Smoking!

[Dennis Venter]

Today is day 100 in my post-nicotine existence.

After 20 plus years of sucking on sin air, I’ve finally bitchslapped the nico-demon and embraced a life of sweet inhalations. Yup, 100 days in and I feel…well, like shit, actually. But, I can breathe, which is good. I no longer emit the whiff of cheap bar floor, which pleases my wife. My fingers have shed their jaundiced veneer and my throat no longer feels like a corkscrew scabbard.

All of that’s good. But what’s best of all (and relevant to crimespace in case any of you were wondering) is I’ve decided to reward myself for 100 days of hardship by ordering books to the tune of the money I’ve saved on the non-smoking thingamajig. Meaning a whole herd of neatly pressed pages to pile up on my TBR tower. Mostly, the books I’ve ordered are from members of this site, authors whose books aren’t available down here on the southern tip o’ Africa.

So, thanks Daniel, for this place. And if you get an invite to be my friend, be nice. Rejection's a bitch to a newly-hatched non smoker.

[Barbara Fister]

You are one tough hombre. That's a mean addiction. I know because I live with an addict. Come to think of it he was kind of mean when he was trying to quit. Finally did, after many tries, but I saw first hand how tough it is.

Enjoy the books! You deserve them.

[Brian Thornton]

Dennis- that is wonderful news. Congratulations. My parents both smoked when I was growing up. Oddly enough, neither my brother nor I ever picked up the habit.

In fact, my mother quit cold turkey in order to help my father quit. He'd picked it up in Vietnam, and even after he was diagnosed as being allergic to nicotine it still took him years to quit. A tough habit to break.

All four of my grandparents smoked (Camel unfiltered, naturally). One of my grandmothers quit when she developed asthma. In her later years she was so sensitive to cigarette smoke that she couldn't breathe within 20 feet of it.

So again, congratulations! At 100 days, that ought to be some huge pile of books you're ordering!

All the Best-

Brian

[Patricia]

Dennis....you have lived through the toughest part...the first 100 days...I quit many years ago and the people I worked with begged me to start up again...yes I was a tad contrary but I was also so damn stubborn I wasn't going to let it back into my life...again ever...and rewards are good...reward books are even better! Congrats
I also have to thank Daniel...this is one cool place.

[Stephen Blackmoore]

Girl I knew once had been smoking since she was 11. We're sitting in front of a movie theater one night and she's sucking down Kools. The conversation turns to some statistic about every cigarette taking off 7 minutes of your life. So we did the math and realized she'd been dead three years.

Good on ya for the 100 days. Keep it up.

[David Terrenoire]

Dennis,

By all means, reward yourself. 100 days is great, keep it up. I smoked two packs a day for more than 30 years and quit 14 years ago. It was definitely worth the withdrawal.

One thing that worked for me: I went for a walk every time I wanted a cigarette. Replace a bad habit with a good habit. It really works.

Again, congratulations. You won't regret it.

[Sandra Ruttan]

Congratulations! And what a great way to spend the money. It's tempting me to give up coke.

[norby]

But then what will we do together in Anchorage? Or are you keeping the heroin?

[Sandra Ruttan]

Oh, definitely. I can't give up everything!

[Merrill Young]

Well, that still leaves you 7-Up.
-Merlot

[norby]

Good for you Dennis-quit myself almost six years ago. I'd like to say I fought the good fight and suffered through all the cravings and whatnot, but the truth is I got a horrible sinus infection and the last thing I wanted was a cigarette. By the time I was healthy enough to be able to smoke, I didn't want to smoke. But I had tried to quit before so I know how tough it is. Good luck dude!

[Mystery Scene Magazine]

Hey Dennis,
Congratulations on quitting smoking!

I quit in 1996 by following a plan recommended by Margaret Maron around 1991. The thing to do, she said, was wait to quit until you were miserably sick, stuck in bed sick, so sick you couldn't sit up. You didn't want a cigarette anyway so the first one or two days were "freebies."

It took me five years to finally get sick enough to follow her advice but hey, it did work. One improvement: after the first day or two when you DO want a smoke, take a couple of swigs of Nyquil and take a nap instead...

Kate Stine

[Patricia Abbott]

I was lucky enough to wake up one morning not wanting to smoke anymore 17 years ago after smoking for 20 years. Unfortunately my husband did not wake up not wanting to smoke, but I made him do it too. As I watch my mother struggle for each breath, I just hope I did it soon enough. Great going. You will never regret it.