Monday 13 April 2009

Scare Tactics


If you have bought a pack of cigarettes lately, you would definitely notice a refreshing change on the latest adornments displayed on the new batches of boxes. I am not referring to those toll-free customer service phone number should you have any queries and encouragement on how you are actually contributing gargantuanally to the government's coffers or the missile money to bomb those helpless women and children. Nor I am referring to those stale simple warning of Smoking is Hazardous to Health. I am referring to those gory images that is prominently displayed at the top part of the front and back of all cigarette boxes. While those images serves as shock therapy to all the smokers out there, apparently it has some added bonus to it as well.

I started smoking regularly when I was 18 years old, starting with a pack a week until now to a-pack-a-day basis. Which means I have been smoking for almost half of my entire being and the fraction will only get bigger if I were to continue along. Wow! I only realised that as I am typing this entry.

Apparently, the bad habit (hey! All smokers do realise that it is a bad habit thank you very much) persisted throughout, braving through the thick and thins of my life such as no smoking zone in the office, severe financial depressions (still is), nagging girlfriends (not that many :p) and consistent hourly harassments from a newly-wed wife for several years to name a few.

And these new graphics has brought up a new kind of assault to this evergreen habit of mine. Similar to the last one I mentioned except that it comes from a smaller yet powerful voice of a very persistent 7 year old girl. Now, simply said, I just can't have my relative peace outside puffing the blues away at home without this little noise in the background saying Apasal ayah hisap rokok lagi? Nanti jadi macam kat dalam gambar tu And the irony is that I can't exactly rationalise my bad habit without actually promoting the habit to her, can I? For all you know, before long, the "newly-wed" wife would find a renewed enthusiasm in her fight for a smokeless environment and tobacco-free smell from me seeing the support that she's getting from her smaller counterpart.

Maybe I should quit. It would do wonders to my bank balance.

p/s: photo courtesy of http://www.quitsmokingpainlesslynow.com

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

aku quit smoking 5-6 years ago but that doesn't mean anak2 aku tak tanya. adam will once in a while tanya 'ayah dulu hisap rokok yee??'. ni sah2 keje adik aku ni, bila adam dok tanya macam2 time dia smoke. malas nak menjawab, terus point kat ayah.

kalau quit, gemuk wooo haha

Mrs.A said...

You know what Mosh, here I was thinking that it was the non-smokers yang more affected b the pictures.. the smokers will just turn a blind eye to the pics...looks like I may be underestimating the pressure from the others.. he he

Nak bagi pressure sikit, the hubby stopped smoking for my 21st birthday.. muaha ha...

mosh said...

screwboy: on the contrary, you can use yourself as an example as success stories apa! story about courage, willpower and pure inner strength ehehehe. bagi la dramatic sikit nak bagi interesting.

part gemuk tu yang susah sikit tu. kena plan awal apa mau buat nak maintain perut camni..

mrs a: ehehe tu la dia anakku sorang yang bising sehingga membingitkan telinga tu.

wah... your hubby quit as your 21st. birthday present eh? sangat terrer. i suppose he couldn't get past the nagging girlfriend bit la kot ehehehe...

NJ@Goboklama said...

you shud... BTW,mitos aje tu kalau quit smoking jadi gemuk. Eksesais le bebanyak,kan,kan,kan?? :)

Unknown said...

kalau dah smoker, tu kan? tempek je lah gambar apa pun, selagi willpower tak cukup kuat. apa pun.. i hear you!

Anonymous said...

Urkh.. I would quit looooong looooong ago at fist sight of that miscarriage image.

How can you still enjoy puff after puff after puff with those images stuck in your head?

c'mon lah pinkman, we know you can quit. Saja nak umpan cheering je ni.

mosh said...

nj: part exercise yang berat tu, literally.

lana: yup! willpower is the one required. i should gather enough soon hopefully.

tworotis: but but, i don't carry a baby so that one wouldn't affect me as much (as an escape clause). i suppose gore and violence is so much ingrained in our daily dose of exposure that it has become one of those things, no?

cheering would be appreciated though. tight-fitting baby-tees with micro skirts would provide even a bigger distraction :p

Anonymous said...

baby-T? micro skirts? where? where??!?!

Mrs.A said...

Dream on Mosh!!!!!!!!!!!!

p/s: I am just trying to get the 'newly-wed' wife drift... fishy, fishy, fishy.

p/p/s: Awak tahu ke hubby saya kerja kat mana? Ironic tau...

Anonymous said...

Tu!!

*points at Athyra*

Sarina said...

Hahahaha Mosh.. I would be one of the nagging "girlfriends"... I am sooo glad Shina and your daughter are still nagging.. then we can ALL have a smoke-free environment..

P/s I cant wait till Syakirah starts telling her Babah to stop smoking.. I'd love to see how he will react to it.. ;-P

mosh said...

screw: pantang!!! oit aku yang desperado la sekarang bukan ko...

mrs. a: *dreaming..*

ok la ok la. an oversight of the convention. it was supposed to be "newly"-wed wife, quotation marks to signify it's not exactly new anymore :p.

but i don't quite know where your hubby works la.. hmmm curious curious.

roti's: :p that one in diapers also would be welcomed anytime...

ina: shhh! jangan cakap kuat2 nanti orang tau ehehehe! no lah shina gave up a long time ago, now the role has been taken over by alyssa. if both of them join forces lagi paghah le.

you mean you've stopped nagging him already to drive him up the wall eh? surprising tu...

Lollies said...

so let's just calculate how much you would be spending and as motivation you can use half of what you have saved and belanja me the next time i come back.

zan said...

quit sajalah!!! apa yg susah sgt?? screw and firhad can do, u can do it too!!!

Just Do It!! -->pernah dengar??

mosh said...

lollies: ehehehe. if i were to succeed, surely can. infact, i would belanja you nonetheless, when you come back.

zan: err zan janganlah marah. ok ok i'm thinking about it that's why i wrote the entry. lolls, tolong! ada orang marah sini!

the principal said...

I got married at d age of 28. Well! a bit lambat for gadis melayu. Know why? Susah betul cari lelaki yg tak merokok...I finally found one, thank God...

mosh said...

the principal: then you must've missed out many of very nice, adorable and must-have smokers-who-plan-to-quit-one-day like me :p