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Hi people know me as Ace & my profile pic tells a lot about me- probably not what you think tho lol Born n raised So Cal I am everything this land offers. Grew up skateboarding surfing playing little league and pee wee football Ice hockey rodeo and triathlons as an adult. I own a business that engineers & installs fire sprinkler systems Always been active and outgoing- smoking just doesn't fit my lifestyle so it had to go. I'm an addict- smoking was my dope, so now I live a life of NOPE I like shrimp

G’day NOPE .....Not One Puff Ever.... (replace Ever with Min,Hour, Day as required)

Sunday Morning and had a early morning urge on the way to work, shock it off and here I am, Work started out fairly good and now its better, listened to my good morning sunshine video and it perked me right up. I have decided with all the new going on here I am going to clean the slate, I know enough about each of the new guys to be carful but still be effective. I figure why waste my time on negative issues and emotions, so I am going to push and run with the positive I am going to broadcast positive thoughts and jump start my day with a Opah pep talk. I am going to sing, smile, laugh and be jovial You have heard me speak about me grand father many times, the one thing I do not mention much is he was a chain smoker all his life and in the later part he was very frail , I swore to my self I was not going to be like that I wanted to be Large and full of life for my grand children and great grand children. I remember this time I was sitting waiting for my food and this little Boy walks up and holds his hands out for me to pick him up. His mother sent him over because he said I looked like Santa Clause ! you know the only thing I could think at the time was how freaking rude of that woman. so I bent over and told the Kid to Jack off and get out of my Face!! Kidding, told him I was not Santa but tp have a nice Day. But to get back to My original thoughts is I look Jovial, i am healthy enough to get them out camping, hunting, Fishing and hiking. so all is where I want it to be, so why let someone else's negativity mess with my Happy go lucky positiveness.

Nope!

Nope!

NOPE!!

NOPE!!!!!!

NOPE!!!!!!

NOPE!

NOPE…

Thanks for suggesting it, @Abby. If nothing else, we learned that you don’t like shrimp…. And Yes, I have always been a smart a$$!

Nope ! Nope nope nope nope nope . No smoking here . Rail cars filled with unsmoked smokes heading to an undisclosed location be dumped and disposed of safely . Throw em aboard .

N.O.P.E

@Linda, I have never figured out which is worse: knowing you will lose a loved one, or suddenly having a loved one ripped from your life. Either way, it sucks! All you can do is be the best friend you can, while she is still here. I know what helped me, when my husband died suddenly, and without warning, was knowing he knew how much I loved him, and I knew the same about his love for me. He didn’t choose to leave me. Somehow, that made it a bit more tolerable, and I was able to carry on. You will always have memories of the good times you shared with your friend, after she is gone. It will hurt, but it will get better. For now, cherish her, while she is still here. Save your grief, for after she’s gone…

NOPE

Have been safe from incidents on my walks till this week. Beginning of week I had a car circle back around 4 times. I ended up cutting my walk short to be on the safe side and hid by the living room window to see if they passed down the street again, they did not, probably nothing but it felt better not to take chances. Yesterday for the first time had a dog come at me but I kept walking like a boss, like who afraid of the big bad wolf and he/she went back home. The benefits of moving truly wonderful, the flexibility, the new found energy and sense of well being. On days I feeling a bit not into it, I remind myself of all the people I use to visit at the nursing home before covid hit (sadly have not seen any of them in like 1 1/2 years now) how most of them cannot walk and all the health problems that brought them to the nursing home. It is a great motivator. Keep moving!

NOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

G’day NOPE .....Not One Puff Ever.... (replace Ever with Min,Hour, Day as required)

Another heat wave is upon us, so I will have to do my second walk, after the sun goes down. I am amazed that I haven’t missed one in the three weeks I have been doing this. I am down 10 pounds, which I needed to lose, so a little less stress on the joints and my heart. I can stand to lose 10 more. I am a bit concerned about how I can keep this up over vacation, but one idea is that I will try to find hotels with exercise rooms. Also, when visiting National Parks, along the way, I can do my walking.

Yeah! This is weird what's going on lately. Lost one our cats tonight as well. Strange stuff happening

Thanks everyone for sharing . I still see a few that are quiet and that's ok too but I bet they are the ones that don't like shrimp just kidding . I greatly appreciate all of you who shared and made this thread not only an introduction but fun too . There's so much more to quitting smoking and we do have fun . For any other newcomers or elders , please feel free to share a bit about yourself , whatever you feel comfortable sharing so we all get to know each other better . Its great to see and hear from newcomers anytime . We certainly remember that introducing ourselves was one of the first steps as it is at any gathering and can be a bit scary so bravo to those who've shared on this thread and taken that step . Take a peak around , post , read , whatever works for you . We are glad you are here .

@reciprocity, we've been seeing the SpaceX starlink satellite trains go by in our night skies. Maybe they had something to do with making those clouds swirl?

Welcome Lawrence, quitting is a tough gig at the start but you can do it! Never thought I'd be able to, but here I am more than two months down the track. Some do 'cold turkey' but I use nicotine spray...helps with those really tough cravings which can still pop up even after a few weeks. Reckon it's heaps better than smoking anyway. All the best!

Thought there was a weird wind thing happening high up in the sky this evening. The day was clear then suddenly a cloud appeared from the north (over the lake we live by) and heading south. As I watched it I noticed three very odd columnar clouds hanging down from the main cloud mass. They kind of looked like mini funnel clouds of a tornado -very strange! Have a look at the pic I took and look toward the tree line from the top of the cloud where the sun is. You'll see spinning cloud formations, three or four of them with another trying to form on the left and yet there's a cloud to the right that appears to be unaffected by whatever is going on, as is the top of the cloud formation. (sorry the sun kind of interferes with the top of the cloud formation). Double left click on the pic to enlarge it. Easier to see the circular rotation of those cloud columns. Perhaps the strangest part was that within probably 30 seconds of taking this pic, the whole cloud mass dissipated into just a small, thin, wispy cirrus cloud. Weird, very weird. Never seen anything like that and I'm a bit of a cloud nerd (in case you couldn't tell).

NOPE!

NOPE…

Lawrence, I did it your way, and when I got down to 7 cigarettes a day, and did that for a few weeks, I said, close enough, and then stopped all together. So keep tapering, get down below a half pack, then stop! I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it seemed. Of course I had cravings, but I stuck close to this group, and it’s been rather painless. Now, I have a full month smoke free! BTW, it was my doctor who got through to me, too. Being a Nurse, I don’t much like doctors, but he was so convincing and passionate, (and, of course, I knew he was right) I followed his advise. You can do this, Lawrence! Come aboard the train!

Time for me to go my friends and acquaintances, Thank you for another day of support. Linda wake up every morning, breath in and out and soon you will not have to remind yourself to Wake up and breath in and out. Prayers and strength heading your way. Take care you all

Knowing and waiting is far worse, My first wife died in the hospital after months of getting better getting worse, it was heart breaking over and over again. I can say for sure you are never ready for that first night alone knowing she will never be be side you again. You will cry, you will morn, it is hard and it will get better as time passes. I love tom Hanks in sleepless in Seattle Sorry about the subtitles I guess the loss of someone you love hurts in all languages

@Linda maybe you can go visit her if only to hug her and hold her hand for a bit? You could also FaceTime her. Maybe that would help you...

NOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOPE

Be careful out there @Dianne and stay safe! I’m glad that you cut your walk short, sad that you had to though.

Dianne your doing great ..look at those days clocking up... As others have said ...Enjoy your time to yourself .... If you feel you need company ...there is always someone here ...

Curled another beer

@Dianne you're doing awesome! Surely there's something you've been wanting to do when you have some free time. I rearrange things sometimes, or will dismantle the stereo setup and set it up with new components or arrange albums alphabetically or by genre or something. I'm sure you have something fun waiting for you. If you can't think of anything, get out on your bike and try to get lost on new streets or trails.

It was really cool to see @Katgirl

I had not heard about this. Fascinating, as is the man! I really have to pay better attention to what’s going on in the world…..

You are doing fantastic @Dianne, and you don't have to worry about being alone because you have us. So if you get lonely, come here and we'll do our best to cheer you up

Good job on your quit , keep it going . It's not worth throwing away all the awesome days you worked hard for . I know you can do it . Remember quit train is your back up when needed ..

I can relate to your fear. If you struggle with anxiety, any change is scary. Routine and ritual are important to us. I Noticed that I fair better when with my boyfriend, either at his place, or mine. So, sometimes, I make myself go home, alone, for a week or so, to prove to myself that I am O. K. alone. I don’t want to be dependent on anyone else for my happiness, or well-being. You will do fine, as do I.

Day 55 ...feeling pretty good, took down the bright lime green post it notes. Feel they served their purpose. Still exercising before the sun rises. Still buying supplements instead of cartons. Drinking green tea and eating Greek yogurt. Spending all day pulling my pants up (lost 20 lbs...hey who says Gerd cannot come in handy when quitting) I like being a non-smoker I really do. I like feeling better. There still are moments when the habit pops up in my mind but it is easy to dismiss the thought. I am concerned that in a few days I going to be alone for 2 weeks. It will be the first time in 9 years (maybe it 10 years) the first time in a long long time. It funny because months ago before I got sick then quit smoking, learned how awful anxiety is and steroids. I was so looking forward to this time alone. In 9 years time I have not had a day off not once of being a caretaker to my parents and now just my mom as my dad passed 5 years ago. I have so been looking forward to this. Now though I slightly concerned that something may throw me or I will not know how to handle after all this time how to not take care of someone and be alone....strange the switch in energy about this time off. Still though part of me sees this as a challenge. I hope I do well with it. In fun news my quit has been contagious. Others around me now walking. Even choosing to drink green tea and include dark choc in their diet. It that extra little bounce in my step these days and sass in my smile...it contagious... this liking feeling better

NOPE

NOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m from NJ, moved to wine country, CA, after my second husband suddenly passed away. My first husband and the father of my children, is alive and well, that &$#@*! Looks like I will get to see him in a few weeks. Can’t wait! Anyway, I smoked most of my adult life, quit in 2009, for 6 years, then picked up the habit again, after a bad breakup. Stupid, I know… When I turned 70, in April, I started thinking about quitting. I have 4 kids, 12 grandkids, and #13 is on the way. I want to stick around for awhile, and enjoy my legacy, as long as I can. So, I started to cut down my smoking, and on May 10th, at 8:00 PM, I smoked my last cigarette. I joined this group about a week later. Oh, and Sorry, Abby, I love shrimp! KAT

Keep on keepin on!!

Fun Fact: Johnny Cash was a Morse code interceptor for the United States Air Force. Cash was stationed in Germany in 1953 and intercepted the message that Joseph Stalin had died. Johnny Cash was the first person from the West to hear the news. Johnny Cash knew of Stalin's death before President Eisenhower did. Now, back to the music.