New Year; New Post; New Direction

Okay so it has taken me 19 days of 2006 to finally get round to putting up a new post on this blog, but one of my New Year's resolutions was to stop apologising for the lack of updates, so let's not begin this new year with me making lame excuses for my absence thus far..

Instead I'm thinking of changing the direction of the post's up here.. Allow me to elaborate.

I am currently a smoker.

Have been for seventeen years(fuck! Has it really been that long?). Eighteen months ago I had my first asthma attack (hey, like I knew that you could develop asthma, I thought you had it as a kid and if you didn't get it then, then you never would) and to be honest the ol' lungs ain't what they used to be..
Then there's other things to consider, I turned thirty two last weekend (fuck! Have I really been around that long) and my better half quit smoking last year (due to the arrival of our son or daughter in June - which is another factor in all this, we call it "K" for now as both the names we like begin with K) and fewer of my friends smoke, and the nanny state of the government has branded smokers less popular than suicide bombers with leporacy and are trying to ban you smoking from anywhere, except your own house with your head partially submerged in the toilet bowl...

In short I need to quit.

In fact I planned to quit.

Before we found out she was pregnant, we were both going to quit together the day after her 30th birthday.. I actually wanted to quit earlier, as winter is a bad time to be an asthmatic smoker as every cold you get heads straight to your lungs and you spend a gratutiously disproportionate part of your time hacking your lungs up like some 80 year old.. It's not that much fun. But we set a date, and I thought we may as well quit together as then we could both be moody and intolerant at the same time, and it's important that couples share hobbies.

But then I kinda knocked her up and all that changed.

We also only found out after returning from Spain where I'd just stocked up on lots of duty free ciggies.. and I thought "Well love, I commend you for stopping right away, but I just bought all these fags, so when I finish these, I'll quit".

You're right - that is a shitty excuse. But I'm a smoker and I guess I've used every shitty excuse in the book over the last 17 years so it's a hard habit to break!

So whilst she commendably went cold turkey, I continued to smoke..
You're right - that is a bit snide but you see there is another important thing to consider here.

I really like smoking.

I do.

I know it's about as popular a statement as "I like to drown small puppies", but I really like a cigarette.. I like the taste, I like the act of smoking, I like cigarette breaks, I like that first ciggie in the morning, I love that ciggie after a damn fine meal and we all like a post-coital cigarette, don't we?

So this is a big thing for me (ask anyone who knows me).

But I have to do it..
I want to be around and not die of heart disease or cancer before my kids grow up, I want to be active into those years without being too out-of-breath to walk to the end of the road. Also, it's a fucking expensive hobby (even with the savings that duty free smokes provide) and I am honestly old enough to know better/

So I'm quitting....



..soon.

Down to my last 200 now so it can only be a matter of time (although do bear in mind I only smoke up to 10 a day, so I'm not going to quit by the weekend or anything)..

Yes, that sounds lame too doesn't it?

Well I promise I will buy no more cigarettes, I've already made that promise to those around me and I make it to you too gentle (and potentially anonymous reader).

This blog therefore will be my journey through the seven depths of hell as I try to quit the evil weed..

I've made my first step by ordering "Allen Kerr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking" and as soon as Amazon get off their useless fucking arses (Christ, they've gone shit recently? Anyone else found the same?) I intend to read it.

..and then let's see what happens, eh?

Oh it won't be all about me quitting, but it's a fresh angle, so lets run with it for a while..

See you soon (hopefully)