There is something magical about New York after a snow storm. Especially a snow storm in April. The snow knows it isn’t supposed to be there, but doesn’t care.

I went to see the “Walkmen”:http://www.marcata.net/walkmen/ at the “Bowery Ballroom”:http://www.boweryballroom.com/newflash.html on friday and it was amazing.

We got there at 10PM (the doors opened at 9PM) the Walkmen weren’t to go on until 12AM! Holy christ mother bitch! I said to myself, I don’t want to sit in some dank smokey lounge beneath the ball room until the crappy cover bands get done making their terrible post-teen angst. Diane and I waited outside for a while wondering if there was somewhere else to go, but it was so cold and rainy we couldn’t stand being outside any more, so we went inside.

I remember being a smoker. I remember the numb sensation my teeth used to get when I drank, that could only be quenched by a cigarette. I remember the feeling of opening the cellophane on a new pack of cigarettes and pulling off the silver paper out to reveal 20 class A cigarettes. I remember how good cigarettes went with coffee in the morning.

*I was there.*

*I understand what it’s like to be addicted.*

*I smoked from the age of 16 until I was about 23.*

That being said people not smoking in bars is the best thing to happen to bars since I started drinking. Smokers come up with their little defenses, “I have the right to smoke”, “Beer is bad for you, but no one is making that illegal”, “It’s a bar! Cigarettes and beer just go together.”, “Cars give off more pollution than cigarettes, and I don’t drive!”

Yeah, but here’s the point, I don’t drive either and if I did drive, I would drive my car in a bar. I know New York is coming down on smokers hard. It’s an unfortunate fact that cigarettes are dangerous for smokers, but the really unfortunate fact is they are also dangerous for non-smokers who are just hanging out drinking a beer. I have nothing against smokers smoking themselves silly, as long as I don’t have to smell like an ash-tray the next day and eventually develop emphysema because of it.

bq. smoking kills more people than AIDS, murder, suicide, fires, alcohol, and all illegal drugs COMBINED! -CDC

Yes, if you are a smoker, it is pretty assured that you will eventually die as a result of it. The unfortunate part about smoking is that smokers will rationalize smoking until they either get diagnosed with lung cancer, get hooked up to a hose for the rest of their lives, or just die. Nobody deserves that, not even asshole smokers.

bq. 70% of smokers want to quit, but 3% of smokers who try to quit succeed. -CDC

We went down into the dank basement of Bowery Ballroom and to my surprise no one was smoking. The no smoking in New York City bars had gone into effect, the air was clear and I could not only breath, but enjoy myself for the 2 hours we had to kill. The two hours flew by the band came on and I enjoyed some, albeit late in the evening, jams.

The moral of this story, I hated going to see bands play, because I always felt like I was missing out on smoking. I always felt trapped in a smokey room, but now I feel more comfortable. I feel like I can go out again. I had forgetten that I have rights too. I’m sorry smokers for taking away your cigarettes, but you can always go outside.

Or, do me a favor and “quit.”:http://www.quitnet.com/

This morning while on the train Diane and I bumped into someone Diane used to work with 4 years ago. Claire, the ex-intern, explained that she just had a baby and was working for a company that provided “Trend Forecasting.”:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=trend+forecasting&spell=1 The basic gist of _trend forecasting_ is people go out to fashionable parts of the city (places I don’t know about) and talk to trend setters (people who I’m not cool enough to know) they then sell the information (collected from the Über trendy) and sell it (to companies with money to burn).

I guess it’s honest money and everything, but something about it feels wrong.

Maybe it’s that nagging feeling that the “popular crowd” is really a load of twits who spend their lives looking for the next big thing to leech onto, instead of making any difference in the world. Or maybe it’s just me, wishing I was part of the über crowd and jealous of the lifestyle. Or maybe it’s the fascination I have, every time I walk past the Café in Union Square and see the elite models eating their sesame chicken salads making small talk so small they don’t use nouns.

All I know is today, when I went out to get my lunch, I saw a super-thin woman prancing out of “Diesel”:http://www.diesel.com/ and she was so thin that the skin on her jaw rippled as she walked by, sliding on her bony face.

I think she may have noticed my horrified look, I hope It didn’t make her go purge.

bq. Again to yoga
Hopping that my downward dog
brings my dog on down.