So I am 32 years old and I just started smoking.  How weird is that?  I know that you are supposed to sneak smokes when you are in middle school and end up with a three pack a day habit by the time you reach 20, but I never did that.  I didn't smoke a single cigarette until college.  I had a few here and there, but I never "started smoking".

From there I had a few here and there, mostly at work with the real smokers.  I'm talking the kind that you can't stand to be around for very long because you would get cancer just from inhaling their essence.  I never liked it, I always hated the smell, and I would have been just as happy if tobacco had been outlawed completely.  So why the hell did I start smoking?

I guess I could blame it on stress.  I am an assistant manager in a grocery store.  You would think that would be the second most stressful job in a grocery store, but it is the most stressful position.  Once you get to be the store manager, then you can just hand your stress off to other people, most commonly your assistant manager.  Shit, as they say, flows downhill.

I suppose I could blame it on being around smokers.  The other assistant manager has smoked for 40 years, and lights up every time he gets a chance.  All of the smokers that take trash out the back door light up while their dumping.  Seems like they get a lot more breaks too.

Maybe it's curiosity.  I had diddled around with the stuff, but I never knew what it was actually like to be a smoker.  Did I have some latent desire to do it, just to see what it was like?  I'm not sure.  But I definitely found out.

I have to go satisfy my other vice, eating supper, but I'll be back later.  If you want to share your experiences with smoking, leave a comment and we can talk amongst ourselves.