Lookin

I smoked a pack or so a day, from age 17 to age 27, and quit three times during that period. The third time was the charm since, that time, I realized that even one cigarette would start the addiction all over again. It took six months to stop wanting a cigarette every day, and three years to stop wanting a cigarette at all. To keep myself going, I focused on the benefits of not being a smoker: (1) I didn't have to obsess over making sure I had cigarettes and a lighter everywhere I went, (2) food tasted different and better, (3) the air smelled better, (4) my clothes didn't stink, (5) I didn't have to keep emptying ashtrays, and (6) I had more money for other things. Thinking about these things every day really helped. I'm still grateful not to be a smoker. Chantix wasn't around then, but one trick that really helped was to fill my lungs with air every time I felt like a puff. I'd repeat that a dozen times if I had to, just like I was inhaling cigarette smoke, until the temporary urge abated. It always did. As you've already discovered, when you quit smoking, you'll enjoy food more and you'll probably gain weight. Don't worry about it. Enjoy yourself. It will be your "reward" for giving up something even less healthy. To offset the weight gain, start getting a little more exercise. You and your lungs will be healthier, so an extra half hour of walking every day will be easier for you than when you were smoking. Try to find some form of exercise, however modest, that you can do every day. After a while, your self image will most likely change from someone who worries about his health as a smoker to someone who sees himself as a healthier ex-smoker. Keep focussing on the benefits and freedom that provides. Anyhoo, that's my experience. I do think that there are different levels of nicotine addiction and quitting is much easier for some folks and much harder for others. I believe it has to do with brain receptors and, for better or worse, you've got the ones you've got. If you find you can't quit, at least not today, don't beat yourself up. The idea is to make yourself happier and healthier. If you're going to be a smoker, at least be a happy smoker.

Relationship, hell. These days I can't even get a mercy fuck unless the guy is blind drunk. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

I'll take my cut in Snausages®

Sorry! I shouldn't have tried giving advice on something I was clearly ignorant about. Thanks for clarifying. I had a friend who took Xanax and, when he stopped cold turkey, he was grouchy for days. Personally, I've never wanted to go near it. Seems odd that a drug with such a strict protocol for stopping its use should be so widely prescribed. There must be many thousands of folks run into trouble with it. Thanks again for highlighting the risks!

For some reason, getting off psych meds cold turkey seems harder than getting off other meds. I guess it's because our brains are very good at noticing small changes in chemistry. Haven't used Xanax but, several years ago, I found an easy way to get off Prozac: just take six pills the first week, five pills the second week, and so on. Don't skip consecutive days at first. I skipped Monday the first week, then Monday and Thursday the second week. After seven weeks, I was off, with no noticeable effects. If you want to go off even more gradually, all pharmacies sell pill cutters, so you could drop back by one-half pill a week and take fourteen weeks to get down to zero. Pill cutters are easy to use and get you out of the shaving business. I read that Xanax has a half-life of twelve hours so it won't drop with a thud even cold turkey. A gradual reduction in dosage, along with the persistence of the drug itself, should give you a smooth ride to the bottom.

http://headhearthand.org/uploads/2012/04/parrot.jpg Guess who I just spent the night with. . . . . Pretty boy!

http://www.roadsmile.com/images/mercedes-benz-600-landaulet_red_0.jpg Settling in for the short drive home Bigvalboy decides there's time for another quick one

. . . Heidi Ho

Can't think of anything better than your plan to find a therapist to work through these concerns that are distressing you. It's not uncommon to try more than one therapist to find one you click with. It's worth the trouble. The only other thing I'd suggest is to not beat yourself up about the path you've taken to get to this point. Fact is, it got you here. Rather than destroying yourself, it sounds like you're on the road to renewing yourself. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.png

Only thing I would add to all the excellent advice is to maybe stop and get a lottery ticket on the way home. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sites/default/files/styles/16x9_620/public/field/image/2016-11-27T055806Z_2_LYNXMPECAQ03I_RTROPTP_3_USA-POWERBALL.JPG?itok=MJIv_k1P

I hardly ever make my bed It's laziness, I think The last time was in '89 When I misplaced a twink http://www.boybriefs.com/content/2012/af373e6db447_8420/beauty-in-bed_thumb.jpg

There are some folks whose opinions matter to me. And there are some folks whose opinions don't. Not since I got out of junior high have I allowed myself to be labeled by someone who is unkind and judgmental. Make that unkind or judgmental. Those are not folks whose opinions carry any weight. They're holding a sign that says "I'm socially backward." You already know more than they do. Best to enjoy an inner chuckle, and go spend your time with folks who are caring and kind. If you'd like to know more people like that, volunteer somewhere. That's where you'll meet them.

.

Didn't stay there but a few years ago a friend and I were having something mit schlag at the sidewalk cafe, when up pulls a pink Mercedes. The bellman rushes over and starts pulling luggage out of the trunk while two women, one in zebra and the other in leopard, sail out of the front and into the hotel. I waited until they were both inside before walking over to get a better look at the car and try to figure out who would drive a pink Mercedes. All became clear when I saw the Mary Kay Cosmetics logo in the rear window. I'd walked by the hotel almost fifty years earlier when the wall was still up and, although it had seen better days, it was still a very impressive building. It was great to see it brought back to its former glory. I'm usually pretty low rent myself but, once on business, I stayed at the Park Lane on Central Park South. Unbeknownst to me at the time, those were the days when Harry and Leona Helmsley were doing laps in their penthouse pool. It was early December and I was on the seventh floor looking toward the park when a heavy wet snow began to fall. I'd never seen Central Park look so beautiful. It also didn't hurt that Rumplemayer's was still in business and serving world-class pastries right next door. And the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai (Bombay at the time) where I was surrounded by luxury and service, and still couldn't get my bill over fifty bucks a night. I've come straight downhill since then and my last stay was at a charmer near Yosemite right next to the Coke machine with two fly strips just outside the door. I was laughing with a friend about the cheap room when he reminded me that the really cheap rooms didn't have fly strips. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

Gosh, I bet that would be good with cream cheese!

Same here! I remember the summer I was on the broccoli diet and she won Best in Show. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

Me too, if I could only figure a way around his bodyguards. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

Let's hope it's more than a Fission Expedition. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

I did exactly the same thing, except it was for 4 weeks. It was my first long vacation in a long time, and I wanted to extend it if I was having fun. Plus my job was boring. My boss asked me to make it a leave of absence instead of a resignation so I'd have the option to return, and he asked me to think of a job that I would like to do. On my last day of vacation, I thought of a job that would be fun and it was something the company needed, although they didn't realize it until I laid it on them. I ended up working for my boss's boss and, since it was a one-off position in the company, he asked me to come up with my own pay plan. I enjoyed that job for a couple of years, until someone at the corporate office decided I was making too much money and wanted to rein me in. From that bit of news until my resignation was just a second or two. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif But it was a good run and what I learned was that, when the company lets you know that they don't want to lose you, it's a good time for figuring out what would make you happy and asking for it. Assuming your company isn't too bureaucratic, it sounds like you might be in the same position. Good luck! http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.png

Long ago, when I lived in Chicago, Uno's, Due, and Gino's were the holy trinity. High hopes when they opened an Uno's in San Francisco but, sadly, Chicago deep dish pizza does not travel well. Some things just have to be eaten in situ. PS: I've discovered that most flat crust takeout pizzas benefit from spending five minutes on the lower rack of a 450º oven.

I knew it was here somewhere! Just found this old post I made over a decade (!) ago. Hope you'll indulge a reprise. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif Mercí, Louis, but “Vive l’engorgement!” was actually the motto of my alma mater, l’École Technique pour le Fleuffer et la Fluffeuse Internationale. It was embroidered on the velvet kneepads presented to every graduate at the Commencement Ball. Each year, the final exam consisted of bringing a guest volunteer to a full rampant erection, under lights identical to those used in fashion photography. The year I graduated, our special guest was J. Howard Marshall, who had just celebrated his 88th birthday, and was a willing, although quite challenging, volunteer. My, how we students huffed and puffed to earn our diplomas that year! Soon after, of course, he met Anna Nicole, and did not return the following year. I understand, however, that Hugh Heffner was an outstanding replacement, and that graduates from that year’s class are in high demand throughout the industry and worldwide. Ah, les mémoires!

A man is having his prostate examined and, after a few minutes, he feels the finger pull out and hears the office door slam. In comes the nurse who asks him, "Who was that guy?" http://entertainment.ie//images_content/rectangle/620x372/RichardBlackwoodThisMorning.jpg

Generally speaking, yes, but it's not for everyone. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif http://i1.wp.com/inews.gtimg.com/newsapp_bt/0/2043000584/641

Tell her you're in the used car business and have been looking for someone just like her to work the lot nights and weekends. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif

I usually just stash my valuables underneath my skivvies and hope for the best. So far, no one's taken anything. http://www.boytoy.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif http://78.media.tumblr.com/85fd3999bf0a1f5018fc14122e41cffb/tumblr_mir55gT14Y1ruiafuo1_500.jpg