29-08-2004 09:56									#181
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

oh yeah spoken like a true communist.. that failed once and forever.

Unlike winners. I fail, all the time, but I keep on going stronger. There's no true success without some low points. Makes a greater impact. And that's just what I'll do. I've made up my mind about this anyway. A way or another, I'll be smoke free soon.

And Japher, if you need any help for motivation or anything on your low moments, just post, I'll whip you out of it.

	29-08-2004 09:59									#182
	Get a bigger avatar today!

It's not a motivator, dumbass. Just a little reward from one ex-smoker to others.

	29-08-2004 10:05									#183
	Inflate your Upload Space

A great motivator is to have a friend beat the living daylights out of you whenever you restart Not this slapping around BS, either. More like haymakers to the solar plexus.

I also read somewhere there's a new sustance that you can take that will make smoking taste truly awful. Seriously

	29-08-2004 10:40									#184
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Nice gesture from the forum far left relic there.

And as long as I'm feeling mellow, I think Pekka deserves a big for starting this thread in the first place. I've thought about it often this past week, I'm apparently giving up smoking mainly because I said so on an internet message board, everything else I've tried having failed over the years. Crazy!

	29-08-2004 10:46									#185
	Full PM-box? Change here!

yeah that's because you got pressure on you now. Plus, I think few other individuals are also making progress, so it's good to be on the same stages through the battle.

	29-08-2004 21:33									#186
	Full PM-box? Change here!

Peer pressure.

Sometimes you can use it to your advantage.

	29-08-2004 21:51									#187
	Inflate your Upload Space

quote: Originally posted by chegitz guevara To those about not to smoke, I salute you! Here's a little incentive for you all. Any of you who make it six months without smoking can have me put something you want (anything within forum limits) in my sig (cig ). Not Winston, however. He can chose a new avatar for me. It's an honor system, so I'm hoping you don't start smoking and then trick me. Good luck guys. Here's to making me look like a total fool.

I've got 16 years and six months of it. Can I put something in?

	29-08-2004 21:57									#188
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

No, you don't smoke.

	30-08-2004 17:56									#189
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

*Bump*

I want to know how people are doing out there. Monk, Japher, Emperor Fabulous, Pekka, Kidicious, Japher's wife and Monk's pet turtle! Are you ok?

I said I didn't want to post here daily about myself, but this morning I passed the 10 day mark, which I just wanted everybody in the whole wide world to know.

And contrary to my original plan, I'm off the patches as well. For 4 days now. I don't feel like I'm tempting fate, since I can always go back if need be, but so far I've managed without them. I woke up Thursday morning and the patch had fallen off during the night, so I thought I'd see if I could go without them. So far so good...

Enough about me. Monk's turtle is what we're most concerned about!

	30-08-2004 18:35									#190
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

Winston, you rock. Now that you've made the leap, stay off the patch! You're almost totally there.

Pekka, hang in there and keep trying, man. You can do this. Remember, nothing worthwhile is easy.

	30-08-2004 20:31									#191
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

quote: I woke up Thursday morning and the patch had fallen off during the night, so I thought I'd see if I could go without them. So far so good...

Neo-Pavlovian conditioning + doublethink + willpower

	02-09-2004 14:59									#192
	Support Apolyton

Ok, since I'm apparently the only one who's still on this thing (or wants to post here saying as much), and considering this thread will soon sink very quickly, I'll just bump it one final time to say the following.

*) Tomorrow morning it'll be 2 weeks without smoking for me.

*) I now feel I'm past it, and I don't see myself ever going back, primarily because I cannot risk the detrimental effects to my health that will eventually show themselves in force. I don't doubt this for a second.

*) In the unlikely event that I should start smoking, I'll let you know by mentioning it somewhere in a posting. I don't want people who took a sincere interest in my struggle, to keep thinking I've quit if in fact I haven't.

*) Lastly and most important of all, I want to send a big THANK YOU to all of you who've taken the trouble of giving advice, encouragement and shown your interest by posting your own experiences and the like. Or who've just simply posted anything in this thread, because it has all helped me to break free of the addiction I was under for so long.

Thanks again, this place is really special and you guys are great motivators.

And good luck to anybody out there who wants to end their habit. We can start up a thing like this again anytime there's a need for it. I know I'll be there trying to help out the best I can, and so will a lot of other guys here.

	02-09-2004 15:02									#193
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Well done

	02-09-2004 15:05									#194
	Support Apolyton

Winston, remember this: cigarette manufacturers add over 100 addictive substances to tobacco, each of which has their own half life. If you find yourself craving 3, 6 or 12 months down the track, it is because your receptor sites have had one of these substances metabolised out of them.

I only say this so you know what's going on; knowledge is power.

Good luck

	02-09-2004 15:13									#195
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Good luck, winston.

	02-09-2004 22:36									#196
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

(ex-)Winston, you rock, dude.
Congrats!

...and stay strong.

	02-09-2004 22:40									#197
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

you rock Winston and are an inspiration for me.

I am using the patch, meant for 10 cig a day people, and I was a pack a day.

I cheat everyday, but am down to 3 cigs a day instead of 20+... Though I find that I am smoking out of habit instead of out of craving.

	02-09-2004 23:38									#198
	Increase Your PM Length

If you can't do 0, less is still good.

	03-09-2004 02:19									#199
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

Japher, glad to hear you're still fighting the beast and haven't given up. Like pchang says, at least you're minimizing it, and I would think that as the days go by, you should start seeing some of the benefits to your body from not torturing it with the smoke like you used to.

I think you will eventually have to come to a point where you should give up the cigarettes completely - maybe combining with a shift to the bigger dose patches. And if you have the chance to do so, taking some days off from work or studies when you drop the cigarettes for good, to avoid some of the daily situations associated with smoking. That helped me a lot, I could just eat, lie down or go for a walk when I wanted, and I avoided a lot of temting situations that way.

But still every cigarette that you don't smoke is a small victory in itself, and I think it's impressive that you've managed to cut down that far already.

I'll keep thinking of you, my own troubles are not over yet, and it always helps to think you're not alone in this.

	03-09-2004 02:44									#200
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Actually, I generally smoke when I am bored. So, I think days when I am super busy (like the past 3 days) would be best to go without a single one... Or even trying to go all day without one or even the patch. I don't think I will go up in doses as it will make it harder for me to get off the patch... Still the patch is costing me $15/week whereas smoking costs me $35/week.

	03-09-2004 02:52									#201
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Good luck Winston

Show us you can win over chemicals through sheer force of will

	30-09-2004 23:51									#202
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Pekka, Winston? Update.

I haven't had a cig in 2 weeks now, and have been off the patch for 1 week. Ignored the instructions. Still craving one, but it ain't that bad.

	30-09-2004 23:53									#203
	Full PM-box? Change here!

Personally, I stopped for a week, then I had a very stressful time at work and jumped right back in

But the war is not lost yet, I tell ya.

	30-09-2004 23:55									#204
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

I've been fighting with the wife more, as she is 3 weeks without a smoke. We are on edge a lot. In the good times I tell her it will get better, she agrees that a lot of our fighting right now is because of the stress.

	30-09-2004 23:58									#205
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

Japher, I falled Good for you though!

You know, I'm determined to do it. I'll start again. I don't have any cigarettes now but I don't buy any tomorrow either. Or at least I try not to . I smoked my last one couple of hours ago. NEW START! This time I'll make it!

	01-10-2004 00:08									#206
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

Pekka

	01-10-2004 00:13									#207
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Go for it Pekka, it's tough, but I feel much better now for having stopped, at least physically. I need to find another way to take care of my stress.

	01-10-2004 00:35									#208
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

I've been cutting down for a while now. Last year, I moved to only allowing smoking Friday night/Saturday and a maximum of 10 on each day, for a total of 1 pack per week.

This year, it was further reduced to 5 per day, so 1/2 pack a week.

I've cheated more this year, especially lately. Not so much smoking during the week, but rather going over the sipulated 5/day on the days I'm allowed to smoke.

I think this coming year is going to be awful. The only remaining step is to quit. Yet next year will be rather stressful, what with planning for our wedding really picking up steam (wedding in Sept '05). Sigh.

-Arrian, who still likes to smoke

	01-10-2004 00:38									#209
	Increase Your PM Length

I've tried the cutting back, and I've tried the allotment thingy... never worked. Get married and then quit, don't put yourself through that.

	01-10-2004 00:40									#210
	Increase Your PM Length

I'm bad. I don't have cigarettes when I'm sober. When I'm drunk, I go through almost a whole pack (and since I'm rushing a fraternity [the stage before pledging], that's been quite often)