I fucking quit...

[Alex K]

It's better for physical health, but from my time in hospitals and nursing homes, smoking functions as a powerful catalyst to get people to socialize during otherwise unoccupied time.

I've smoked a total of like 3 cigarettes in my life, and only when utterly drunk. So apart from the occasional cherished cigar I always was a staunch non smoker. So, whenever I was hanging out with people at school, at parties or other events in my late teens, I noticed that all the hooking up and whatever other relations and deals and conspiracies happened between the cool kids, happened during smokes. It seemed to me that sex was basically negotiated via lending someone a cig or going for a smoke or whatever etc. I felt extremely left out. I think I didn't even get half the stuff that was going on in front of my eyes. My life might have run entirely differently had I smoked. It would now be barely recognizable, I'm sure.