Friday, November 16, 2007

Slogans

I saw a t-shirt tonight that absolutely cracked me up -- and probably not for the reason it was intended. This perfectly normal girl at the gas station sported a shirt that said, "i don't do drama". [Sic on the "i".]

Oh, come on. You went to a store, picked through 863 slogan t-shirts with bunnies and fairies and skulls and probably SpongeBob SquarePants, all of which had varying degrees of sardonic phrases, and the one you picked out was a black one that proclaimed, "i don't do drama"?

Girl, you DO drama. You just do the quiet kind of drama, so you can feel superior to those of us who weep and wail and wring our hands and make faces all the time. Personally, I love the face-making kind of drama. If it isn't loud enough to be noticed, then it's just not a parade.

And everyone loves a parade.

Including me.

I totally forgot that today was the Great American Smoke Quittin', or whatever they call it. I always hated that day. The last time I liked it, I was a freshman in college and hadn't *started* smoking yet. But since 1985, perky perfect people with gleaming white teeth were always exhorting me to give up for "just one day." Seriously? Just one day? Impossible. Now look -- y'all made me feel all inferior and slimy.

And those Great American Smoke Quittin' days just kept piling up. I've made it through, what, 21 of those days. And I smoked on every single one of 'em. Ha HA! Take that, you perky pod people! You can celebrate your white teeth, but I shall smoke cigarettes and sing like Bonnie Tyler, so there, ha HA!

Ahem. Those were the old days.

So I went to the grocery store this evening, and everywhere I looked, there were people crouched on the far side of their cars, outside in the cold, puffing on cigarettes. I was genuinely curious about this until I finally passed one of these crouching smokers and asked, "Uh... why don't you get in your car to do that?" He replied that if he did, his wife would be disappointed in him because he was supposed to not smoke today.

I nodded and said, "Ah. You know, I quit smoking three months ago. You might wanna try Chantix."

"The commercials with the turtles?"

"That's the one."

Then I went inside and bought some Starbucks Sumatra coffee beans, because I am spoiled rotten and can't drink normal coffee any more.

On my way back to my car, where a fresh new crop of crouching smokers were polluting the parking lot, I decided that if I were to buy a slogan t-shirt today, it would have to say, "Coffee Snob."

They make t-shirts like that, don't they?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, crazy. People actually crouched by the cars? Avoidin' the drama, I suppose.

Amy said...

I LOVE this blog post!!!!!!!

My favorite t-shirt was the one I had that said "No, really. I'm fine," right over the cartoon of a dead cow with its feet sticking straight up in the air. It was a bad time of my life, and that t-shirt epitomized my outlook on life.

Be a coffee snob! I can't wait to have coffee (and no cigarettes!) with you when I come home for Christmas!!!!!

Tasina said...

I don't know where to begin. I was really missing you and you came back just CRAZY funny. I have this wild image of you twirling around in a parking lot (with all the crouching smokers, hidden hackers gasping in astonishment) with a cup of coffee (this is probably not safe) in your Coffee Snob t-shirt (that you probably had to steal from Maggie) screaming out, "I'm holdin' out for a heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeero" at the top of your gravely gritty Bonnie Tyler lungs.

FUN!!!

Mz Diva said...

oh my....couching smokers in the parking lot! I was laughing my ass off when I was readiing this post! I am glad I quit becauae I think it is going to become more unacceptable to smoke within the next couple of years. I was in Chicago this summer and I was standing next to the hotel trying to look "nonchalant." Yeah right...the whole thing reminded me of drama class and trying to be one with a wall! Well, its day seven for me. Keep on blogging all.
Peace,
Diva