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Author Topic: Heaven beside you, Hell within!  (Read 5163 times)

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Offline Dr_RighteousTopic starter

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Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« on: January 06, 2007, 03:59:02 AM »
...and I do mean HELL within.

So I'm sitting here, at war with my own brain and body... Wondering what the hell I was thinking by starting smoking. For 25 years (well, minus my early childhood of course), I swore up and down I'd never start.

Of course that was before I had heard of clove cigarettes. A gateway drug if I've ever seen one. Smelled great, tasted great, smoked smooth. Eventually, due to cost, I moved to regular ol' menthol cigarettes (still couldn't stand smoking unflavored).

As of 01/01/07, the great state of Texas has decided to add on another $1 per pack tax on cigarettes, to offset property taxes... In an effort to raise more education funding.

Having wished I'd never started in the first place, knowing it's had ill effects on my health, and would probably shorten my life... And realizing that my pack-a-day habit would now cost me over $100 a month, just to harm myself... I decide to quit.

This is not an attempt to quit. As master Yoda says, "do or do not, there is no try." One must have absolutely no room for waivering when you decide to quit, otherwise you're simply not ready, and you're just wasting your time. Cuz let me tell you... Not even broken bones cause as much agony as nicotine withdrawls. A broken heart is more tolerable. I can't imagine any torture on the planet more horrific than the confusion, the numbness, the panic, the anger and rage, the lack of control of your emotions, the lethargy, the spikes of "ants in your pants" energy that come and go... Making you feel like flipping out like the rival anchor from Bruce Almighty. It's truely hell within.

To those of you out there who don't smoke, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT STARTING! Don't touch them! Not even ONE! Cuz eventually you will be in my shoes. "Oh I just smoke maybe one or two a month... A week... A day... An hour. Oops.

Everyone who smokes, at some point at least, wants to quit. And this, what I'm going through right now, is what you face. A demon only the strongest of wills can slay. The stop-smoking patches, and pills and candies... They're like a fine sword. YOU still have to face the demon, no matter how fine your sword is.

Why am I writing all of this? Just trying to vent. Gotta keep up the fight. $100 a month can go a long way towards my Amiga habit! Eight or nine months of not smoking could buy me a CSPPC!
- Doc

A4000D, A3640 OC-36.3MHz, custom tower, Mediator A4000D. Diamond Banshee 16M, Indivision AGA 4000, GVP HC+8.

Mac Mini 1.5GHz, that might run MorphOS someday, when the fools who own it come to the realization that 30 minutes just isn\'t enough time to play with it enough to decide whether or not you like it enough to cough up $200.

 - Someone please design SOME kind of DIY accelerator for the A4000. :D -
 

Offline odin

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2007, 11:09:15 AM »
Hang in there! Visualise all the cool Amiga stuff you could buy =).

Offline X-ray

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2007, 11:33:38 AM »
Ja, smoking is a no-no.
My ex-gf is a smoker and she was starting to get those wrinkles around her mouth, like a cat's anus. It's no good. Your clothes stink, the house stinks, your fingers are yellow and kissing a smoker is like kissing an ashtray.
But the worst thing  is what you can't see: atheromatous plaques. Ja, I have seen those first hand. A vascular surgeon pulled those out of a guy's leg in theatre in front of me. When he handed it to me it looked like a long bleached booger and it was of a rubbery texture. That is what was coating his arteries. Get that build up in your coronary arteries and one day it could be unexpectedly 'Game Over'

So all the best wishes in quitting. You'll be much better off and you'll be able to climb a staircase without wheezing at the age of 65.

If I could nuke all cigarettes I would do it. Sometimes I think Dennis Farina's quote in 'Snatch' is the best. He was in a restaurant and someone at the next table was smoking. He got up and said to the guy "If you agree not to smoke I'll agree not to come over to your table and fart while you are eating"

Sums it up nicely.
 

Offline Oliver

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2007, 12:28:52 PM »
Quote

X-ray wrote:
"If you agree not to smoke I'll agree not to come over to your table and fart while you are eating"

Sums it up nicely.


 :lol:  Great quote.  Very fitting.

As for quitting, I've been there, and it really sucks.  However, it doesn't take a really long time, it just takes a lot of strong will, and reinforcement of your convictions.  I found after a while of not smoking, I just couldn't stand the smell of the stuff, and that really helped to keep me from re-starting.  Of course when you smoke regularly, your sense of smell is quite dulled, and you don't notice how bad it is.

Good luck to you Dr. Righteous.  Keep it up.

Oli

P.S. I had to also stop drinking with my mates to stop smoking, just to avoid the temptation (specially when drunk, and I'd falter more easily).  I found it better to avoid movies where characters smoked a lot too.

edit- keep in mind that the hell of quitting can't be nearly as bad as the hell of lung, mouth or throat cancer.  Better the hell you know.
Good good study, day day up!
 

Offline Speelgoedmannetje

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2007, 02:00:03 PM »
Strangely, smoking cigars made me not smoking cigarettes :lol:
Well, I smoke a couple of cigars once in 3 months or so.
And the canary said: \'chirp\'
 

Offline Oliver

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2007, 02:08:32 PM »
I used to smoke a cigar about once a year, but last time I had two cigars, and noticed an immediate, and significant hit to my fitness.  Wow!  Never doing that again.  It felt terrible.
Good good study, day day up!
 

Offline Speelgoedmannetje

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2007, 03:51:03 PM »
My physics have always been utterly miserable, so I can't use that to measure the effect... :-/

(anyway I don't inhale anyway)
And the canary said: \'chirp\'
 

Offline X-ray

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2007, 12:19:59 AM »
The other thing that may be a problem (and I have experienced this twice), is that when you are a non-smoker and you go out with somebody who smokes, then there are actually three parties to that relationship: its you, the girl and her smokes.
If there is an argument, then the girl and her newly-lit cigarette will scowl at you from amidst the smoke and that will be her barrier. That cigarette is her buddy, its what she confides in.
 

Offline Van_M

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2007, 02:47:51 AM »
I am starting another "give-up" attempt in a couple of days (hopefully). Best apprach to that is to have your last cigarette, just before you go to bed.After you woke up, much of the withdrawal syndrom of the first hours is passed while you are asleep. If things get really anxious, you could try nicotinne gums. of course the biggest challenge is to get it off your mind, rather than becoming biologicaly independant of it.  
The new Megadeth album rules!
 

Offline metalman

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #9 on: January 07, 2007, 04:11:35 AM »
Quote

Dr_Righteous wrote:

As of 01/01/07, the great state of Texas has decided to add on another $1 per pack tax on cigarettes, to offset property taxes... In an effort to raise more education funding.


As of Jan 1, 2007 the Texas cigarette tax increased to $1.46 on a 20 cigarette pack or $1.76 on a 25 cigarette pack.

US states cigarette tax rates, 2006

Raising a "sin tax," appeals to legislators who view it as a way of discouraging consumption of objectionable products (cigarettes, liquor, gambling, and so on)

Increasing a "sin tax" just creates an underground market for cigarettes from cheap sources (Indian reservations, Duty free export shops, lower tax states}. Long haul truck drivers make extra money buying cigarettes in low tax areas then reselling them in higher tax states. Organized crime just targets whole semi-trailers of cigarettes for theft.

Health wise, you're much better off giving them up.

 
 



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Offline Dr_RighteousTopic starter

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #10 on: January 07, 2007, 06:19:11 AM »
Well day three has gone much better than the other two.

I discovered shortly after writing the original post just how effective the patches are. See, I had taken mine off at about 9:00. By 10:00 I was ready for the looney bin. Popped a fresh patch on, and in a matter of minutes I was a new man!

I'm only getting brief flashes of madness now... But a new demon has arisen. Now I'm fighting my thoughts! "I miss smoking... I liked smoking." To which I have to reassure myself that it's not true.

So I went to the store today, and now I have a new weapon. A 5 pound bag of Jolly Ranchers!

@Van_M

I started out that way. Last smoke at night before bed. It was also the last one I owned. Tried it a few days before, but having them around was too big a temptation.

My next challenge is beating my 3 week record. I tried quitting before, made it three weeks before deciding it'd be best to smoke before someone died. Of course, I was also working as a security guard outside of a Wal-Mart. Might have had something to do with it!

Again, I urge those who smoke not to bother trying to quit untill you are absolutely 100% committed. If you have even the slightest doubt about you ability to do it, it's not worth the torture as you WILL fail. I recommend psyching yourself up untill you're so pissed off about smoking you'd tear the head off the devil to do it.

Well, time for a smoke break.... no, No, NO!!!!!! NEVER AGAIN!!!!
- Doc

A4000D, A3640 OC-36.3MHz, custom tower, Mediator A4000D. Diamond Banshee 16M, Indivision AGA 4000, GVP HC+8.

Mac Mini 1.5GHz, that might run MorphOS someday, when the fools who own it come to the realization that 30 minutes just isn\'t enough time to play with it enough to decide whether or not you like it enough to cough up $200.

 - Someone please design SOME kind of DIY accelerator for the A4000. :D -
 

Offline X-ray

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #11 on: January 07, 2007, 12:32:10 PM »
@ Dr Righteous

If you smoke again, I will mail you a piece of cancerous lung with some stringy atheromatous toppings and some brown tooth scrapings as a garnish.  :-P
 

Offline Karlos

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #12 on: January 07, 2007, 01:37:55 PM »
Quote

X-ray wrote:
@ Dr Righteous

If you smoke again, I will mail you a piece of cancerous lung with some stringy atheromatous toppings and some brown tooth scrapings as a garnish.  :-P


Served with a sub-saharan outdoor latrine shrimp in bag special?
int p; // A
 

Offline Karlos

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #13 on: January 07, 2007, 02:21:26 PM »
Quote

X-ray wrote:
The other thing that may be a problem (and I have experienced this twice), is that when you are a non-smoker and you go out with somebody who smokes, then there are actually three parties to that relationship: its you, the girl and her smokes.
If there is an argument, then the girl and her newly-lit cigarette will scowl at you from amidst the smoke and that will be her barrier. That cigarette is her buddy, its what she confides in.


And there's nothing more off putting than the smell of old ashtrays.
int p; // A
 

Offline odin

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Re: Heaven beside you, Hell within!
« Reply #14 on: January 07, 2007, 02:26:55 PM »
If you don't count the taste.