Mary Worth 2614

"This isn't what it looks like. What I'm really doing is resisting the urge to smoke cigarettes!"

Mary Worth 2613

This cruise just keeps getting better and better for poor Katie. Kind of puts Derek's smoking into perspective, doesn't it?

Mary Worth 2612

Now you're free to sing all the show tunes you want.

Mary Worth 2611

"You remind me of my mother! And Mary reminds you of YOUR mother! That means Mary reminds me of my grandmother! And my grandmother taught me to smoke! In fact, she used to give me money for cigarettes. I'm going to follow the fish carpet to Mary's cabin and hang out with grandma! She understands me."

Mary Worth 2610

Enjoy: 19
Good: 18
Love: 11
Nice: 7

One thing's for sure... this story is changing my opinion about smoking.

You have to understand, throughout my life, I have been a huge hater of tobacco. First, I never knew my maternal grandparents because tobacco killed them. But there were other influences in my life. My father taught high school, and his classroom posters made a big impression when I was a child: "Smoking stinks," "Don't be a butt head," and especially "Kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray."

Then there was the demonstration we had in sixth grade: A health worker brought in a mannequin head and torso that was open in the back so you could see a large pickle jar full of golden blonde hair representing the dummy's lungs. A tube with a pump connected the jar to the dummy's mouth. The worker put a cigarette in the mouth and lit it. With one squeeze of the pump, all that golden blonde hair (bronchi) instantly turned black.

I worked my way through college with Dr. David P.L. Sachs at the Palo Alto Center for Pulmonary Disease Prevention and Smoking Cessation Medical Group. I answered phones. "Thank you for calling the Palo Alto Center for Pulmonary Disease Prevention and Smoking Cessation Medical Group. How may I... hello, are you still there?"

In the year 2000, I started working for World Wildlife Fund in Washington D.C. to help finish a major fundraising campaign. Shortly after I started, they wanted to honor their emeritus chairman with a huge birthday party at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. I was startled to learn it was for Joseph Cullman, III, who had led Philip Morris as Chairman and CEO through the 1960's and 1970's when science knew all about the dangers of tobacco, and who was still very active in the company. This was the guy who invented the Marlboro man (or at least paid an advertising agency to invent it for him) and lied to Congress repeatedly about the health dangers of smoking.

In a planning meeting for Cullman's party, I looked at my very patient boss Rachel and said, "We all realize that this guy is the corporate equivalent of Adolph Hitler, right, with the blood of millions of people on his hands, right?" There was some foot shuffling under the desk and after the meeting Rachel told me, "You don't have to participate in the event." A few weeks later, though, it turned out that they needed a stage manager, and with my theatre background, they asked me to come anyway. Curious to see what the devil looked like, I went. Turned out he was just a silly old man who loved being praised by 300 people celebrating his birthday. He was pathetic. Also, I didn't work for WWF for very long after that.

So, clearly I hate the tobacco industry and all it stands for. And yet, last night at Walgreens, I saw a display like the one below and thought, "Those cigarette boxes are really cool. I'd love to buy a pack." Karen Moy, if I take up smoking and die of lung cancer, my family is going to sue.

Mary Worth 2609

Derek performs magic with cigarettes, making it levitate and return to his mouth whenever Katie isn't looking.

Mary Worth 2608

When was the last time you saw a mariachi band before you heard the mariachi band? What are these amigos doing, silently posing for pictures?

Good: 18
Enjoy: 18
Love: 11
Nice: 7

Mary Worth 2607

Guys, if you're married, and you've gone out to a show, and you manage to ditch your wife to smoke cigarettes with the star, you're probably okay. But if you start singing romantic 1940's songs from Bing Crosby "Road" movies with her, you've either crossed a line, or you're gay.

Mary Worth 2606

Especially if your friend is a Marlboro cigarette.

I really have no idea what Derek's motives are right now. I know he's struggling with his cigarette addiction and that this cruise has completely stressed him out for some unknown reason. But, seriously, how did he end up in a secluded designated smoking area with Esme? Twice? They never talk, they just look at each other and smoke. I guess the world is different for attractive people.

Good pulls ahead, but Nice hangs in there:

Good: 18
Enjoy: 17
Love: 11
Nice: 7

Mary Worth 2605

"You remember Ian? The man who was pounding on my door at 2:00 AM last year because you ran away from home until he promised to respect your clay figures and clown paintings? The man you vowed to be faithful to in sickness and in health till death do you part? You know, Ian?"

"Nope. No clue. Is he good looking?"

Good: 17
Enjoy: 17
Love: 11
Nice: 6