The Smiggles/Larry Incident

I'm a simple guy. I'm not one of these people you see rushing around with their head in the clouds, wasting all kinds of energy expecting good things to happen, then getting all twisted up when things go bad. That's not me. I like to take things easy. I figure, there's no reason to get all worked up about things.

But some people don't understand. Take Veronica, this lady friend of mine. She thinks my life should be complicated. She won't admit it, but she thinks the more complicated your life is, the more meaningful it is, too. She means well, but it rubs me the wrong way sometimes. She's always saying things like I need to "figure out which direction" I'm going. She wants me to be more "active" and "do more things" with her.

I don't know what kind of things she means. I'm happy with my lifestyle. It' s a simple lifestyle.

And she wants me to quit smoking. She says it's "bad for you" and "unhealthy". She says these things all the time. Every time I light a cigarette. She doesn't seem to understand that I hear these same comments everywhere I go. I'll be walking down the street, and someone I don't even know will say to me, "That'll kill you."

Honestly, I get real tired of that.

The way I see it, health is relative. And I'm as healthy as the next guy.

White, 2

And about this addiction thing, let's just get it out of the way, too. People lie to themselves. That's all that is. I mean, if you really want to quit something, you quit. You stop doing it. It's a simple concept. But things get complicated when people start lying to themselves. They say, "I want to quit," and they go around telling everyone, "I want to quit." And they believe themselves. They really think they want to quit. But they keep smoking cigarettes the whole time!

Now, obviously, they don't really want to quit. Then they blame the cigarettes for their own dishonesty with themselves? I guess that's people for you.

I've been smoking since I was thirteen, and I'll probably smoke until I die. It's one of the easiest satisfactions there is. Some people get so caught up wanting so many things. Like say, a million dollars. A lot of people would do some sick shit for one million dollars. But the thing is, it's almost impossible to get one million dollars. People's heads are in the clouds.

I don't want one million dollars. Just give me a cigarette. Just go to the store, buy me a couple of packs of whatever brand. I'm not picky. I'm easy to satisfy. And I'm a happy person because of that fact.

But Veronica, she's a good girl. We've got a nice thing going. Except she's kind of upset that I've been spending so much time with Jia Li.

Jia Li is another lady friend of mine. She was born in China, but other than that we have a lot in common. She smokes just as much as I do. You really meet some random people when you run out of cigarettes. But we have other things in common, too.

White, 3

So I've been doing this juggling act for quite a while, and it's starting to come back around. These girls have run into each other at my apartment several times. I really don't think it means anything to Jia Li, which is another thing we have in common, but Veronica is another story.

She gets all upset.

"What does she have that I don't?"

"Nothing.