space filler: smoke gets in your eyes

when the going gets tough, the tough get smoking

and so this is where half the newsroom disappears to when things start getting gnarly. for about five minutes, all is well in the world with good company to share mutual gripes and passionate discourses about how things at work have deteriorated.

even non-smokers venture out, despite the risk of second hand smoke inhalation, for a moment or two of respite amongst people with nothing more in common than their disgruntlement.

and when the cigarette is smoked to the butt, it's back to the grindstone for some, and for others like myself, back to the task of trying to make things work as they should, not as they are.

and things are slowly getting better.