Home sick.

I'm allergic to cigarette smoke.

Most kids start smoking because they think it's cool. I started because a friend said that smoking a Newport after a joint makes you feel more stoned. Indeed it did and at 16, so it began.

I had a love/hate relationship with cigarettes. I loved the socialness of smoking. When I smoked I had an instant conversation starter ("Got a light?"), an easy way to flirt (was it only a Jersey thing that blowing smoke in someone's face meant you liked them?), and an easy way to bond (Us smokers vs. Them non-smokers). And please! If someone smoked the same brand as me (which jumped from Newport to Marlboro Light Menthol to Parliament Light Menthol with the cool palm tree hologram to Parliament Lights to Marlboro Lights) we. were. soulmates. Cancer-filled soulmates.

And there's the hate part. My body absolutely hated cigarettes. From ages 16 to 23 I must have had bronchitis at least twice a year. I was always sick, constantly coughing up a lung. I knew all the drinking and drugs weren't helping me either (duh), but I didn't care. I liked to party, I liked to smoke, and I wasn't gonna stop.

I am going to write something funny. Brace yourself: Bloomberg saved my life. I was LIVID the day he banned smoking in NY bars. Poor Peteys...I kept writing scathing emails to my friends about freedom and rights and what the fucks. I annoyed the crap out of everyone that day, all because I hate authority and had a slow day at work. Sorry!

Well if it wasn't for Bloomberg, I don't think I would have stopped smoking. It's been four years since the ban and sure, I've had a cigarette here and there (drunk nights, rafting trips, what have you), but thanks to him I am officially a Them.

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I deleted my previous post because I felt stupid. I didn't want Krull to read this and think I'm fruit loops, but guess what? I am! I re-posted it because shit, it's funny, sad, and classic Thighs.

Krull rocks my world. Fingers crossed I don't fuck it up by, you know, writing about him on my website. We've hung out a few times and I have to say he might be the coolest guy I have ever met. Every time I look at him I think, "Damn he's cool." Just cool.

Krull is the first smoker I've hung out with in awhile. Guess what that means I have??? No not the clap...bronchitis. UGH!! My body seriously rejects all cigarette smoke at this point. I cough when I walk past people smoking on the sidewalk. My throat gets scratchy if someone's coat smells like an ashtray. It sucks, but now I know for sure that I am definitely allergic to cigarette smoke.

Lucky for me Krull doesn't smoke all that much, I think it's just been an unhealthy week. I don't think we slept at all the one night I stayed over (bow chicka bow bow!). Easter Sunday I was in the car with my chain-smoking aunt for five hours. Tuesday, well read the previous post. Wednesday I had awful hangover gas. Thursday I saw Krull again for a bit after class. Friday through Sunday I had a writing seminar (more on this later) that ran for 12 hours each day...so yeah getting sick was inevitable for someone as sensitive to smoke and a busy schedule as I am.

Yeah, that's right. I'm sensitive. So there.