Follow Ups

Post Followup

East Smoke Rising

Another sighting report
Author: CP	August 28, 2008 at 02:03:16

	(As usual, this wasn't actually today ... I wrote it up a couple weeks ago.) Had a couple more sightings today. Actually, one of the women I had seen twice before. I took note of her the first time I saw her because she sat directly to my left, facing the same directioni as me, and was smoking all-white 100s … but I noticed that not much smoke was in the area of where an exhale should be. Thinking maybe she was nostril exhaling only, I glanced over to my 9 o’clock and saw she was lightly multiply pumping the cigarette. When I say lightly, I mean very lightly, nearly imperceptible. She held the cigarette up to her lips like a pro, and kept her lips around it the whole time while you could see her neck and cheek musclees tightening up just a little as she inhaled little by little. I never noticed a real exhale, and only a few times I noticed some drifting from her nostrils towards the end of a multiple pump series. Very strange! But before you say that she was a social smoker or amateurish wannabe/pretender, I should tell you that she lit up no-hands every time and seemed obviously addicted to her cigs. She was on a one-hour break and, except for eating a sandwich, smoked nonstop. She was smoking Lark 1 Menthol 100s. I suppose the fact that they were 1 mg cigs would explain part of the invisible exhale thing, but other women who I have seen smoke 1 mg cigs exhale a lot of quite visible smoke. She had taken off a fanny pack when she arrived, and after she put it back on to go back to work, she smoked two more, so that’s why I say she was not just a pretender. That and the no hands lightups. Her fashion was conservative, matching her looks. Very long skirt and very long, straight black hair. Plain makeup; maybe none at all, now that I think about it. I didn’t even think about talkinig to her the day I saw her for the first time. I saw her again about a week later and noticed she worked at a Japan Red Cross blood center! Ah, a lady in the health professions! Can’t beat that for paradoxical! Then today. She was sitting to my right, not right next to me but only separated by an empty table. There were very few people in the coffee shop because of the Obon holidays now, when people go back to their hometowns to welcome the spirits of their ancestors. I noticed her going through the routine she had the previous two times I had seen her, the no hands lightups, the multiple pump inhales (we’re talking 4-5 times every time), and the smoking of two more cigs after she had put her fanny pack back on to go to work. On one of her lightups, she was having trouble getting a flame from her lighter. Even though we were inside and there was very little A/C draft that I couls detect, she cupped both hands around the end of her cig in an attempt to light up. That failed, and then she tried to adjust the flame on her lighter. That seemed to work, at least, I could see a flame going up from it while she had the end of her cig poised over it, but I don’t think she was inhaling strong enough on her lightups to get a cherry. While she turned her head towards me, cig in lips, in a different method of attacking the problem, I decided I would fish out my truster cigar lighter from my bag and offer it to her to light up with. As I was fishing, though, she got lit up and I stopped fishing and went back to what I was doing. Sometime while she was there, I think before she buckled the fanny pack around her to get ready to leave, she called someone. It sounded kind of work related or perhaps related to travel. I had noticed when I arrived that she had a pamphlet for travel to the Kansai (Osaka/Nara/Kyoto) area on her table. It was still there as she was smoking her last two cigs, I got up the nerve to talk to her, and the pamphlet gave me an opening. I started talking to her about Kyoto, and couldn’t believe how friendly and willing to talk she was! Several times, I stopped at a point when it seemed appropriate/polite to end the conversation so both of us could go about our solitary endeavors. (I’ll have to admit, I had forgotten that she had prepared her fanny pack to leave!) Instead of taking advantage of my leaving the conversation, though, she consistently kept it going! Probably one of those women who rarely has a chance to speak to someone outside of work or home. (She doesn’t wear a wedding band, but of course that doesn’t mean anything for sure these days.) She left before me, and I thanked her for the advice she had given me on sightseeing in Kyoto. She said she goes a lot, and was telling me when is the best time to go, seasonwise, and things like that. Nice smile on her face and pleasant demeanor. Not a crazy, thank God. Able to keep a perfectly normal conversation. I said I had a couple sightings this day to report. It is now actually about a week since then; I never have time in a single sitting to write down all of a sighting report these days; that’s probably why I don’t write too many of them anymore. I’ll write about the other sighting in a separate post.
Follow Ups
Post Followup
	Name:    E-Mail:    Subject:    > (As usual, this wasn't actually today ... I wrote it up a > couple weeks ago.) > > Had a couple more sightings today. Actually, one of the > women I had seen twice before. I took note of her the first > time I saw her because she sat directly to my left, facing > the same directioni as me, and was smoking all-white 100s > … but I noticed that not much smoke was in the area of > where an exhale should be. Thinking maybe she was nostril > exhaling only, I glanced over to my 9 o’clock and saw she > was lightly multiply pumping the cigarette. When I say > lightly, I mean very lightly, nearly imperceptible. She > held the cigarette up to her lips like a pro, and kept her > lips around it the whole time while you could see her neck > and cheek musclees tightening up just a little as she > inhaled little by little. I never noticed a real exhale, > and only a few times I noticed some drifting from her > nostrils towards the end of a multiple pump series. > > Very strange! But before you say that she was a social > smoker or amateurish wannabe/pretender, I should tell you > that she lit up no-hands every time and seemed obviously > addicted to her cigs. She was on a one-hour break and, > except for eating a sandwich, smoked nonstop. She was > smoking Lark 1 Menthol 100s. I suppose the fact that they > were 1 mg cigs would explain part of the invisible exhale > thing, but other women who I have seen smoke 1 mg cigs > exhale a lot of quite visible smoke. > > She had taken off a fanny pack when she arrived, and after > she put it back on to go back to work, she smoked two more, > so that’s why I say she was not just a pretender. That > and the no hands lightups. Her fashion was conservative, > matching her looks. Very long skirt and very long, straight > black hair. Plain makeup; maybe none at all, now that I > think about it. > > I didn’t even think about talkinig to her the day I saw > her for the first time. I saw her again about a week later > and noticed she worked at a Japan Red Cross blood center! > Ah, a lady in the health professions! Can’t beat that for > paradoxical! > > Then today. She was sitting to my right, not right next to me but only separated by an empty table. There were very few people in the coffee shop because of the Obon holidays now, when people go back to their hometowns to welcome the spirits of their ancestors. I noticed her going through the routine she had the previous two times I had seen her, the no hands lightups, the multiple pump inhales (we’re talking 4-5 times every time), and the smoking of two more cigs after she had put her fanny pack back on to go to work. On one of her lightups, she was having trouble getting a flame from her lighter. Even though we were inside and there was very little A/C draft that I couls detect, she cupped both hands around the end of her cig in an attempt to light up. That failed, and then she tried to adjust the flame on her lighter. That seemed to work, at least, I could see a flame going up from it while she had the end of her cig poised over it, but I don’t think she was inhaling strong enough on her lightups to get a cherry. While she turned her head towards me, cig in lips, in a different method of attacking the problem, I decided I would fish out my truster cigar lighter from my bag and offer it to her to light up with. As I was fishing, though, she got lit up and I stopped fishing and went back to what I was doing. > > Sometime while she was there, I think before she buckled > the fanny pack around her to get ready to leave, she called > someone. It sounded kind of work related or perhaps related > to travel. > > I had noticed when I arrived that she had a pamphlet for > travel to the Kansai (Osaka/Nara/Kyoto) area on her table. > It was still there as she was smoking her last two cigs, I > got up the nerve to talk to her, and the pamphlet gave me > an opening. I started talking to her about Kyoto, and > couldn’t believe how friendly and willing to talk she > was! Several times, I stopped at a point when it seemed > appropriate/polite to end the conversation so both of us > could go about our solitary endeavors. (I’ll have to > admit, I had forgotten that she had prepared her fanny pack > to leave!) Instead of taking advantage of my leaving the > conversation, though, she consistently kept it going! > Probably one of those women who rarely has a chance to > speak to someone outside of work or home. (She doesn’t > wear a wedding band, but of course that doesn’t mean > anything for sure these days.) > > She left before me, and I thanked her for the advice she > had given me on sightseeing in Kyoto. She said she goes a > lot, and was telling me when is the best time to go, > seasonwise, and things like that. Nice smile on her face > and pleasant demeanor. Not a crazy, thank God. Able to keep > a perfectly normal conversation. > > I said I had a couple sightings this day to report. It is > now actually about a week since then; I never have time in > a single sitting to write down all of a sighting report > these days; that’s probably why I don’t write too many > of them anymore. I’ll write about the other sighting in a > separate post.