I remember as student wanting to look cool at ‘varsity. Who doesn’t? The only way I knew how to do this was to start smoking. I mean, isn’t holding a cigarette cool? And everyone else was doing it! So I had to do it too right? The Marlboro man looked cool. And all those gorgeous people in the Mainstay advert also looked cool. Oh wait, Mainstay is vodka not cigarettes.

Anywhoo, I told my folks that I was going to do this because…honesty. My Mom said cool as long as I don’t smoke in the house. So I rushed to the corner shop and bought a packet of cigarettes.

To cut a short story even shorter, because this phase was a short one, thankfully, I didn’t enjoy smoking. Not even the visions of looking cool were enough to turn it into a habit. I gave away more cigarettes than I smoked. After a month I decided that this was a failed experiment, thankfully.

I solved the “how to look cool at ‘varsity” goal by dressing up in eccentric clothes, wearing all manner of hats and wearing large earrings. This turned into a habit and I am still known to dress eccentrically at times. Not all the time because…clients.

Response to WordPress’s one-word prompt – Smoke.