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Exactly this. Trigger exposures like this are a little bit like inoculations - shooting smallpox right into your arm is bad news, but a tiny little manageable bit trains your resistance muscles. So you will take your medicine. Watch her, when she smokes, and really remember. The building twitchy anticipation as she struggles with her next junkie deadline, until she surrenders. How she looks at her cigarette as it burns down toward the filter, growing more disgusting and toxic, and she debates whether it's worth one more drag before she comes back and starts the countdown over again. The way she smells when she comes inside, the constant coughing and throat-clearing she tries to suppress. Observe how she is forced to repeatedly poison herself, just to get back to "normal" for a few more minutes - the same normal that nonsmokers take for granted all the time. Will she watch you, also, as she smokes outside? What does her expression say? Does she wish she could quit, and stay inside with you? Or does she hope you will break down, and come smoke outside with her, because she doesn't think she can ever do it? Babs is right. It's sad. Just like it was sad when we did it to ourselves, only we couldn't see it clearly then, the smoke got in our eyes. But Evelyn, that isn't you anymore. So look again. You'll see.

Black Betty. I vote for that.

Things got a whole lot worse after my post. I blame you.

Watching now - tied 1 apiece, currently trailing 2-1 in the second. It's good old-timey hockey!

Tonight, the Habs are a damn happy hockey team.

Why do sharks contain lubricant? Slippery bastards. Anyway, this information at least explains one common nickname for the vagina. And also why it's bad luck to have sex indoors. The last one is confusing though. I thought the penis mightier than the sword.

Come back in a week. :read: Is there any way we can get Babs in this thread, just for the cheap rhymes? To go with some ducks, who cheer for Canucks. (I also rhyme with "pucks". And one other word bakon thought of, that I cannot remember for the life of me...)

I'm mortified that I missed this. A year is such a huge accomplishment, and deserves recognition. So instead of slinking away and hiding my malfeasance, I'm bumping this thread. Belated congratulations, Jess! **I am such an idiot today! :wacko2: Still a big deal, still congrats.

I adore Elton John, at least up until "the Lion King". Anyway, here's an understated version of a classic I just came across. I think it represents what I like best about him.

Thanks everyone. It's good to know that seeing longer quits around is helpful to some people. I remember feeling that way myself, and it's why I'm here. Nancy, I don't know how you manage to find appropriate images for every situation, but that celebratory duck made me quackle. I thought about this later, and it's exactly right. You should look forward to it, and you WILL welcome it when it comes. I remember when I first quit, every morning when I stepped into the shower (and not out to the deck for a smoke) I would say to myself in wonder "I don't smoke anymore!". I couldn't stop thinking about it. And I never thought I would. I'm happy that it's become boring, there are so many better things in life to be excited about. This is exactly where I wanted to be.

Two things have been made clear: You have done something wonderful. You have struggled, and persevered, and conquered a stupid and powerful addiction that was trying to kill you. You are to be congratulated and admired. Jackie and RunFree know exactly nothing about cats. I can't really fix #2 in a reasonable amount of time, so let me just say congratulations, and welcome to the lido deck (even though I don't know why it's called that). As a personal tribute to your triumph - even in spite of being a quit train train wreck - I leave you with one of my all-time favourite tunes. I don't know who chose the video, but I think you'll like it.

An auspicious date! One month is a huge milestone, and you made it look easy. Very impressive.

Nothing profound to say. It actually seems mundane. For anyone still struggling - it doesn't just get better, it gets boring!

Perhaps I'm overly sensitive in this regard - it was clearly a spam account, but I find that a bit unsettling. In fact, it was an incident of having my posts altered without my consent that caused me to leave "that other board" (which wouldn't allow me to refer to this other board). Actually that was my last post there. Under what other circumstances might I expect to have my posts deleted without notice?

It was about sarcasm. Me, Pippa and a spambot? Am I imagining things?

You two have both impressed and surprised me. Just sayin.

Nope, never done it. Don't buy it. But, that doesn't mean there's *nothing* to it. Certainly language and self-talk is important, and mindfulness is always helpful. So I agree with you there. I did notice the liking -but I'm very likable, so that just shows how perceptive you are. :) Long one last weekend out to a nearby town to get fresh fish. Rained so hard on the way home I looked like I rode thru the ocean. Good fish though.

I remember going on vacation in Cuba and discovering that, among the many things that economic isolation had deprived these lovely people of, there was a near complete absence of lighters. As in, you cannot buy one anywhere! Some guys actually made money by having a streetcart-style butane wagon for refills, but you had to have one to start with. So there's me, hunched over in the grass in the blazing sun with a magnifying glass and a cigarette. I was actually proud of my McGyvering when it sparked.

I don't buy into NLP, but I was recently thinking about how many times I said, either out loud or in my head, "I need a cigarette!" :blink:

There's more "likes" here than an '80's teenage book report. Now if only I wasn't so grumpy...

Even though I'm scandalously late, I can't let this pass without comment. Chrys, I really enjoy you and your smart brain. Congratulations on a huge milestone!

I speak a bit of junkie lizard, allow me to translate: K, so first of all I am SO NOT mocking you!! Or if I am, it's the way you mock a guy who is doing one of the hardest things you ever did, at half your age (or so). And honestly, great to see you posting again, and for posting this - even if it is riddled with junkie billshut, the real you that is quit knew enough to wave the flag. Besides, we have ALL been there, and had the same fight. I remember when I quit, I had just days earlier acquired a gorgeous Jack Daniels zippo lighter - I have an extensive JD paraphernalia collection. But I quit before I got to use it to light a cigarette, and I agonized over that on and off for the first few weeks!!! Alas, my JD lighter remains a nicotine virgin. And when I think about it now, it's clearly laughable... And even then, I could see it was ridiculous. Can you, reading back, see it in your own words? Do you really not like non-smoking you, and like "the old you" better? I mean, do swimmers miss their old drowning selves? Maybe you'd like yourself more if you took up cutting, or put bleach in your eye? Look, I really do get it. Kidding aside, quitting sucks! But it won't keep sucking forever. You just have to get from here to there. I wrote you something before, and I really meant it. I still mean it. Please go read it again, and think about what it means for you. You need to remember.

It is actually pretty offensive.

Don't worry about being good with the computer, it's hard to make a mistake here. In fact, there is only one, and you already quit that. Welcome, and try and read as much as you can - education is the key.