Friday, October 16, 2009

Cold Turkey.


...And in other news. I quit smoking.

Now, before you all start in on that round of applause, please note for the record that I am not at all proud and/or happy about my new so-called life as a non-smoker. In fact I'm down right pissy about it.

Eventhough I rarely smoked more than 6 cigarettes a day, you gotta understand something: I loved those 6 ciggies! They were mine. Mine! Mine! Mine! In fact I love smoking. I love the smell of it. I love the feel of it. I love delicately rolling a freshly lit ciggie between my index and F-U finger and waving it around like a flaming wrath-of-god magic wand. And really, there's nothing like that sensation of hot poisoned air rushing into the depths of your lungs. Naturally there's only one thing in the world that would convince me to give it up all that: FrenchBoy.

About two weeks ago, on our way home from London, we were standing outside Gare de L'Est in Paris while I smoked a cigarette. Every minute or so, some shifty character would come by and ask us for spare change. (Anyone's who's spent time outside a Gare in Europe knows just how shifty-shady these characters can be.) After about 5 minutes of this, FrenchBoy and I were both fed-up. As I prematurely extinguished my smokey-treat, Frenchboy said something to the effect of "You should quit smoking." or maybe it was "I thought you said you were gonna quit smoking." Either way, given the company we were keeping at that very moment, it seemed like a really good idea...at the time. And since it was the last ciggie in the pack, I just decided to quit then and there. That said, if I had known in advance that the smoke outside the gare was to be my last ciggie, I would have savoured it. Or at least finished the damn thing instead of putting it out only half smoked.

*insert deep sigh here*

So, two weeks sans-ciggies and I'm OK. I haven't tried to strangle anyone. In fact it's been easier than I thought it would be. I've been keeping myself insanely busy with work. Lots and lots of mind-frying paperwork. Oh, and audio books. It seems that the key to quitting smoking, at least for me, is to focus intensely on incredibly boring and repetitive tasks for hours on end. But whatever. It's working.

I have however gained 2 kilos in 2 weeks, so, it looks like I won't die of lung cancer after all. Instead I'll live forever as a fat-ass.


Bravo.



8 comments:

Suzan Hyssen said...

Sweet jesus I miss smoking. I haven't smoked in 14 years and the craving still hits me sometimes.

Is that not helping?

Shanster said...

Poor Mme K! I feel for you...
You still drink right? Right?!

Travel said...

My father quit 55 years ago, and still commplains that they still smell wonderful. I restrict my self to second hand smoking.

DG

'Drea said...

Kudos and continued success.

Unknown said...

Dear Mme K, this is P, the one who just moved to Nice and asked your advice about the clothing options and the state of black hair in France. Thx for the advice And you have my sympathies for your sudden cessation of smoking ( I'm trying to quit myself). Chew lots of gum and substitute a whole bottle of wine for ur cravings...lol! I hope to start my own blog as soon as France Telco decides to get 2gether and connect a LAN line (not holding my breath)! U were right! Da sistaz and their hair is a hot stinky mess! I thought this was supposed to be the epicenter of hair and fashion?!! Bonner Brothers and Dudley need to make a pit stop out here!

Unknown said...

haha, my boyfriend has been off the cigs for nearly two months now and yesterday nearly broke (his sister and dad had to wrestle him to the kitchen floor to get the tobacco away from him). It amazes me that he's still craving it so badly... I think it's in his head at this point.

Anyway, congrats on quitting! Stick with it. There's always the booze to replace it, you know (not really a better alternative)? :P

sprite said...

aww. best of luck with this. i have never smoked but have been around and worked with many who do to understand how hard it can be to quit. how many years did you smoke? i ask because another great incentive -aside from avoiding the shifty characters- is to imagine how many years you will be taking off your lung age (and real age!) by giving it up. always works;-)

Unknown said...

Congrats! You can do this :) The weight gain is only temporary until you find a new routine sans ciggies.