Sirius

"Now my empty cup is as sweet as the punch."

As usual, I'm late to the party. Well done Sazerac!

292,000 miles (470,000 Km) and I think my poor Honda Fit '07 is going to be "totaled" by the insurer. 😰

Got rear ended in traffic today. Quite an impact. Got checked out at the local hospital and stepped outside to take a bit of fresh air and appreciate my continued existence. Smokers were outside smoking and it would have been no effort to ask for one. Just to calm the nerves that were all a jingle. I talked myself out of it. Celebrating my fortune by poisoning myself seemed like spitting in lady luck's eye. So yeah, we still get close calls and fender bender after we quit smoking. Such are the vagaries of chance that are outside my control. What's not chance is the decision not to smoke. This is something I can control. *NOPE*

Well done Juan! Success reinforces success.

56 years old and still ahead of i'ts time.

You went through a bunch of suckers but you weren't the sucker! Good job staying true. Intellectually I'm sure you understand that smoking isn't a reward anymore then tapping your head with a hammer. It will take some time for your emotional and physical expectations to catch up with your conscious decision to forego poison as pleasure. Stay the course.

A good cult classic.

Well done Martian. Remember, your crave is like a beast, and all beasts need to be on a leash. The next time your crave starts crying you give that leash a firm tug, and tell the beast to "HEEL!"

Glad to hear your doing well. Freedom feels nice, eh?

No problem. Games go in and out of style. There are so few people that play chess now-a-days that the people who do play are usually very good at it. A casual game of chess being a rather elusive critter.

Algebraic notation. It was all the rage back when people played chess via correspondence. Back when chess was a popular game. Bobby Fischer is castling in his grave.

White Black 1. e4

Everyone on this board has gone through the process of reclaiming their freedom from tobacco. It's not impossible. It CAN be done and it's easier with comrades who know perils and pitfalls of addiction. We are on your side and want to see you succeed.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/smokers-in-this-state-spend-up-to-23-million-in-their-lifetime-2018-01-17 Smoking costs you more than $27,000 a year. Here’s your no B.S. guide to quitting for good. Published: Jan 9, 2019 1:36 p.m. ET Billions of dollars is going up in smoke. Connecticut smokers are coughing up $2,854,614 on their cigarette habits over their lifetimes, according to WalletHub’s “The Real Cost of Smoking by State Report” released on Wednesday. New York, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts and Rhode Island round out the top five most expensive states to light up in, with annual costs topping $50,000, and lifetime costs of more than $2 million. Plus, the estimated 37.8 million Americans who smoke are also costing the U.S. more than $300 billion a year in medical care and lost productivity, according to the CDC. WalletHub’s report calculated these potential losses by factoring in the annual cost of a cigarette pack per day in each state, as well as the health care expenditures, income losses from lowered productivity and other expenses associated with tobacco products. ------------------ The article goes into specifics. Curiously, the cost of smoking over a lifetime equals a very comfortable retirement.

What?!?!?! Say again? Well according to a few studies and some peripheral observations there ARE a few benefits to regularly using tobacco products. Lower's risk of total knee replacement in men. Lower's risk of Parkinson's disease. Lower's risk of obesity. Lower's risk of unwanted pregnancy..b'cuz you ain't getting any Ashtray-breath. The Joys of momentary gratification as you feed your habit. There are suggestions that smoking alleviates ulcerative colitis. No need to plan for your 80th birthday. There is some blurriness to this list. For instance, you may not need total knee replacement because you weigh less because of smoking BUT if you DO need total knee replacement as a smoker your chance's of complications are much, much higher. In just about every other way smoking increases your risk of acquiring or worsening every other disease or medical complication, for instance (and just to name a few): Alzheimer's Dementia Glaucoma Macular degeneration Coronary Heart Disease Aneurysm Peripheral vascular disease Stroke Heartburn Peptic ulcers Vericose Veins Crohn's disease Gallstones Osteoporosis Asthma Lower respiratory tract infections Stained teeth Premature tooth-loss Various gum diseases Premature aging of the skin (your largest organ) Persistent coughing Smelly hair Yellowed fingers Bronchitis High cholesterol Weaker immune system Infertility (see benefits #4) Major diabetes complications Blood clots Early menopause COPD High blood pressure Decrease in sense of smell Pregnancy complications New born complications An increase of varying degrees of just about every kind of cancer Renal failure Increased chance of falling asleep and dying in FIRE. Yes, this has happened. Increased chance of complications and lengthened recovery periods of many medical procedures and surgeries ...and most significant of all...erectile dysfunction (see benefits #4; again). And these are just the medical disadvantages to smoking. We won't bother considering the disadvantages related to personal expenses, taxes, social stigmata, or the medical disadvantages of second hand smoke that impacts those YOU ARE CLOSEST TO YOU, or the resale value of that ashtray-on-wheels you call your car or the stench rising from your cloths.

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/ca48f0d3-bb11-4f08-a852-1c2efe423d33 AWESOME! Roll that momentum!!!

Father died from tobacco related issues. My quitting was a final gift to his memory. Later, I realized the gift came back to me as well. Smoking would desecrate my father's memorial and that ain't happening.

The course of the war is always decided by the last battle. Never give in and never give up.

Way to go Ms. R Keep your focus and you keep your quit. Your future self is going to be so happy with you.

I can't make investment decisions based on fundamentals like, ohhh, VALUE because a certain someone tweets statements that send the stock and bond market into gyrations that make a roller coaster look like a dart board. So I just like to say...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1QNTumAPeY

I'm just stripping the romance from the food that I eat. Consider it my own personal "Reality Check" when it comes to consumption. I still have preferences and such. It's just what I have to do to keep my compulsiveness on a leash.

I don't have a weight problem so much as a food perception problem. It is too easy to perceive food as a feast for the senses. The tastes, the smells, colours, textures, consistencies..... Nor has it helped that I've been indoctrinated with a lifetime of advertisements concerning the benefits of eating Twinkies in bulk. Anyhow the trick I use to dialing back my fixations on foodstuffs is simply to actualize three little words; its just fuel. That's it. And that's all there really is to food. It's just fuel. Choose the proper type and amount of fuel and your engine will last a lot longer. When I see something that starts the cravings I dial back by internalizing "it's just fuel" and consider if this is the best fuel for my engine. Anyhow, that's how I roll. Maybe this will make sense to somebody else.