The Players Corner Archive

This thread is for me, and anyone else, who is trying to stop doing something they feel is not good for them and needs support from others.

I've decided, thanks to some of you, that it's time once again to try to quit smoking.

Making this public is the most significant step toward success. If I fail, I'll know I've tried. If I succeed, I'll have all y'all to thank for your help.

One new pack left til I have to pay the increased prices. My goal at the current time is to make that one pack last a full 24 hour period. I presently smoke 1.5 packs a day. I'll probably get to that pack late tonight or first thing in the morning, since I have almost a full pack in my open one.

Wish me luck!

R
reg

GO ROBERTA!

reg

<applaud>

I know this is much harder than what I've done (gone off caffeine and soda), but hang in there. It does get better and you'll be happy spending all the extra dollars lining your pockets, not to mention being able to breathe easier.

-TB

reg

Don't be satisfied knowing you gave it your best shot. Only be satisfied with victory. Having an almost defeatist attitude is not the best thing for something that is especially a mental struggle. Just keep resisting the urges one at a time and I'm sure you can win.

Sonic reg

Good for you. My parents stopped smoking over a year ago due to my grandmother getting cancer. It's not going to be easy, but I think you can do it. reg

I've been up since 7 and have had 3 cigarettes. Usually by this time of day it's around 5 or 6.

I smoke most while in front of my computer. But I've been intentionally staying aware of my smoking instead of just automatically grabbing a cigarette.

I feel nauseated, but I think some toast will fix that. Afterward I'm gonna go for a bike ride.

R
reg

If your fingers feel twidgity (yep, that is a word, MY word! hehe) mebbe something to play with like a pen or something healthy to put in your mouth would be good. Veggie sticks and such.

Hope you have a lovely bike ride. How's Connecticut today? I fly there tomorrow to visit friends before heading to work in NY for the week.

Aerienne reg

It's only around 1.5 miles round trip, but I'm out of shape so that's not bad for me. Hoping to get fit by the end of the season so I can do some serious biking in the state.

Just finished cigarette #6 for the day. Almost 9 hours. Much more lightheaded than before, nausea's gone, dizzy, and vision is pulsating. The cigarette tasted stale, but that's just my taste buds freaking out

Can't start the habit of eating when I feel fidgety, or I'll develop that habit instead and get even more overweight than I already am. I *HATE* celery ::spits::

It's a withdrawal symptom.

R
reg

As a result, I never learned how to chew it "correctly" and always end up getting it stuck in my teeth or swallowing it in mid-chew.

R

Added: just so no one thinks mom was some kind of twisted meniacal child abuser...

Her father was our dentist, and I was wearing braces at the time.

[This message has been edited by Desharei (edited 04-04-2002).] reg

Sonic reg

::shrugs:: So far I'm not substituting one bad habit with another, and I'd like to keep it that way.

R
reg

This might not be the case with you..but a lot of the ethnic "old world" women believe that it's not "lady like" to chew gum, period--then it turned to "there's a certain way a lady chews gum." Stupid sounding? Yes. But that's what they thought. I have been a gum addict pretty much all my life, and I caught HELL from my grandmother about it. The thing your mother was saying--about the "cow" look chewing your gum..is probably because you were chewing with your mouth open, or opening your mouth when you chew--the so-called "proper" way to chew gum is chew with your mouth closed. As long as you don't make that nasty slurp type noise, you're fine.

Also--chewing the sugary bubble gum like Bubble Yum or whatever gives most people a headache. Try something like Winterfresh or Double Mint..or Carefree. They aren't as heavy.

--Gum Princess reg

'lood
reg

BTW, salsa is good right out of the container, if you get the real stuff and not that crap the comes in a jar

As for the gum, yeah - it wasn't ladylike, and mom was a teacher, and grandpa was a dentist, so I grew up believing that gum was more evil than eating pork roast on the Sabbath.

Chew gum with your mouth shut? How the heck do you manage that without drooling?

R
reg

During the day, I lost my DSL and had to bitch at SNET for half an hour about it, which pissed me off, and stood on the scale for the first time since we moved in to this house and discovered I've gained another 10 pounds since November. Major stress day.

R
reg

quote:

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Originally posted by Desharei:
The cigarette tasted stale, but that's just my taste buds freaking out

R

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I made a trip one night to see my family, I lit up a cigarette and it tasted so terrible I've never had another one.
reg

quote:

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Originally posted by Desharei:
End of day 1: started with 19 cigarettes in the pack, got 7 left, smoking one now. 12 cigarettes smoked in 16.5 hours, down from an average of 30 in about the same amount of time.

During the day, I lost my DSL and had to bitch at SNET for half an hour about it, which pissed me off, and stood on the scale for the first time since we moved in to this house and discovered I've gained another 10 pounds since November. Major stress day.

R

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One thing at a time, you don't have to win the war the first day, pick a battle and win that. You've got a lot of support on here so keep up the good work. reg

Message: Well they just implemented the $0.61 per pack tax increase here in Connecticut, and now I hear the major companies such as yourself thought this would be a great time to increase your prices to the wholesaler.

What's more, is that the pharmaceutical companies are supposedly jumping on the bandwagon and raising THEIR prices on smoke cessation medications. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

The kicker, is that Connecticut retailers are subjecting their customers to the mandatory 6% state sales tax AFTER the other taxes are added to the smoker's base cost. This is illegal - tax on tax. Taxation without representation - they dumped tea in the Boston Harbor for that.

But you and the government have it all figured out. It's pretty hard to be addicted to tea, afterall. But you got us by the neck - and you know we'll pay whatever you charge for that next nicotine fix. We won't be dumping anything anywhere, will we? And so you will just keep charging us more, and the government will keep charging us more, until normally decent, honest people start robbing grocery stores because they can't afford the smokes and are too addicted to quit without medication, which costs as much as the pack of cigarettes.

I HATE smoking. I'm trying to quit right now. Good incentive too, this price hike. I've been a "loyal" (if you can call being addicted to a putrid cancerous weed a loyalty) smoker of Camel Lights ever since I was in college. That's over 20 years now. As you can see, I'm very very angry. Part of the withdrawal symptoms I've been told, all this hostility. And so I thought I'd vent my emotional garbage to you, since addiction to your tobacco is the direct cause of this "stuff" in my head.

Does it feel good, knowing that you've done this to me? I'm normally a fairly calm, laid back person. Lackadasical I've been called by dear old Mom in fact. Ah well, nothing you're gonna do about it, even if you could. Other than continue to suck whatever money you can from me til I can finally kick this addiction. Oh and don't tell me I had the choice when I first started. Peer pressure when you're a 13-year-old kid who is the usual target for bullies can be VERY convincing. I'll write again as my attempt to quit progresses. I'm sure you will be overjoyed to share in this monumental event.

Love and kisses, Roberta

[This message has been edited by Desharei (edited 04-05-2002).] reg

Keep it up Roberta. I know you can do it!

Aerienne reg

I spent much of the afternoon sleeping. Went to sister's birthday "happy hour" at the local Holiday Inn bar in the evening.

Spent the evening relaxing on the computer.

Total count for day #2: 10 cigarettes - 2 less than yesterday. Still alive, but just exhausted and headachy.

R
reg

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I got no dukes. reg

Update: on the 6th I smoked 12 cigs.

12 again yesterday.

Just pluggin away...couldn't bike ride, much too cold.

It's supposed to be fairly nice today, but the sun is behind a mess of clouds. We'll see.

R
reg

Keep it up Desh. Cold weekend, but supposed to warm up this week. And the little I got to see of CT was beautiful. I had no idea of how much greenspace there was.

Aerienne reg

You want THE best, authentic new england deep-dish apple pie, you come to Connecticut. Everyone either knows how to make it themselves, or their mom does

R
reg

::drools:: Good italian is SOOOO hard to find. I was bummed we didn't get a chance to get out and eat.

So how's the day going for yas?

Aerienne reg

I'm super, thanks for asking! reg

I'm thinking Aerie can get to New Haven train station, and I'll pick her up and we go to Willoughby's for some Sumatra Mandheling coffee (it tastes just like the best coffee houses smell) and a muffin.

Then I take us northeast, where we meet Crystal at the Aquarium, and have some fun gaping at the penguins and seeing the dolphin show.

Then we all high-tail it to old Mystic for browsing and antiquing and oogling all the seafarin boat-makin shirtless guys along the marina.

Grab a bite to eat somewhere, and I get Aerie back to the train station.

How's that sound?

R
reg

Aerienne reg

Buckwheet reg

Aerienne reg

(And to Buck, for keeping his bank account alive.) reg

I'm hoping to get out of this funk but I'm not gonna beat myself over the head. Took longer than a week to get addicted, afterall.

Been walking a lot, and I'm not smoking while I walk. Riding my bike too but the weather's been wierd so I haven't been able for a few days. It should be gorgeous next week though. I also have some gardening to do, plus I have to find the snake pit in the yard. There's holes EVERYWHERE!

I love snakes, don't get me wrong. But they need to be neater in MY yard. Soon as I find the pit I'll collapse it and shoo the snakes over the fence into the wooded part of our lot. It's a shame too, they're great for the garden. But I'm guessing there's a good 3 or 4 dozen of them digging tunnels under our soil, and that's too many.

We also have a wasp nest somewhere in the house. Nasty looking things too. HUGE, some with gold lines and some with irridescent red lines on their backs. They've picked our bedroom window screen as a choice place to hang out and my cat keeps us informed by barking at them. She's just TOO funny sometimes.

So I have plenty to keep me busy and away from cigarettes. I just have to get out of this mood and get to it!

R

[This message has been edited by Desharei (edited 04-13-2002).] reg

quote:

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Originally posted by Desharei:

my cat keeps us informed by barking at them

R

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"I make race cars out of my poop!" -Steve Buscemi, best snl episode ever

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I got no dukes. reg

Been a hellacous week. House was infested with wasps. I'm still unemployed and out of money, it's starting to grate on hubby's nerves. My 41st birthday is in 2 weeks (that's a GOOD thing, but even good things are stressful), and I found out my cat is terrified of the ceiling fans and we have no airconditioning in the house. Oh yeah and the pesticide people say the hundreds of tiny holes in our yard might be voles - cousin to the mole, but smaller than a mouse. Yay me.

Suffice it to say, the last thing on my mind was keeping track of my nicotine intake. I did manage to keep under a pack a day, however. I'm gonna try and do better today, get it down to half a pack.

Hypnotist is next week I think. Hubby said he'd foot the bill for it.

R
reg

Keep up the good work. Keeping it under a pack is a great start.

Aerienne reg

Well I got home around 15 minutes ago. It's 1:12 right now in the afternoon. I left around 10:30. I walked. Walked and walked and walked. Walked around 1/3 mile to the Dunkin Donuts and had a bagel, then on the way back decided to check out a side road I'd never explored before (we just moved to this neighborhood in November), and walked probably another 1/2 mile, ending up at the Blue Cross building. Really gorgeous property (should be, for the premiums they charge for medical insurance!). Wierdest thing - walked RIGHT into two women who used to work in the same department I worked in when we were all at SNET. They were on their lunch break. Was great to see one of them, never could stand the other but I'm a good at pretending.

Turns out the company is hiring, so I'm gonna drop off my resume tomorrow.

Didn't have a cigarette the ENTIRE walk, even though I brought the pack with me. Came home, no wasps! My fingers are SOOOO swollen up though from walking in this suddenly gorgeous weather (it's around 90 degrees!), the ring on my right hand is digging into the finger and it's starting to hurt a little. Soaked it in cold water, but I need to soak some more so I'll see y'all later.

R
reg