I’ve quit smoking.
Posted on Friday, October 17, 2008 at 10:38 pm
As of 11:00pm tomorrow, I will have gone 6 weeks without a cigarette.
I’m using the patch. It really hasn’t been that bad; much better than what I was expecting going into this whole ordeal. And I’m using the generic patch – not even the “real” patch, but the store-brand patch. And it really hasn’t been that bad. There are three steps to it. You start out with a 21mg (real nicotine, not some replacement chemical) per patch (each patch is supposed to last for 24 hours), at step 1. After 4 weeks (I did it in 3) you move to step 2, which is 14mg. 2 weeks after that you move to the 3rd and final step, 7mg. And then after 2 weeks of step 3 you quit everything. So, I’ll start my 7th and final week of the patch on Sunday. Then I stop completely.
The modern patch is supposed to be time-released stuff that’s supposedly effective over 24 hours, which I find is kind of a crock of shit. Nights were pretty bad, when I first got started on it. It did, indeed, do a pretty good job of getting me through the day without smoking. But about 7-8pm or so, it would start wearing off, and I would get headaches and everything else. It was generally unpleasant. After about two weeks those started wearing off, but each time I moved from step X to step Y, I would get another week or so of nighttime headaches. It’s definitely proof that Elise loved me, because she held out and let me be an asshole for awhile. Hell, she was even pregnant and hormonal at the time, and she still hasn’t (left | kicked me out). So it can’t have been that bad.
I did this for my child. I’d always told everyone – by which I mean, my family and anyone else who gave me shit about smoking – that I’d quit whenever Elise got knocked up. But I always kind of said it just to get them to shut up. Then the pregnancy really happened, and I actually decided to do it for real. And I’m really proud of myself for having lasted this long. I have a very addictive personality – hell, I used to somehow be addicted to DXM, which is physically impossible to be addicted to – so the fact that I’ve managed to go this long without a smoke is simply stunning to me.
I bought Rockband 2 as my reward for going 3 weeks. I plan on getting a very large, very tasty lobster at Pappadeaux as my reward for finishing. I’ve only got one week left before that happens. And let me tell you… a lobster sounds really good right now.
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Pics of Jhonen’s room
Posted on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 7:44 pm
My sister came to visit us this past week, and was a massive help in getting the baby room completed. We’d gotten the furniture and bedding, and had done the big wooden letters and the three paintings, but she put so much work into making the curtains and painting the wall. I’d doodled the wall several weeks ago, and did a little bit of the painting, but mostly I supervised while she did all the hard work.
So here are some pics of the now finished room. Thanks again to my sister for all her work. It wouldn’t have been possible without her. Well, it probably would have been possible, but it wouldn’t have gotten done until the kid was in kindergarten, so it wouldn’t have been very practical.
The crib, and the big wooden name letters that we painted and decorated.
Here’s the dresser (oooh! aaah!) and the three hand-painted canvas paintings that I drew and Elise finished.
A little random decoration, because that wall looked kind of lonely.
The awesome curtains my sister made. They’re made of corduroy, almost black-out curtains, so I am now officially jealous of my unborn child, since I don’t even have black-out curtains in my room.
The complete treasure map wall, with my sister standing in front of it so you can get an idea of the scale.
Treasure map, sans sister. All this was drawn on paper about 3 weeks ago, and the three of us painted the entire thing over the course of last week.
Detail of the whale.
Detail of the palm trees.
Detail of the pirate ship.
Detail of the compass.
