rant of the day...

so i went to a show last night. a show i was really looking forward to. great bands and for a great cause. i left the show before 11pm...not even half way through the main act. why, you ask? because of the smoke. the smoke and the talking. but mainly because of the smoke. i can tune out the talking. even though in a town like austin, where i learned my live music etiquette you don't talk during a set. you can speak. obviously. but you keep it to a minimum and if there is excess talking someone says something. either the people around you or the artist themselves. but you go to see the music. not to converse with your buddies. people pay good money to see a show, and yes you've paid the money too so you have the right to talk, but be courteous and go outside or wait until between sets or i dunno just quit screaming in my ear. but i can tune out the talking if need be. i cannot, however, tune out the smoke. i don't know what it is about this town, and maybe it's just me, maybe i am use to being able to breathe. but the smokiest places in austin, the places we tried to avoid at all cost b/c of the smoke had absolutely NOTHING on this place i was at last night. my eyes burned, lungs ached, head pounded, and clothes reeked. so much so that despite the 30 degree temperatures, i drove home with the windows open. when i got home, i hadn't even stepped over the threshold before neto told me how badly i smelled. i had to shower and hang my clothes outside. even after dousing them in febreze and hanging them to air out, this morning they still smelled. that to me is absurd. how can a place that allows smoking not have ventilation? i can handle smoke. i can handle smoking. i could not handle last night. at breakfast this morning when the woman asked our smoking preference i had no choice but to emphatically answer non.