Smokin' bowling

Bowling last night was great. BJ was back on his game and Jeff had two great games. Too bad for Khan though, he was consistently 20+ pins below his average. And I had the best night of the entire season. My first game was a 200 and it could have been better if I wouldn't have opened in the tenth frame. I really struggled in the second game but still pulled off a 171. We lost that game to the other team and emotions were low since we weren't sure we would take first place with this loss. The third game was much better, in fact, it was my best. I bowled a 216 and even at that it could have been better but I got a nine count on my second shot in the tenth frame. This score meant I took over the top women bowler spot - unless someone else bowled better that night. BJ did some quick math and it looks like I will also take high series for the league. We congratulated each other BJ said, "Next season let's change the team name to X-outs." I responded, "So you want to come back and do this again. That's great!" The banquet is in two weeks and it should be sweeter because we'll take home the big prize.

This morning I woke up with the after effects of spending a few hours at the bowling alley. I don't mean drinking. It felt like there was a huge weight on my chest and I coughed a deep, hacking cough. The second-hand smoke has poisoned me to the point where I've been wheezing all day. Taking a deep breath is hard, at least as the day goes on it's getting easier as my lungs clear.

This made me think about the smoking laws and the ban some cities are placing on public places. Since I truly hate the smell of smoke I would be happier if every place banned smoking. I hate having to shower when I get home or tie my hair up in a pony tail just to sleep in order to keep the rank odor from getting in my face. Those type of effects although annoying, are somewhat bearable but this hacking painful cough is something else. The last thing I want is some life-threatening disease because of something I can't stand in the first place.

The city of Milwaukee is proposing a smoking ban in restaurants and bars. I really hope it passes. I get a kick out of the denial tactics of smokers. They respond with their ridiculous remarks as if they have a shred of validity which is ludicrous.

Argument #1: Second-hand smoke is harmless. It is a fact that one in every eight people who die from lung cancer is a non-smoker that suffered the effects of second-hand smoke.

Argument #2: Restaurants and bars will go out of business. The fact is profits were up 23% in the Madison area when the city went smoke free.

Argument #3: Alcohol and tobacco are legal substances so why persecute smokers. Alcohol is legal but you will be ticketed if you drive drunk. Maybe we should change the laws so you don't get a ticket for drunk driving, might as well make drinking and smoking OK anywhere.

Argument #4: The government should spend more time worrying about regulating food since there is an epidemic of obesity. This is my favorite excuse. But the reality is that an overweight person can lose the weight and be healthy. A thin person who smokes will have black, carcinogenic lungs forever.