David Sedaris is such an engaging writer. Very good read.

I loved how he summed up the different types of people and their smoking preference, “Kools and Newports were for black people and lower-class whites. Camels were for procrastinators, those who wrote bad poetry, and those who put off writing bad poetry. Merits were for sex addicts, Salems for alcoholics, and Mores for people who considered themselves to be outrageous but really weren’t. One should never lend money to a Marlboro-menthol smoker, though you could usually count on a regular-Marlboro person to pay you back. The eventual subclasses of milds, lights, and ultra-lights not only threw a wrench in the works but made it nearly impossible for anyone to keep your brand straight. All that, however, came later, along with warning labels and American Spirits.”

He nailed my father and, perhaps, another person I know. It really makes me wonder if there is something telling about the choices we make and our socioeconomic status. Are people really that categorizable and predicable? Hmm.