Positive effects of not smoking

I'm not the type to idealize something like quitting smoking. For the most part, it sucks. I've never minded the smell of cigarettes or the taste of people's mouths I am kissing who smoke, so I can't take any comfort in smelling better or not 'tasting like an ashtray.' Long-term health is something I can get behind in theory, but does not affect my day-to-day feelings. I'm pretty sure it is a scientific fact that smoking makes you look cooler, and I got this dorky-ass haircut to boot.

But now that I've made it a month and a half, I have noticed the following positive results:

1. Longer trumpet phrases. I had adjusted how I thought about trumpet to my shorter breaths as a smoker, so a lot of times since I quit I will get this mental thing where I think "hey, better wrap this phrase up, you're gonna run outta breath," only it is a vestige of my smoking self, and it turns out I can go another four bars or so. Which is good, because usually an idea gets better as it unfolds, since there is more already out there to react to. Also it is good because I don't have to be as careful about planning out my breaths in written-out lines.

2. $$$, $$$$, & $$$$$. I think I was about a five-pack-a-week consumer. That's twenty packs a month, at about $3.50 a pop, so $70 a month right there. But it is more complicated. Having more breath makes me more likely to ride my bike longer distances, so I buy less gas for my van, so I think I'm probably saving another $50 a month on that. That's $120 a month I can use for stuff like replacement phones and trespassing court fees and drugs and strip clubs. And wheat thins and twix bars and cheez popcorn. And peanuts. And beers and also whiskey. Avocados. Assorted fine cheeses and meats from reputable Italian delis. Low-odds investments in shady venture capital firms. AIRA's (anonymous individual retirement accounts). CDs, stocks, and bonds (that is the kind with music on them, and the other two kinds for S&M activities). Personal enrichment programs. Assorted domestic and imported salves and poultices. Haircuts, medical screenings, petty cash disbursements. Tropical snakes, macrobiotic health shake mixes, historical reproductions of compasses and sextants, tube socks, outdated pre-formatted 3.5" floppy diskettes, prescription sunglass holders. Also self-healing cutting boards, projector alarm clocks, graphite lubricant, shoelace repair kit, picture frames, club soda, and sunscreen. Not to mention a bronze and leather letter opener, an RCA converter, blank VCR casettes, gourmet mustards, a beginner's set of marbles, an Idiot's Guide to Metallurgy, sock darners in all three usual sizes, piano scores to the complete Mozart piano concertos, crocheted doorknob covers, noise-cancelling earbud headphones, lead-free solder, electrical tape, two (2) packages Hanes Perfect T's (M, assorted colors), 12 rollerball blue ink pens, one ten-gig SCSI hard drive, 3 packages Hebrew National kosher franks, and a year's subscription to the Utne Reader.