Smoke 'em out

I don't smoke, but I think this country's attitude toward smokers is pretty ridiculous. What's the law now, you can only smoke in your apartment, under the covers, between the hours of 1am and 3am?

First they got it out of airplanes. Okay, fine. On an airplane you can't really get away from it. And out of hospitals. Sure, fine. But then they banned it from the inside of most buildings. Now, hold on. The government shouldn't have the right to do that. If you own a building, you should be able to decide whether people can smoke in it or not. It takes government officials a lot of arrogance to believe they can regulate something like that.

And then, recently, they banned smoking from outside! You can't even smoke outside anymore. Forget how ridiculously unenforceable a law like that is for a moment. How is smoking outside in any way harmful to anyone? If you're really disturbed that much by another person smoking, just walk away. How is that so difficult?

There's another thing, secondhand smoke. I don't understand at all this hubbub and kerfuffle over secondhand smoke. As a nonsmoker, I'm not really bothered when someone lights up near me. Sure, maybe it's slightly annoying, similar to if someone is eating something near you that smells really bad. But since when are we in the business of banning public behaviors that are slightly annoying?

Recently New York passed a law that forced any place that sold cigarettes to post graphic images of how smoking destroys your lungs and teeth. Really? We already have huge warnings on the packs, billboards, commercials, DARE, and all the rest warning us about the dangers of smoking. Do these people really believe there is anyone left in 2010 that doesn't know smoking is bad for you? Enough is enough. You should have the right to do things that are bad for you. That's the essence of living in a free society.

Dealing with death

An acquaintance of mine died recently. Branden Dallo, age 21, Valhalla 07 graduate. A classmate of mine. He worked at the Harvest Ranch next door to my Starbucks, and we would always joke around when we saw each other. And then, just like that, he's gone.

I don't do well with death. No one close to me has ever died. Ben Hedberg, who I knew in middle school, died several years ago. But that was different, as I hadn't seen him for a few years, and I never really talked to him. And my maternal grandmother died when I was 11 or 12, but she lived far away and I didn't know her too well.

Am I being selfish, just talking about my own feelings when a person has died? Probably. But writing has always been a good coping mechanism for me. I suppose dealing with death is just part of the maturity process. Undoubtedly, someone close to me will die someday, and I can't imagine ever dealing with something like that.

It's strange going about about my normal life after something like this. Play a video game? Study for a final? Read a novel? I feel selfish doing things that interest me. Life really is too short.

What's especially tragic is how he died. He crashed his car drunk driving. It's so awful to hear that it was something so preventable. And it's kind of spooky that my last post here was about drunk driving. I cited statistics and everything. Dallo, as I called him, has now become a statistic.

Here's to my friend, Branden Dallo. Rest in peace.