I met Laura in Austin, TX when I was at school and she needed a light. After that one day we ran into each other outside everyday after that and though we were never really �friends�, we were friends. We talked about the world and our theories on life. We�d shake our heads as we exhaled smoke and asked the other what the world was coming to, we�d babble on about our boyfriends and give each other advice on things. I knew more about this girls� interests and thoughts than I knew about friends I had known since middle school but I didn�t ever get her last name. She was a really cool person and an invaluable source of information on many topics. She moved to Boulder after the semester ended and I never saw her again. At this same time I also met Sunrise, he was a really awesome character as well. I had never seen anyone in real life smoke old school rolled cigarettes and he did. I tried one, tasted like ass, but I learned something new so it was cool.

I also met Pam the same way and we had many conversations about so many things and I learned a hell of a lot from her. She introduced me to online journals and I learned from her how to function as an interesting and fun person in a sometimes boring corporate world that doesn't really want you to be interesting and fun. I learned from her that it's okay to act how you want to act around anybody - to wear pig tails to work or to own t-shirts that proclaim that you are the princess.

I know that smoking is a bad habit to have and it really don�t miss hearing myself wheeze when I get out of my car or the smell of it on my clothes but I do miss the random people you meet when you go outside for a smoke break. I would almost make the statement that smokers are friendlier but I don�t want to offend the non smokers because that would mean all of my friends are not nice and they are. I�d say that smokers, when smoking, are happier because they are doing something that they obviously enjoy so they are more apt to be friendly to total strangers and really share their thoughts. Can you imagine how wonderful the world would be if people were doing something that made them feel better/happy and it was something that they could do in public (I can see wheels in the minds of the pervs just crankin� � so I added that whole in public thing)

This is why I am trying to come up with some way for the non-smokers of the world to have this same kind of deal. I don�t think a t-shirt that says �I don�t smoke but you can talk to me anyway� would work � that�s like asking ALL of the freaky-freakies to come talk to you. Something more subtle would be better but I am having a hard time thinking of anything that one could do that would require them to be outside and require a secondary item, like a lighter, to complete the process. I can�t think of anything (that�s legal anyway). This has been on my mind for a few days � as you can see I think about THE most important topics like big-assed ants and what the no smoking world should do about making friends with random people. If you have any thoughts about how I should start my revolution, let me know.