:(
some people are spamming on my tagboard
and i have to remove it.
i'm sad............
now i cannot read the tags people leave me...
*SOB*
sighz...
well..if you do have anything to say to me...
can leave comments instead bah...
y got people spam me?!
argh!!
**************************************************
yesterday...
as i was walking home from the MRT...
an uncle blew cigarette smoke right into my face..
and in that moment of fighting to get oxygen into my lungs while trying to not grimace at the yucky smell...
i really begin to wonder why do people smoke?
so far..the reasons i've heard are...

1) it relaxes me...
2) it keeps me awake and alert...
(note that 1 and 2 are actually contradicting each other...)
3) it chases mosquitoes away - contributed by one of my patients who used to smoke
4) i can't poo if i don't smoke i.e. smoking prevents constipation - my dad's favourite
5) it looks cool (yeah right...)
6) quitting will make me sicker (huh?!?!)
7) cos my peers are all smoking...
8) cos my parents are both smoking...
9) cos my grandparents and parents are all smoking...
10) i got addicted when i was a fetus cos my mum smoked when she was pregnant with me...

honestly...
the first 6 reasons are just crap...

cigarettes can't make you relaxed and alert at the same time...
if it can, then people won't need to valium and red bull...
chasing mosquitoes away huh?
you don't need cigarette smoke for that...there's insect repellant...
my dad can't explain the relationship between bowel movement and cigarette smoke...
cos i dun think there's any relationship at all...
smoking is not cool...
except to people who smoke maybe...for most non-smokers, a cigarette is more a turn-off than turn-on, thank you very much...
a patient of mine claims when he goes cold-turkey to quit, he fainted a few times
moral of the story is: don't quit cold-turkey lah!
need to let your body adapt to the lack of poison you know? and now, there's nicotine patch to help your body slowly get used to being poison-free...

sometimes i think peer pressure is the most guilty culprit for all these youngsters puffing their lives away...
throw in chain-smoking ah-gong, ah-ma, daddy and mummy...
these kids don't really get a chance to say No...
maybe ah-gong gives him/her an ang bao for every cigarette he/she smokes?
okie...not that extreme...but if you grow up in an environment filled with cigarette smoke...it's hard to say No...
very sad...but true

and the last reason was given to me by this young girl (like...15 years old) who had her first puff when she was in primary school..
her first cigarette? given by her smoking mum who was pregnant with one of her younger brothers..
and oh yeah, daddy and elder brothers+sisters all smoking...
i do wonder if it's true that she was born with a nicotine addiction...
since when she was just a little fetus, all these nicotine has crossed from her mum's blood into her...
whether it's a valid reason is another issue...
that any pregnant mum continues to smoke is just...NOT RIGHT!
a little life is being ruined by the mum's irresponsible behaviour...
that little life can be born premature...with low birth weight and have to suffer through the pains of being in the NICU for days, weeks or months...
just because mum can't say NO to cigarettes...

my dad smokes like there's no tomorrow..
he claims he has cut down...
but intuition tells me that he just cut down the number of cigarettes he smoke at home...
when he's outside, he probably smoked twice as much to make up for it...
but i have no proof..so benefit of the doubt lah..
my dad is cutting down *woohoo!*
-_-

okie..that was lame.

my mum always like to say my dad has smoked our bungalow and mercedes away..
not that we want to live in a bungalow or drive a mercz
but that's the amount of money he spent on ruining his lungs..
take for example...he smokes 1 pack a day since he started smoking at the age of 17..
dad is 55 y.o. this year...
that's 38 years...or 13870 days
meaning 13870 packs of cigarettes...
multiply that by the cost of a pack of cigarettes...say $10 a pack?
that's SGD$138,700!!!(which will take me about 6 years to earn this amt of money!!)
and that's based on my estimation of the price of cigarettes now...
not taking into account inflation rates and that my dad probably puffed more than a pack a day in the past...
okie, so maybe no bungalow..
but definitely puffed away a mercz...or 2 VW beetles...or 2 toyota corrolla altis 1.8...or almost 3 nissan sunny 1.6EX (all based on current pricing, excluding COE)

and if we all think really really really hard...
there is nothing good about cigarettes!
well..except for the huge revnue we bring in by taxing on it...
-_-
cigarettes is a total waste of money because

1) it shortens your lifespan
2) whatever left of your broken body at the end of your life is barely able to breathe properly
3) it causes air pollution
4) it harm everyone else around you, even those whom you love
5) birds/fishes choke on cigarette butts littered around and die

seriously..
working in a ward where i see chronic smokers come in and out again and again for the same reasons within the span of days to weeks...
it's very sad...
they come in so SOB (short of breath)
needing oxygen and barely able to talk sometimes...
not forgetting they also cough so much, their throat hurts and quite a few of them have told me how much they regret smoking...
seriously...
cigarettes ruin your life...
maybe not right now cos you are young and your lungs is still able to compensate...
come to the point when your lungs are so damaged that you can't even walk from your room to the toilet without feeling like you're gonna die from SOB...
is it worth it?
just to look cool?
or to chase mosquitoes away?
or to make sure you can poo properly?
or for relaxation/keep awake?

why not try improving your dress sense to look cool?
try using insect repellant to chase away the mozzies?
try eating more fruits and vegetables and drinking enough water?
try meditation/yoga/exercising to relax...?
and there's always red bull/coffee to keep you awake...

there is not good reason to smoke...
and a million ones to NOT smoke...
but i also know that there is not one good reason to make a smoker quit...
until they realise for themselves that the years of puffing comes with a price to pay...

to all the smokers out there (including my daddy if he ever reads this blog)...
please...
dun wait for the day when you cannot breathe...
stop right now..
QUIT right now...
it's never too late to quit...
and it's never too early to start trying to quit.