On May 1, a smoking ban was put into effect here in Michigan. So basically you can’t smoke in restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, etc.
I think it’s awesome to go out to the bar without having to throw my clothes into the basement when I get home because they literally stink up my entire room with the smell of secondhand smoke. I’m all about it because when I’m around more than one person smoking, it makes me feel sick and I almost always get a headache or migraine. Other than that – No, I don’t care if you smoke. It’s your body and you have the right to treat it however you want.
I’ve heard a lot of reasons from various people on why they like or dislike it. A lot of people mention freedom and having the “right to smoke,” while others refute they have the “right to breathe clean air.” Obviously I think the person making the healthier choice has the advantage, particularly because smoking affects OTHERS around you (because no, smoking a cigarette in public is not the same as eating saturated fats in public. Saturated fats being eaten by you don’t make ME fat. I’ve heard this argument one too many times and I want to set myself on fire every single time). Also, banning smoking in restaurants improves food and health codes so are you really going to argue against having a healthier and safer place preparing food for you?
Anyway, the whole point of this is that over the weekend I heard quite possibly one of the stupidest, narrow minded and most unintelligent arguments against the smoking ban I’d ever heard in my life.
A lady I know who’s in her 40’s and a smoker said she has the right to smoke anywhere she wants. If I have a problem with it, I don’t have to go somewhere where people are smoking. I’m making the choice to go where the smoke is, and I can leave. Of course, my argument was that she can step outside. “But why do I have to step outside to have a cigarette? If you don’t like it, why can’t you? It’s my right to smoke. You say you have the right to breathe clean air, and we can go in this circle all day. I have just as much a right to smoke as you do to breathe clean air, so you can leave, too.”
At this point I thought my head was going to explode, but then the real zinger came in. She said it’s no different than me drinking and then getting in a car and driving because I’m putting her health at risk if she’s on the road at the same time as me.
YES, YES, YES!!! That is why DRUNK DRIVING is ILLEGAL! Because you’re putting OTHERS in danger!
That is basically the entire point I was trying to make. I don’t give a shit if she smokes. However, I give a shit when I have to breathe it in and it gives me a migraine. I don’t have health insurance. Migraine medication is not cheap. I try my hardest to adjust my eating habits and lifestyle so I don’t get them. Therefore, when your actions cause me to get migraines I want to stab you.
Nobody cares if you sit in your house and drink all day every day. However, once you get in your car and start driving drunk, everyone cares and you get in trouble because you are putting OTHERS at risk.
Nobody cares if you sit in your house everyday and shoot yourself in the foot. However, when you go outside and shoot someone else in the foot, you’re going to get in trouble.
Nobody cares if you kill yourself, but if you kill someone else you’re going to prison, psycho.
Basically, laws are not put in place to protect you from yourself. You can do whatever you want to yourself, nobody cares until you’re putting others in harm’s way. That’s when the problem arises and that’s when laws come into place. Nobody is trying to take away your holy carton of cigarettes, they’re just trying to protect others from them. Everyone, EVERYONE knows the health risks involved so if you’re smoking and don’t see it as an issue to others, you’re selfish.
I have a wicked bad swearing habit and it’s not like I was going to sit and swear in front of her 7 year old daughter that was with us, so if I take her argument into consideration in this case, I have the right to swear in front of her daughter and if she has a problem, she can tell her kid to go outside. I have the right to exercise my swearing habit in public, right?
It all boils down to this – your rights end where mine begin.
What do you guys think about smoking bans? If you’re from Michigan, do you love it or hate it?
I read today that the Oakland Press is looking to add more weblogs to their list of links on their website, and bloggers writing about a wide range of subjects are urged to submit their blog if they want it linked.
I’m not entering mine because, well, I don’t write anything of substance on here and it’s not worth going on the site of a county newspaper. Keep the space open for people who write about renovating the city of Detroit, local politics and why Kwame should go to jail.
Or not, because apparently that’s not what anyone thinks of when they think of a blogger. They don’t look at bloggers who write about current events, local organizations, or community living. They think of everyone else that writes about something THEY don’t particularly consider news. If only people realized what a ginormous impact a blogger can have, regardless of their topic. Look at Love Harder. Bloggers don’t mess around when it comes to getting things done. Want your business or site promoted? Contact a blogger. This isn’t the day of Live Journal and MySpace anymore. We’re not fucking around like this commenter on the Oakland Press site seems to think:
” Attention All Bloggers!!!
Get into your IMPORT, drive to the nearest Starbucks in your skinny jeans, buy a double non-fat frap, blog about amnesty international, and really tell this country how worthless you really are. “
FOR YOUR INFORMATION.
I would not be caught DEAD driving an import. I like Detroit. I work mainly at Panera Bread, they have more booths than Starbucks so my laptop and I can take up a table for 4 instead of a tiny table created for one person. If I do go to Starbucks, I get a plain soy latte (I’m willing to pay an extra 50 cents to avoid stomach shits). I don’t even own a pair of skinny jeans because I’M NOT SKINNY. I live in yoga pants. Right now I have partially blue hair because I let my sister talk me into it. I have a really big mouth so if I concern myself enough with anything regarding Amnesty International, you bet your trailer trash ass it’s going to get heard. Also, I am currently writing 30,000 words on squirting for a sex and relationships book, so I’d hardly consider myself “worthless.” “Wicked awesome” is more like it. If I want to write about garbage on my blog and someone wants to read it, you can gargle my taint sweat.
See? We don’t all fit the stereotype. I win.
But please, click on my ads. I am still waiting to get paid for my self-entitled compensation.
For the past 8 weeks I’ve been doing aerial yoga at the Detroit Flyhouse with Ria and Sarah.
Both of them have written about our progress each week, but I was far too lazy to do that figured I would wait until the end and discuss it all at once.
If you don’t know what aerial yoga is, it’s basically yoga in the air. If you’ve seen cirque du soleil where they climb the fabric and hang out on a trapeze, it’s that. We are turning into circus acts, and yes, you should be jealous because this is HANDS DOWN the greatest workout I’ve ever experienced.
The first week we were there we could barely hold ourselves on the fabric in the climbing pose. Yesterday was our last session. Ria managed to flip herself upside down into a locust pose, Sarah balanced on the trapeze with her posed in mid-air and relying on just her arm strength, and I got my ass into a full split doing the dirty dreadlock pose. None of us would have been able to do these on the first day. We start another session of classes in 2 weeks, and I CANNOT WAIT. Especially since Jenni will be joining us too.
Now, since this post all boils down to us showing off our skill, here are a few photos from various classes.
Rare is a post where you find me talking about things I do, because rarely do I do things worth noting, but lately I realize I need to be doing it more due to the fact that, um…. Detroit is awesome.
That being said, Friday night I attended a show at GoComedy! in Ferndale, a school and performance improv comedy theater on 9 mile in Ferndale. It was a Yelp! Michigan event a friend invited me to, so of course it was badass (Yelp is another great community organization to get involved in if you’re looking for excellent community connections).
I have never before seen a live performance of improv comedy, but I was a big fan of “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” back in the day, so I knew it would be entertaining. Not only were these performers funny, witty, slick and obnoxious, the whole time I was sitting there wondering “how in the hell do they do that off the top of their head? Why can’t I do that? These people are way cooler than me. Jerks.” The performance we saw was a “rock opera,” so about 90% of the performance was in the form of a song. The show didn’t get incredibly raunchy or inappropriate, but it ended up being themed around twinkie pizza, twizzlers and weight watchers so there wasn’t much perv to get into that. Now that I typed all that out, I’m sure there is actually. However, I can imagine other nights may not be so clean. The fact that these performers can get up there, ask for a few cue’s from the audience and create an entire opera blows my mind. A girl in the audience threw out the best advice she’d ever received as “don’t put twinkies on your pizza,” and it driveled into an entire song about a hefty girl taking a liking to a pizza shop owner who turns out to be gay. Had I been up there, it would have turned into “I put twinkies on my pizza and now I’m sick LOLOL!” Bad news.
They even managed to bring light to Detroit’s reference in the Journey song, and the fact that every time any Detroiter, no matter where they are, will stand up, scream and sing the “Born and raised in SOUTH DETROIT” part of the song because we’re from… near there…. you know. Where is south Detroit anyway? Windsor? Downriver? I’m sure someone is going to come on here and tell me the exact latitude and longitude of where specifically south Detroit is, so I await the response. We’ll just say it’s where the mile roads begin.
Anydontstopbelieving, Detroiters need to check this place out if you haven’t already. Also, I’m smelling a good place for another get together night… Sillygrrl? Rialeilani? Maeko? JenRem? Laureality? Supergirl? Let’s do it…
