Monday, May 19, 2025

I quit...

Yup - after 55+ years of Marlboros, I smoked my last one yesterday. I'm tired of hackin' my lungs up every morning. I'm tired of that feeling you get when you think you don't have any more - no stash pack, no extra pack in the truck. It's time I give my lungs a shot at repairing themselves. It's just time. Thank god for them friggin' patches...
 
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In the Battery Park neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York lies the Irish Hunger Memorial. The famine cottage comes from Co. Mayo and the stone, soil, and natural vegetation all come from the West of Ireland. Surrounding the cottage there are stones from every Irish county, with the name of the county inscribed on each stone. The memorial was completed in 2002. Incredibly beautiful and well worth a visit.
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Doctors say it’s ‘inconceivable’ Biden’s cancer went undetected by his medical team — as Trump Jr. questions if the diagnosis isn't a ‘cover-up’ of some kind for something else. A handful of medical experts were quick to question how the former president could be diagnosed at such a late stage — especially given prostate cancer can be detected early with routine bloodwork, which is recommended for men over the age of 50.
Dr Steven Quay flagged similar concerns, saying Biden’s type of cancer is the easiest to diagnose when it first starts and progresses. “The PSA blood test shows the rate of cancer cell growth. For even with the most aggressive form, it is a 5-7 year journey without treatment before it becomes metastatic,” he said. “Meaning, it would be malpractice for this patient to show up and be first diagnosed with metastatic disease in May 2025.” 
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Back in the day when pleasing the eye was almost as important 
as function, craftsmen did pretty amazing things...
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Japan has a 10% consumption tax - not dissimilar to the UK's VAT - value added tax. In the UK, however food is exempt from the VAT - in Japan it isn't. 
87% of respondents to a recent poll there said government efforts to rein in the price of rice had been “insufficient”, while more than 74% said they did not expect ongoing US-Japan tariff talks – including negotiations on American imports of rice and other foodstuffs – to end favourably to Japan.
Earlier this year Prime Minister Ishiba’s government took the unusual step of dipping into its vast rice reserves. In March it began releasing stockpiled rice in an attempt to arrest price rises that have been blamed on a combination of factors, including higher demand fuelled in part by the tourism boom, distribution bottlenecks, and suspected hoarding by wholesalers and distributors in anticipation of further shortages.
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Here's a great idea for a gift for 
that special someone of yours...
 
Click on the picture for more information on these lovely earrings
The pair is only $ 20.00 and comes with free shipping!
There's a bracelet that matches them you'll see if you click here:
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I don't get it - do you?
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Organizers say they are hoping to upstage a military parade the president has planned for June 14 in Washington, DC. Refuse Fascism, the group claiming to be behind the event, has held rallies against the Trump administration in downtown Los Angeles and other cities.
The group is calling June 14 “No King’s Day.” Newsweek, however, reported the protest is actually being organized by as group named “No Kings” along with partners such as Black Voters Matter and the Declaration for American Democracy.
Does anything any of these people say or do make any sense to you at all, or am I the only person out here that thinks these people are perfect wastes of oxygen...
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Wildwood, New Jersey Boardwalk back in 1971. Might have been one of the best years of my life. Juss' sayin' it's all been pretty much downhill from there...
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They really do help a lot, and this is the 
best price I've seen on them. 30 patches for 
20 bucks is a good deal...
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32 comments:

  1. Yay for you quitting the cigs! You can do it. I quit 16 yrs ago using the cold laser treatment. No gum, no withdrawal, no mindfucking. The money I've saved could buy a very nice car and I feel better. Hang in there.

    https://hlcwellness.com/stop-smoking-laser-orlando/

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  2. the first two weeks are the hardest, as far as actual addiction to nicotine. After that, it gets better..

    The next year yer gonna have to get used to not firing up a smoke before driving (the car don't run well until after you fire up, you know), and all the other times you habitually lit up.
    I id it 3 years ago. If I can do it so can you. Just say "no, not today". Say "Maybe tomorrow".... and do the same the next day, and the one after that....

    I do feel better though, and am glad I quit after 40 years.

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  3. plus yer gonna save like $4K a year or more.

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  4. Good luck quitting. But don't forget, once the physical habitual smoking thing is done, you still need to end the nicotine addiction.

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  5. While quitting at any age is in theory a good idea, and the body does, to some degree anyway, heal....I am reminded of a physician I knew who, when asked by a 70 year old if she should quit her 55 year smoking habit, replied that at this point it really didn't matter. Quitting at 20? Great idea. At 50? Probably. At 70? Sure, might see some relatively cosmetic effects, but any long term damage is already done.

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    Replies
    1. I heard something similar. Once the damage is done there's little in the way of "repairs" going to happen - you'll always have the lungs of someone much older. Won't do any harm though and the money will be nice.

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  6. Good job with the smoking, I'm in the exact same boat and get this I ordered the same patches yesterday off Amazon. Been huffing butts for over 50 years and need to stop or I wont get to see my grandsons grow up. What's you're X handle Joe?

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  7. I quit cold turkey 30 some years ago, first week was the hardest, always had to have a pack and half with me, went from cigs to swisher sweet cigars then the little cigars, but ended up smoking them just as much, finally said fu*k it and just quit

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  8. I quit smoking 34 years ago. yep Marlboros. I found that strangling small animals helped. (not really)

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  9. My old man caught my brother and I smoking at age 13 ( he was 11), found a carton of Marlboro reds in the attic of the caretaker's cottage he and I lived in.

    He made us eat a pack. My brother was standing behind the trap door and was able to push the wet tobacco under his mattress while I , in full view had to savor every last bite.

    Everything for the next month tasted like cigarettes, cereal, cake, potatoes did not matter, couldn't shake the taste.
    Worked like a charm too, I never smoked another Marlboro again.

    I did however switch to Camels (filter less, you know in case I got caught again and had to eat another pack), and proceeded to smoke like a Romanian tractor factory for the next thirty years while I built up a three pack a day habit.

    Quit cold turkey twenty years ago.

    Good luck to you, you can do it!

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  10. The "Trump sucks more" cartoon shows how Democrats have stopped defending Biden. They were raising on a busted flush.

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  11. The patches were a huge help for me... good luck!
    ~~
    Talking about the anti-Trump demonstration... has anyone else noticed that the left often (almost always?) calls the other side a name that in reality, it looks like they represent? ... "Refuse Fascism, the group claiming to be behind the event"
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    "Wildwood, New Jersey Boardwalk back in 1971. Might have been one of the best years of my life." - When I look back at those days now, I wonder if they look so good because I was young then?

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  12. Good on ya for the quitting smoking. Rumor has it you can make or break any habit in three weeks, so hang in there.

    I quit after twenty years in '91 because I was tired of the wife ragging me about it.
    She divorced my ass in '93, so I count that as a win-win.

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  13. Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times. -- Mark Twain

    By the way, Jeffrey Dahmer doesn't think $40 is too much to pay for a Danish.

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  14. I don't even trust carnival rides much less floating in space

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  15. The military should use real bullets on parade day.

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  16. No one ever defends Biden. They just try to reverse the argument to be against Trump.

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  17. Regarding you giving up those cigs.....in about 3 weeks your lungs are going to "wake up" and try to expel all that tar and nicotine that you packed into them. You are going to feel like you just licked the ash tray. You are going to cough so hard you will pee yourself. You will think that you are dying. You will go to the doctor thinking that you have pneumonia.
    But all it is, is your body trying to rid itself of those poisons. Yeah, at that time a visit to the MD is OK; just remember my words of advice.

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  18. Food tastes so much better------and becomes a HUGE problem-----BEWARE!!!

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  19. Those patches will give you the most wonderfully vivid dreams.. Frankly, it was almost as hard to quit the patch as quitting the smokes. You can can it easier to say you are stopping, not quitting. Quitting sounds final whereas stopping sounds less so. Its a simple mind trick that helps in the beginning. The funniest smoking scene other than the News Radio TV show one would have to be john Lithgow in 3rd rock from the sun.look them IP for a laugh.

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  20. After 40 years of smoking I quit cold turkey about 8 years ago. You got this.

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  21. good luck with the smoking. i have heard its easier to stop heroin than smoking.

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  22. Its a hand to mouth thingy, stay strong, and good luck. I quit about 7 times in my lifetime, last time was 18 years ago, gets tough when your drinking, that's when you have to be really strong. All the times I quit and went back was because of taking a hit on a joint, then I would go buy a carton. I quit it all, 18 and still going strong. I'm 76. Do you go to Gator Joes in Oklawaha, I thought I saw you in there last month?

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  23. I started smoking at age 15 and smoked quite heavily for another 15 years. One day, I was walking up some stairs and I got short winded and said, "I've got to quit smoking." And I did. That was 46 years ago. I never - ever craved cigarettes anytime between then and now. I did gain what seemed like a ton of weight because I had never had a good sense of taste and all of a sudden food began to taste really good. I went from 135 to 169 and added like six inches to my gut. I then started running and did that for 35 years. I am a svelte 160 pounds and even at 78 years old, I feel and look like I'm 50.

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    Replies
    1. You are the greatest, hope you didn't hurt your arm patting yourself on the back. Quitting smoking is very hard especially when anywhere near people smoking.

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    2. " Anny" - Yes, I am proud of what I did, and you can stick your judgmental BS up you keester.

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  24. Patches didn't work for me but the vapes did. My lungs quit hurting after two weeks. Still vaping after ten years.

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  25. Not a problem. Just remember that the first 7 years are the worst.

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  26. Cigarettes killed my parents, brother and so many others. After many stops and restarts over the years I finally quit cold turkey 30 years ago when a pack wago when a pacs around $1.00. I felt much better in two weeks and even started eating a little real food in the morning instead of living on coffee and cigarettes. I no longer have an urge to light up but the day the Dr. tells me I'm on my way out and only have a few weeks or months to go I will buy a pack and light up on the way home.

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  27. "Refuse Fascism" ... as long as you emphasize the first syllable in Refuse (as in garbage) then their name makes sense.

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  28. Good job on quitting…37 years of Marlboro reds myself
    I think you might find the “mini mints” do a better job handling cravings
    I still keep a “tube of the mints”around for beer nights and I quit in 2015
    I does get easier!! Congrats!

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Tidy up or pay the fiddler...

This house is about four blocks from my house, and, yes, it is a shithole. A Villager has been given one week to remove debris from his prop...