CIGARETTE SMOKING: Why so Damn Irresistible?

I remember what my aunt used to say about her bad habit, “We all are gonna die someday. We either die in a tragedy, from illness or from old age. So whether I smoke or not, I’m still gonna die anyway.” She got her point pretty clear there, but i don’t think it is a good advise to tell on a young girl, eh?

“Cigarette smoking is bad for your health.” “A cigarette has 43 known ingredient cancer- causing compounds.” Etcetera, etcetera.

Smoking - packaging
image: seatca.org

With all the health advertisement, scary pictures of deceased body organs at the cigarette packaging and even adding more tax into it, why do people still smoke? I am writing this not to criticize the smoker, but to explain how it happens to be soo… damn irresistible.

 

Tobacco farmer standing in his tobacco drying hut against rows of drying tobacco leaves hung on wooden racks, Vinales Valley, Pinar Del Rio, Cuba, West Indies, Caribbean, Central America
Dried Tobacco (this amazing photo credits to: Robert Harding)

Nicotiana Tabacum (now we know as Tobacco) is a plant first discovered in America. The community who discovered the plant cultivate it and ever since, they chew or smoke the leaves of the plant.

Nicotine is a drug stimulant and at the same time also a drug depressant. In other terms, it is both an upper and a downer. In a study, some say that on a low dose it acts as a depressant. It relieves stress and anxiety. While it gives palpitation, high blood pressure, and diarrhea on high doses.

In a stick of a cigarette, you can get around 1-2 mg of Nicotine, depends on the brand. The Nicotine will then reach the brain within 10 seconds after first inhalation. The brain will release Dopamine – a neurotransmitter that controls the brain’s reward and pleasure center. This will re- enforce people to smoke again.

According to a study “Nicotine induces pleasure and reduces stress and anxiety. Smokers use it to modulate levels of arousal and to control mood. Smoking improves concentration, reaction time, and performance of certain tasks. Relief from withdrawal symptoms is probably the primary reason for this enhanced performance and heightened mood.”

The effect of this drug will only lasts for a few minutes after you finished a cigarette causing the need to use it again. Imagine your very first paragliding. It feels so good while in the air, your feet is far from the ground, the wind caressing your cheeks while looking at the majestic scene around you. Then when you finally hit the ground, you’ll still feel elated and when that feeling subsided a part of you will want to do it again and again.

As for me, I believe that not trying a bad habit from the start that I know I couldn’t resist to stop is the BEST CHOICE! Health Wise. Penny Wise. Environment Wise. Continue reading “CIGARETTE SMOKING: Why so Damn Irresistible?” →

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        Increasing price of vegetables in the market, additional price on sugar, rice, oil, poultry, meat, and fish are causing a major chain reaction here in the Philippines. These are the basic goods in the market, causing their by-products to increase price too. These are the causes of TRAIN Law here in my country.

TRAIN Law or Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte on December 2017. This consists of revisions to the Tax Code.

 

Personally, it started as a blessing on my profession. I was a staff nurse in a hospital for 4 years (i resigned recently for career growth – Sept. 15, 2018). My monthly salary was around 15,000PHP (280USD). Although, I usually get 12,000PHP (220USD) a month because of the tax and other government related monthly contribution.

The prominent feature of the tax reform is that people who earn 250,000PHP annually or 21,000PHP monthly and below (4,600USD annually or 390USD monthly) are exempted from paying Personal Income Tax.

 

        When the TRAIN Law was mandated we were the first ones that got excited with it. We can now save or spend a little more from our salary. Our budget will be more flexible unlike the previous years when we needed to take in mind the price of the things or food we need to buy. We always need to think a way how to stretch our little salary up to the next payday.

Among the provisions of the law are a 6 pesos per liter hike on drinks with caloric and non- caloric sweeteners while drinks with high fructose corn syrup will be taxed an extra 12 pesos per liter.

 

Train Law S&R
image credit to Bayan Muna Partylist Facebook Page

 

January 2018. It started with the increase in sweetened beverages like sodas and juices. I thought to myself, “it’s fine. I will not buy those. They’re not healthy anyways. It’s better to hydrate myself with lots of water. ” But, that was just the beginning of Inflation Rate.

The most noticeable price increase (more like exaggerated) up to date were the grain of rice and siling labuyo (chili pepper).

Rice is the staple food here in the Philippines. We ate rice twice to four times a day. Filipinos won’t satiate their hunger if they did not eat rice on their meal. It is part of our culture. Most Filipinos loves to eat rice, so restaurants with “Unlimited Rice” is favored by many. Which is why, when the inflation of price on the rice was announced, lots of consumers went nuts! The price of a kilo of rice depends on a Region. Here in Metro Manila regular milled rice ranges from 40 pesos per kilo for wholesale to 42 pesos per kilo for retail, while well- milled rice ranges from 42 pesos per kilo for wholesale and 46- 47 pesos per kilo for retail (source: Philstar).

 

Train Law - NFA
image credit to tribune.net.ph

The government have a solution for that problem. NFA (National Food Authority) Rice were being distributed to the agency’s accredited retailer in the market nationwide. The well- milled rice retail price ranges from 27 – 32 pesos per kilograms. Only 2 kilograms per buyer are allowed to give chance for the other consumers. (source: NFA)

 

 

Meanwhile, siling labuyo or red chili pepper went from 600 pesos per kilograms last month (August 2018) to 1000 pesos this month!! That was insane! Lots of memes went viral on the social media because of this. Some of them were hilarious!

 

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Day after day the increase on these products are overwhelming the consumers nationwide. In my position, having a financially stable family, living in a rented apartment in the heart of Metro Manila, we were also greatly affected by this Law. How about the people who are financially challenged and the people who doesn’t even have a monthly salary they can at least rely to.

I just hope and pray that someday, if this law is really for the good development for this country, I pray that it will be worth it. As of now, lets be happy and grateful with whatever little we have. ♥♥♥

“Not having the best situation, but seeing the best in your situation is the key to happiness.” – Maria Forleo

 

*thank you for taking the time to read. I do appreciate it. Please, please leave your comment about the topic. I’m a newbie blogger so any advise will also help. Any advise. Thank you. 🙂
**featured image credit to entrepreneur.com

The Kind of TRAIN You Wouldn’t Want to Ride – (TRAIN Law a.ka. Inflation Rate)

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Little About Myself

 

      Hi everyone, I would like first to introduce myself. My name is Carla, I’m a proud pinay born and raised in Manila, Philippines. I am an Introvert, a Capricorn, with a Type A- kind of personality, home buddy, family- oriented, father-disciplined woman. I am also a registered nurse in my country. I practiced 4 years of nursing in a hospital. I loved taking care of my patients. Making them laugh. Sharing their pain. Alleviating their sufferings and fears.

     Our life is like a book. It has a beginning – our birth, and ending. In between it has chapters- our life experiences. In every chapter, it also has it’s own beginning, which in life it could be a start of a romance, an adventure, a big event and so on. When a chapter was ended, it could mean that a certain event is also done, finished or accomplished. It could be a success or a failure. Like in life, when you experienced a failure. You broke up with your girlfriend/ boyfriend, you fail a major exam or you didn’t graduate, somebody is bullying you or you lost someone dear to you, always remember that you can always always start from the beginning. Close that bad chapter in your life. Forgive if you can’t forget, then move on to the new chapter. You are the writer of your Book. It is all up to you if you want it to be sad, lonely, miserable, or it could be an inspirational, motivational, spiritual, fun and page-turner kind of Book.

      In my life, I had my ups and downs, of course. I always forgive and moved on to the next chapter. This next chapter I’m about to tell you, for me is a big opportunity. I was interviewed March 2018 by a Japanese employer. He gave me 75% scholarship while working as a part – time caregiver to his company.

     This is an opportunity for me to study while working in a well developed country which is JAPAN! I will study in their university, I will take up their language for 1 and a half years, while working Part- Time.

    The process and requirements that I already met was a challenge for me, since this will be my first time working and travelling internationally. Now, I only have 9 days before my departure. I have mixed emotions all in the same time. Excitement, Nervousness, Anxiety, and Loneliness. From the beginning, I googgled all the question I had on my mind. The what and what- not -to-do, their culture, the train system, how to say this and that in Japanese (in case I got lost), etc.

I decided to start a blog so that I could input everything that I learned and all the things that I will learn and discover. Also, so that if there is someone that will be experiencing the same way that I do, he/she could have a reference. 🙂

 

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