
Learning to Smoke - imgabe
http://www.esquire.com/print-this/features/learning-to-smoke-0308
======
jraines
You could write a fairly appealing account of _starting_ to use any drug . . .

~~~
foonamefoo
So, yesterday, I had alcohol for the first time, I passed out , and when I
awoke, I discovered that I had been raped.

~~~
mrdorian
thats awful

~~~
rms
it made me laugh out loud

------
dgabriel
Look, I can bring this back around to start-ups!

At 21, in the heady late 90s, I was looking for a new web programming job. I
interviewed at two places, Monster and this weird little start-up company in a
dilapidated house in Allston (neighborhood in Boston that attracts students
and wanna-be rockers). Monster was a commute, cubicles, and a growing name. It
seemed like a good prospect.

When I walked into the interview at the other company, I saw the team of 6 or
so people at makeshift desks lining the living room, and next to every
workstation was an ashtray and a bong. I'm totally serious. It smelled like a
Grateful Dead show in the middle of an industrial smokestack.

And you know what? I took the second job. Because it seemed really fucking
cool, and I was 21, and Monster was already looking a bit Office Space-y.

But yeah, smoking (not just the mj) seemed cool, and weird, and offbeat, and
it made the group seem even more rebellious than it would have otherwise. And
it turned out ok. Some people got rich, some of us made a little money with
options.

I have a great story about how we trashed a bus management rented to take us
to Six Flags. I think it took the president approximately 5 minutes to light a
spleef, and we were all completely drunk by the time we made it to the park...
at 10am.

~~~
reference
The illustrious Allston trading???

~~~
dgabriel
No, it had the illustrious name of "Stumpworld," which I think originally had
something to do with amputee porn. By the late nineties, they'd moved on to
ecommerce like everybody else. No porn.

------
philippp
More haxoring, less poor life choices plz.

------
bayareaguy
Shouldn't this kind of thing (life experience) be more appropriate for
<http://www.kuro5hin.org> ?

------
crazy_eights
Why exactly is this crap on the front page of hacker news?

~~~
daniel-cussen
I voted up because I found it interesting and wanted to read it again.
Starting to smoke might be a dumb idea, but doing so methodically is unusual
and interesting.

------
Hexstream
Well what do you know, the supersize-me of cigarettes.

Next thing you know, someone will try prostitution for a month.

------
menloparkbum
this is a PR plant

~~~
rms
I think you're right because Big Tobacco is at the point where absolutely any
mention of cigarettes, positive or negative, is better than nothing.

