Last night (30 May) at midnight the new Quebec smoking law went into effect. People who've been to Quebec before may naturally think that this law required mandatory smoking in all public areas, but in fact it was just the opposite. They actually banned smoking in restaurants and bars!
Apparently the bars were packed last night with folks out celebrating their last cigarette (or their first bar night without smoke, depending which side of midnight you're on, and which way you swing smokewise). If I would have been out, I would have gone to the coolio Nettime CPR at the SAT, but since I'm a Papa I stayed home instead. That excuse is starting to get kind of thin, though... I'm going to have to hit the town this week for some Mutek-related fun. It's just too good to miss.
Coming to Quebec from California in 2002, I have to admit that one of the things that attracted me to Montreal was its liberal smoking laws. It was like being in Las Vegas all the time! (Dive bars full of smokers button-poking Loto-Québec video poker terminals didn't do much to change that impression.) I smoked, my friends smoked, everybody smoked. Beautiful women walked up to me and asked for a light. It was fantastic. We all looked great. We could smoke anywhere.
And cigarettes in Canada have these death-porn stickers on them; pictures of blood-oozing brains, rotting teeth, collapsed carotid arteries. They're just horrible. (If you're out on the town trying to pick up the ladies, make sure not to buy a pack with the impotence warning on them; it puts a real damper on your game.) And the local cigs come 25 to a pack. And they're rounder and thicker. And they've got cool names.
But I quit smoking on the 5th of August 2004, being an incipient husband and father and etc. Getting married made me realize that perhaps I wanted to live past 40, and spend some time with my family and children, and that maybe it was time to stop walking around with my death wish on display like a 45 pointed at my temple. (I got a prescription for Zyban, and after a few weeks of crankiness, I turned out pretty OK. I gained a lot of weight that I still haven't lost, but other than that not smoking's been a real upside for me.)
Anyways, half of Montreal is happy about the smoking ban, half is calling for armed revolution. I've never been a real big smokers' rights advocate, although I've hung out with a few real smoker crankjobs. My first summer here I hung out with a local novelist, and she hated the ciggie stickers. "Why don't they require stickers on the fenders of cars with pictures of run-over children? 'This machine can kill you!'" On the converse, I've also really disliked the kind of hypocritical non-smoker who'd complain to a waitress if there was someone smoking at the other end of the restaurant, but later that night would bum half your pack ("I only smoke when I'm drinking"). A pox on both houses.
Myself, I don't really care either way. After California's smoking bans went into effect, there was an interesting novelty in going into your favourite music venue and being able to actually see the stage through the crisp, clean air. But it wears off quickly, I think, and after a couple of weeks having to go outside to smoke just seems like business as usual.
tags: smoking quebec montreal california laws
Domo Arigato
In the Montreal Gazette this morning there was a good article about Distroboto, a project to convert old cigarette machines into art and literature distribution tools. They've got tiny books, mini-CDs and mini-DVDs for sale in hipster cafés and bars around Montreal. Little bits of art big enough to fit in the slots where packs of smokes used to go. Now that cigarette machines are illegal, the project hopes to expand to lots of new bars and restaurants.
When I read about it, all I could think was, "Man, wouldn't that be a great place to put a lot of Ubuntu or Knoppix Live CDs?" I think it'd be pretty cool to distribute free software in tiny packages available in any café.
tags: smoking cigarette machines montreal distroboto livecd linux free software
Hot hot hot
It's 30°C at our house right now, and muggy as all get-out. Wednesdays are my day to be "PCG" (Primary Care Giver) so Amita and I went shopping at the fruiterie on Mont-Royal a few blocks away. The whole Plateau has this sleepy Alabama summertown feeling -- warm, humid, tiny warm breezes blowing through the tree.
After lunch we went out to the park across the street and walked all over with her in the sling. She fell asleep and we sat on a park bench in the shade for a while. It was awful nice.
tags: summer montreal amitajune
10 reasons to blog
MC Turgeon wrote a nice list of 10 reasons to blog. Interesting.