buns also frozen as not to allow them to go bad before I eat them) two or three kinds of cheese, various condiments, most of them from various fast food restaurants, frozen chicken breast (which I hope will thaw out before I throw it on my tiny George Foreman Grill.) I know, I know, peanut butter and banana sandwiches... Elvis died eating those... well, his were fried, mine are... George Foreman'd. It's the difference between catsup and ketchup. Morton and Sea. Crab and Krab. And of course the difference between butter and oil. Lastly, needing cologne and wanting cologne. As a chef, I do not wear cologne at work. It would be impractical and irresponsible for someone who works in a kitchen to wear a scent other than garlic, onion, butter, chicken stock and fresh herbs. The smell of the cologne/perfume would cloud the aroma from the food. It would mask the passion that I have for what I do. I know that sounds a little silly, but really... that is why. I love the way that food smells while it's cooking. I love to pick a peach from a tree and smell it; inhale the noxious aroma of the flesh. I inhale deeply as I take the first bite, feeling the juice spray onto the tip of my nose, dribbling down my chin and finally falling to the Earth from which it sprung. But really... the aroma. Sweet, tart, and intoxicating. AMAZING!!! I have enjoyed this pleasure on more than one occasion. Biting into a peach, feeling the spray on my nose and wiping my chin on my sleeve to clear the way for more fresh peach juice. Once in my Grandparents back yard, well more than once in their back yard. The last time was in San Francisco (see previous post.) Where I'm going with this in terribly simple... being forced to wear cologne when going to meet (or trying to meet) new friends, to hide the smell of the cigarette, is another reason I want to quit smoking. The smell that smacks the new friends in the face when they open the door to my car is rather intoxicating. But not in a good way, like the peach, in the bad way, like 100% humidity in 90 degree weather in South East Georgia in mid-July.
Smoking is not attractive, nor does it make someone look cool. Now, I don't have a need to look cool. I do not need to make friends, nor do I feel that I need to be able to persuade others to like me with or without them knowing that I smoke, or drink, that I swear or that I ride motorcycles with a bunch of rowdy bikers. On the plus side, I have realized that the people that I choose to hang out with do not care that I smoke or drink or swear. Most of them also smoke, drink, and swear; so that's not an issue.
The reason I want to quit smoking is because I know that I have to go on with my life, and that I can't do it without someone else. Meeting the right person for me (in this city) has proven to be difficult. Meeting anyone, really, outside of work and volunteer activities have been rather difficult. I try to tell myself that working 60+ hours a week, six days a week allows me to do what I want to do. And trying to find the right person does not fall within those parameters.
That's why I need to quit smoking:
1. Health
2. Finanaces
3. Natual Aroma vs Artifical Aroma
4. Meeting the "right person" should that person exist...
That's my tangent. That's my reason for wanting to quit smoking. For me.
No comments:
Post a Comment