Talking about coffee breath turns into a story about church camp‏

While I have enjoyed my recent foray into coffee drinking, one of the things I don't like about it is the resultant stinky breath.

Coffee breath is gross, and I'm hyper-conscious of it so after I'm done with my couple cups in the morning, I immediately brush my teeth to try to wash away the smell from my mouth and the stain from my teeth. My teeth are so much whiter since I quit smoking and I don't want a beverage to mess that up.

I'm glad I don't smoke anymore because drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes would create the worst breath imaginable. Might as well just eat poop.

This one time on the bus on the way to church camp in junior high, some guy whose name I can't remember drew the funniest picture of this other guy that had terrible breath. It was a little cartoon guy with flames coming out of his mouth and that image still pops into my head every once in a blue moon and makes me laugh out loud.

The one guy was a really good artist, and the other guy really did have hideously bad breath. That week he earned the moniker Bad Breath Dieu (his name was Dieu). I remember he also didn't bring any money with him on that trip, not a dime, and we all had to donate a dollar so he could buy food on the way there and back. We would have gladly chipped in extra for him to buy some mouthwash.

One More Week Until the Great Vacation Gorge!

A week from today I'll be in Santa Monica! I need this vacation so badly. It will be nice to get away not just from work, but away from everyday life for a while. I'm going to vacation it up by eating whatever I want and doing whatever I want all day, every day, for 8 magnificent days in a row. Having eaten like a bird for the past few weeks in preparation for the Vacation Gorge, I'm most looking forward to the eating! I'm finally at my driver's license weight for the first time since before I quit smoking, but that won't last for long!

Places I will eat (not necessarily all on the same day) include but are not limited to:
Krispy Kreme,
Thoma's for chili cheese fries,
In-N-Out followed by an ice cream sandwich at Diddy Riese,
possibly a good old-fashioned post-church lunch at Souplantation,
maybe a sandwich from Bay Cities if I can brave the line,
and definitely a few delicious Jill-made sandwiches from her magical Panini-maker.

I was going to say Patty's Pizza but my friend the Internet tells me that the Santa Monica location closed in February. That's a shame, just a real shame.

Speaking of food, I don't know why a quote from Night Court, which has been off the air for almost 20 years, should pop into my head so often, but it does.
"It's so hard to say au revoir so let's just say au gratin." - Buddy (John Astin) to Harry.

Some quick thoughts on smoking

I haven't smoked in 1 year, 6 months and 27 days and I'm extremely proud of this. While I did enjoy smoking for a good 20 years, I progressively grew to hate the habit more and more.

My house is non-smoking, and when a friend stepped outside for a quick smoke recently, I told her to enjoy her "filthy habit."

This is why ex-smokers are the worst kind of non-smokers - I act like I didn't stink up every room I was in for a couple of decades. The uppity arrogance is unparalleled.

My dad (see above picture) has smoked since forever and he's the coolest smoker you'll ever lay eyes on. Nobody looks cooler while engaging in this "filthy habit". Nobody.