COUGH!

I am blessed indeed to work in a smoke-free environment. That's not something I take for granted. Mornings, however, when I wish to sleep in, I am often awakened by the sharing of someone else's stinking cigarette smoke. Our apartments are porous, to say the least. I try not to be a smoke nazi, but the more I mature (the older I get) the less my system can tolerate the concentration of poisonous gases that so many are so willing to inhale. Good ventilation is a blessing.
I have one friend who's training in law enforcement and is obviously getting into good shape physically, most likely careful about what he eats, but doesn't give a hoot about his lungs. He has a rasp in his voice that sounds like the beginnings of the ultimate emphysema. I hear this when he tries to hit certain notes. He SEEMS to think that it's just the "character" of his voice, but doesn't recognize, or ignores the warning that it truly is.
I've known people who have been pretty obnoxious in their disdain for tobacco odor and as I said, I am trying not to be like them.
I will not lobby for it, but I will surely be happy when all public inside dwellings will be smoke-free. Hey, I can smell the crap on a well-ventilated breezeway/porch. It stinks and last night, it was cutting off my wind pipe so that at ONE venue, it affected my singing.
I learned recently that while the late Eddie Rabbit, country singer and writer of Elvis' "Kentucky Rain," never really was a smoker, he died of lung cancer. Most likely, it was his exposure at venues where he tried to sing. It DOES take air to do it right.
So, for now, I am making changes and only doing karaoke at well-ventilated venues. Hey, I have to care for my lungs if no one else give a hoo doo!
This morning I woke up and coughed and black smoke exited my being as though I'd smoked a half a pack of the cancer sticks. Nope...time to make some changes.