8.13.2005

the smoke standard

I like to know what time it is, kinda sorta. (The Rolex, friends, has recently been recalibrated, but though I just got it back last week, I have already been able to ascertain that it is still losing about five minutes a week. It looks very shiny and nice, however, and I have to remember that I have always thought of the Rolex as jewelry.) I wear a watch all the time. In the shower. All night (some of my lovers have failed to appreciate this feature of my personality).
I check the time often, but I don't really register what the watch says. I just want to know that I could know if it mattered what time it is. A sort of tic. It's kind of like punctuation, which I'm also fond of. Or smoking. A way to demarcate time from one moment to the next.
Why I can't stop smoking: A cigarette is a form of measurement.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice try. Nice rationalization. I myself prefer to calibrate men. I have a wild history. Can you guess my name?

Claudia said...

Yes.

Anonymous said...

The news mentioned that the wife of the recently passed superman...and a wonderful superman he was...has lung cancer and never smoked.
While I realize that smoking does increase lung cancer...I also am thinking that my chances are still good that lung cancer will happen even if I quit.
Reason I am smoking today...
lung cancer happens to non smokers too.

Anonymous said...

Thre words:
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

Claudia said...

I should probably mention that I also use beer as a measurement, but in a much more direct fashion. I use it to calculate currency exchange. Things are not worth one or five dollars, or euros, or yuan, but one or five beers. In this way you can effectively judge comparative costs across cultures.
BTW, cigarettes are used as currency in much of the world, but mainly as tips or bribes. And mainly Marlboros.

Anonymous said...

Incorrigible.