Waiting for my e-cig
I've never had a blog before. I doubt it's going to be any good. So if you've stumbled onto this and you're looking for something amazing, I'm probably not it. That being said, I am an adult who has a reasonable grasp on the English language, so I guess it could be worse.
Hi. I'm Robin. I'm a 33-year-old social service counselor from Baton Rouge, LA, and a single mom of a three-year-old, Quentin. The last time I did anything like this, it was back in the days of Live Journal. Anyone remember that place? Back when a reasonable percentage of the population could earnestly ask, "What's a blog?" At the time I was an amateur romance novel writer and had a fun time putting my experiences into words and sending them into cyberspace to be read or ignored.
Since I'm about to embark on a new quest, I thought it would be fun to keep track of it. If anyone stumbles onto it and reads - maybe even learns something from my experience - so much the better. I'm going to attempt to quit smoking with the help of an electronic cigarette.
First, a little background on my smoking history... I used to hate smoke. Once as a kid, I asked my dad to quit and he jokingly said that he would quit smoking if I would quit eating sugar. I thought he was serious and took him up on it. I went three days without so much as a cookie. Then I caught my dad smoking behind the shed.
As an impressionable teenager, I still didn't see the draw to it. Even though 80% of my friends smoked, I'd tried it and it was disgusting! Then one day, in a pool hall, a friend asked me to hold his cigarette. Of course, I took the opportunity to look cool. To keep up the charade, I took a light puff. It tasted minty. When I asked my friend, he said, "Well, yeah. It's a menthol." Boy was I excited! Here was a cigarette that I could actually stand to smoke. And I wanted so much to fit in, after all. I went to the store (they had no problem selling to 16-year-olds as long as you knew the secret phrase: "I don't have my ID") and purchased my first pack. Soon I was fitting in like a pro! So well that sixteen years later I have a pack-and-a-half-a-day habit and seem to get a lot of chest colds. Oh, and that cough, it's because of post-nasal drip from my allergies.
I've tried quiting before. What smoker hasn't? I've even "succeeded" a few times. That has to go into quotations because obviously I wouldn't be writing this if that sentence used the actual dictionary definition of success. I'd make it a couple of weeks or even months. I'd tell everyone how much better I felt and how glad I was that I'd quit. And then I'd have the kiss of death moment where I thought, "I'm doing so well that I'm sure I could just smoke this one while I'm drinking and not start back up." Once while trying to quit I read some advice to spend time in a place you don't associate with smoking, like taking a long bath. It worked at the time, but when I started smoking again I began bringing a pack and an ashtray with me to soak. My longest "success" was when I was pregnant. As soon as I got the two lines on a stick, I started trying to quit. Of course, at 30-years-old I was a pretty old dog to be learning a new trick. I cut down drastically but couldn't lose that last one or two cigs a day until the third month. When I finally made it, I was sure that it would be for good. After all, I was going to be a mom. I had to be a good influence and protect my son from that cloud of smoke I hated coming from my dad when I was a kid. I might even have made it if I hadn't caught his father cheating on me when Quentin was five-months-old.
But now I have a new hope. Last week I stumbled onto an ad online about electronic cigarettes. I did a little research and got excited! What common sense it made! A battery powered cigarette that added nicotine and flavor to harmless water vapor. And since I'm a social service counselor trained in harm reduction theory, it seemed like the obvious compromise. After all, nicotine might be more addictive than heroine, but alone it was about as toxic as its cousin caffeine. By eliminating the tar, carbon monoxide, and 4000 other chemicals in the average cigarette, I could continue to "smoke" without 99% of the risk to me and 100% of the risk to Quentin. I could get my teeth whitened and expect the results to last longer than 60 days. I could keep Quentin's clothes and hair from smelling like he's the youngest chain smoker in history.
So right now I'm in limbo. I've done the research. I've made the decision. I've placed the order for my V2 Electronic Cigarette Ultimate Kit. But until the US Postal Service delivers it, I can't start my mission.
So instead, I started a blog.
Hi. I'm Robin. I'm a 33-year-old social service counselor from Baton Rouge, LA, and a single mom of a three-year-old, Quentin. The last time I did anything like this, it was back in the days of Live Journal. Anyone remember that place? Back when a reasonable percentage of the population could earnestly ask, "What's a blog?" At the time I was an amateur romance novel writer and had a fun time putting my experiences into words and sending them into cyberspace to be read or ignored.
Since I'm about to embark on a new quest, I thought it would be fun to keep track of it. If anyone stumbles onto it and reads - maybe even learns something from my experience - so much the better. I'm going to attempt to quit smoking with the help of an electronic cigarette.
First, a little background on my smoking history... I used to hate smoke. Once as a kid, I asked my dad to quit and he jokingly said that he would quit smoking if I would quit eating sugar. I thought he was serious and took him up on it. I went three days without so much as a cookie. Then I caught my dad smoking behind the shed.
As an impressionable teenager, I still didn't see the draw to it. Even though 80% of my friends smoked, I'd tried it and it was disgusting! Then one day, in a pool hall, a friend asked me to hold his cigarette. Of course, I took the opportunity to look cool. To keep up the charade, I took a light puff. It tasted minty. When I asked my friend, he said, "Well, yeah. It's a menthol." Boy was I excited! Here was a cigarette that I could actually stand to smoke. And I wanted so much to fit in, after all. I went to the store (they had no problem selling to 16-year-olds as long as you knew the secret phrase: "I don't have my ID") and purchased my first pack. Soon I was fitting in like a pro! So well that sixteen years later I have a pack-and-a-half-a-day habit and seem to get a lot of chest colds. Oh, and that cough, it's because of post-nasal drip from my allergies.
I've tried quiting before. What smoker hasn't? I've even "succeeded" a few times. That has to go into quotations because obviously I wouldn't be writing this if that sentence used the actual dictionary definition of success. I'd make it a couple of weeks or even months. I'd tell everyone how much better I felt and how glad I was that I'd quit. And then I'd have the kiss of death moment where I thought, "I'm doing so well that I'm sure I could just smoke this one while I'm drinking and not start back up." Once while trying to quit I read some advice to spend time in a place you don't associate with smoking, like taking a long bath. It worked at the time, but when I started smoking again I began bringing a pack and an ashtray with me to soak. My longest "success" was when I was pregnant. As soon as I got the two lines on a stick, I started trying to quit. Of course, at 30-years-old I was a pretty old dog to be learning a new trick. I cut down drastically but couldn't lose that last one or two cigs a day until the third month. When I finally made it, I was sure that it would be for good. After all, I was going to be a mom. I had to be a good influence and protect my son from that cloud of smoke I hated coming from my dad when I was a kid. I might even have made it if I hadn't caught his father cheating on me when Quentin was five-months-old.
But now I have a new hope. Last week I stumbled onto an ad online about electronic cigarettes. I did a little research and got excited! What common sense it made! A battery powered cigarette that added nicotine and flavor to harmless water vapor. And since I'm a social service counselor trained in harm reduction theory, it seemed like the obvious compromise. After all, nicotine might be more addictive than heroine, but alone it was about as toxic as its cousin caffeine. By eliminating the tar, carbon monoxide, and 4000 other chemicals in the average cigarette, I could continue to "smoke" without 99% of the risk to me and 100% of the risk to Quentin. I could get my teeth whitened and expect the results to last longer than 60 days. I could keep Quentin's clothes and hair from smelling like he's the youngest chain smoker in history.
So right now I'm in limbo. I've done the research. I've made the decision. I've placed the order for my V2 Electronic Cigarette Ultimate Kit. But until the US Postal Service delivers it, I can't start my mission.
So instead, I started a blog.
posted by Robin Suzanna @ 9:44 PM
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