The Thoughts of a Frumpy Professor

............................................ ............................................ A blog devoted to the ramblings of a small town, middle aged college professor as he experiences life and all its strange variances.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

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Busy as Heck



Tuesdays and Wednesdays have turned out to be the busiest days of the week for me this Semester.  A lot of time is spent with my research students on those days as it fits in best with their schedule.  I also have very heavy lecture loads for both days.  

BBC said me a variety of things in my comments section that I wish to answer, but I will only hit on a few of them right now, unfortunately: 

1.  You are right in that I should not call my pipe smoking, a "hobby" even though I have usually viewed it as such.  And, I still feel it is a wonderful hobby, if truth be told, deep in my psyche.

2.  I cannot remember a time when I did not relish pipe smoking, and pipe tobacco.  Perhaps that is a sad thing to say, but it is true.

3.  There is a lot more than "nicotine" keeping me in the "hobby".  I wish I understood it (or my motivations) better.  Of course, I do enjoy the nicotine.  Yet, there is so much more to it.  Unfortunately, I am not able to put it in words right now.  It is just outside of my mental grasp at the moment.  

4.  While I will smoke a cigar or two every month, pipes are my avocation.  I have never gravitated towards cigarettes, ever.  I think across my lifespan, I have smoked less than one total pack (aka less than 20) of cigarettes.

5.  Am I a "Type A" personality pretending to be a "Type B" personality?  That is a very interesting question, indeed.  I am not sure if it is true or not, but it did catch me by surprise.  I had never thought of that idea before and, it *could* be accurate.  Yet, the odd thing for me, is that I have never thought of myself as being a "Type A" personality type.  But, I am not, by any stretch of the imagination a "happy-go-lucky person either.  Does that mean, I did not realize I am type A, or does it mean I am something else other than A or B?

6.  Billy asked me if I ever smoked marijuana.  I am a bit chagrined to say that the answer is NO.  I have never tried marijuana in any form.  I find that a bit embarassing, but perhaps more than anything, I find it a bit regretful.  But here is the backstory: 

Marijuana use was in its heyday while I was in college and graduate school.  I probably had at least a dozen, if not two dozen social situations occur where I had been offered some or could have shared some with others at the "scene".  But, I never participated.  Why?  I often ask myself why, now, but here was my reasoning......  I never tried it because I was afraid of my inherent laziness.  While I was in college and graduate school, I did not want to fail or flunk out.  Because of this, I did not want to risk trying marijuana, which I suspect I would greatly enjoy,  because I did not want to risk tipping the scales where I would become lazy enough to give up or fail at college or graduate school.  Back in the day, the idea that marijuana makes you unfocused and lazy was quite prevalent.   I have always felt I was too damn unfocused and too damn lazy to begin with. I did not need to risk becoming an even more worthless bum than I already was.   Smoking pipe tobacco and drinking alcohol were all "ok" for me to do while in college and graduate school because... hell, most everyone of my "heros" of the day did the same (smoked and drank)..... Huxley, Lorenz, Steinbeck, Hemingway, vonFrisch, Tinbergen, Einstein, and on-and-on..... they all made it, they all made a real contribution, they all were authors or professors or scientists that I greatly admired, and they smoked and drank... so inside, I knew I could too with minimal if any risk. 

Now, I face a different conundrum.  I regret not trying it.  I regret not knowing what is like.  It is akin to a sin of omission.  Perhaps I should visit Washington?   They have legalized it now.  Just to try it out. Although it is an option, I doubt I ever would do it (sigh).
   
Goal for today (Tuesday) = 4 bowls

 Monday Goal = 2 bowls

Actual Consumption (Sunday) = 6 bowls

PipeTobacco

13 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You are right, marijuana does tend to take away ambition and make the person on the lazier side. But less apt to make the user obnoxious and violent that is often associated with alcohol consumption. It is also harder on the lungs than tobacco. So health wise you are better off with the tobacco in your pipe than weed. And since your college days the weed has become much more sophisticated, more potent. Compared to drinkers I like the pot smokers better. They are nicer.

Tuesday, 13 November, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

Ah, a new post..

I had some thoughts today that's a different direction than usual thinking about smoking.

I haven't smoked a cigar for ages and have no intention of having one anytime in the future.

Am I a "Type A" personality pretending to be a "Type B" personality?

I didn't really put it that way but think about it a minute, there's two sides to our brains, it's very possible that one side towards A and the other towards B.

And for most of us it's the B side driving us through life most of the time, that's cool, it's the best side, but that's not to say the A side can't or won't take over at times.

But, I am not, by any stretch of the imagination a "happy-go-lucky person either.

I wouldn't assume that has anything to do with A or B, couldn't either be that way?

I don't think you're missing a thing for not ever trying it, frankly, I'm glad I'm not a user.

I'll take a hit once in a while if around others smoking it, they like that, but it's such a light hit that it hardly counts.

Got high on it once years and it was interesting but not so interesting that I felt inclined to keep using it.

Monday Goal = 2 bowls

Did you keep to the goal? If so good for you, high fives. The way you are stating them is a bit confusing to me.

Anyway, tomorrow I'm trying a cold turkey approach and attempting to not smoke at all. I've proved to myself thousands of times that once I take a few puffs that day is lost to smoking.

Jane enjoys following our train wreck, she gets tired of her train wreck, hehehehe

Tuesday, 13 November, 2012  
Blogger Doc Teri said...

I'm not even trying to be a Type B...I'm Type A all the way, and wishing I wasn't..."laid-back" is what I aspire to...

Tuesday, 13 November, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

That's interesting, I wasn't picturing you as Type A, just damn interesting with a brain that could handle shit and understand someone like me.

Tuesday, 13 November, 2012  
Anonymous Beth said...

I'm from Washington state. On the new pot legalization, the governor needs to get a blessing from the feds. Apparently they aren't happy with the law and federal law trumps state law.

If all goes well, we should be able to shop at state run pot stores about this time next year.

Interestingly, the woman who birthed the initiative is an attorney and soccer mom and not a pot consumer. It basically boiled down to lifting the prohibition, stopping the expensive prosecutions, regulating and taxing the hell out of it.

After this all becomes a reality, my guess is we'll never have a budget crisis again.

Tuesday, 13 November, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

Hi Beth, I've lived in Washington a good share of my adult life, raised my kids in Colville, if you have looked at my you know that I now live in Port Angeles.

After this all becomes a reality, my guess is we'll never have a budget crisis again.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Tuesday, 13 November, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

I just got a conformation from Jane that she smokes. She quit for 18 months but a few puffs got her hooked again.

Keep that in mind, if you can break away from it you can never go back again.

Tuesday, 13 November, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

If I run out of booze I can deal with it, it's no big deal, when I don't have something to smoke it's a bitch, I'll bum a smoke from someone but I wouldn't think of bumming a drink from someone.

Tuesday, 13 November, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

Good night, sweet dreams...

Tuesday, 13 November, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

Been up two hours and have not had a puff, so far so good. The theory that popped into my head yesterday seems to be correct but I’ll talk about that later.

Rod and Char goes to the bar on Saturday afternoons, that’s the only time she smokes, I don’t know how she manages that.

Wednesday, 14 November, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

I think my nose is improving already, or those are really ripe farts, hehehe

Wednesday, 14 November, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

Five hours now. Plus the eight I slept.

Wednesday, 14 November, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

I slipped a bit today and smoked a bowl midday, now I’m fixing to slap on a fresh patch, smoke one more bowl and turn in. My two bowls will equal one of Pipes bowls so I think the day went well for me.

But enough about me, I’m concerned about Doc Teri, I’ve taken a real liking to that little shit and she wants to stop smoking also (read her first post), but her environment is much different than mine. I’m retired and she’s working in the fucking Dilbert Zone, that’s a lot of extra stresses on her.

We’ve exchanged some emails and I hope I’ve given her some helpful tips, different ways of seeing and dealing with things. I know she is a brain scientist and I’m just a fucking country boy but what has that got to do with anything?

I’m doing okay, lets all support Teri, okay???

Wednesday, 14 November, 2012  

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