*hack*hack*hack*

Huh? wuzzzat? what day is it? It's Wednesday, a week from the end of February, I'm sick and all hepped up on Buckley's daytime yellow pills. I was going to say I'm sick again, but I don't think I stopped being sick from last time. As far as I can remember, the last time I felt really good was when we were in Jamaica. The sore throat started right after that, and never really went away.

I've done a fair bit of reading about the whole quitting smoking process (or what to expect when you're kicking a habit that's old enough to vote), and I understand that being sick is often part of the initiation into the world of non-smokerhood. My whole body and all of its chemical processes have been under the control of that evil sticky bastard Nicotine for almost half my life now, and it'll take a good while before my poor old body can figure out how to manage itself.

Pardon my moaning about being sick, what I meant to chronicle here is this: the sun was shining today, and I went and coughed my way around the garden. It was while I was wheezing over my tarragon sprouts that I came to the optimistic conclusion that this latest go-round of being sick is some sort of final push--my body's getting rid of the last remnants of cigarette-related badness, and I'm looking forward to sucking in great hearty lungfuls of spring air soon!

damned mystery atheist!

Can an atheist suffer religious persecution at the hands of another atheist? Looks like it.

I've had a little tiny bell at my desk for a long time, pinned to the cubicle wall; it's got a little card attached that reads "hope" and has a blurb on the back about how my contribution has helped the St. Something organization care for the community. The message isn't overly religious, but definitely has some sort of churchy association.

Today was my first day back at my desk since leaving on vacation, and while reorganizing all my desktop stuff I realized that someone had taken down my little bell and added a sticky note that read "c'mon, be reasonable, God doesn't exist!" and left this on the middle of my desk. This instantly made me unhappy, but it took a good 30 minutes or so of back-of-the-mind thinking to find that I was really angry about it. What kind of person does such a thing? Who goes snooping around someone's cube when they're not home, touching and moving their stuff, and then leaving an anonymous note with their unasked-for commentary? The note ended up with my manager, as I ranted in a fairly controlled manner about the inflammatory nature of this cowardly, presumptuous note.

I asked around a bit, thinking that perhaps someone who knows me was just joshing around, but I soon realized that the people who know me well enough to joke would know better than to do such a thing.

I'm not angry with the stealthy note-writing atheist for being an atheist, I'm angry with them for being a passive aggressive loser, for touching my stuff and for getting me to fall for such juvenile attempt to get my goat :P Not sure what else I can do except hang up the bell again.

I never realized this before

but I think smoking helped me get off my bum and do something else once in a while.

Now that I'm back at home (and not yet back to work) I'm finding myself at times just standing around wondering what to do now. A smoke break used to force me out onto the porch to look around and collect my thoughts. I think Byron is quite vehemently opposed to substituting chocolate for smokes, so I'll have to think of some other way of addressing this.

a new year, 7 days in the sun and $30 in my pocket!

hooray, it's a new year! Byron, Frank, Anne and I have just returned from a well-earned week in Montego Bay. Byron and I logged about 40 hours in the water, futzing around with our new snorkels and also managed to get a good amount of vitamin D and some pretty hearty meals as well.

Byron and I had also decided to quit smoking on this trip, and had our last cigarettes over a week ago. We purchased Nicorette inhalers but they're not really a great substitute for smoking, so Byron's going cold turkey, while I'm using the inhaler to hold in my hand and wave around in a cigarette-like fashion every once in a while. The change of scenery and routine certainly was helpful in distracting us from our cravings; I did feel a little unstable and cried a fair bit for the first two days or so, but a steady diet of cakes, watermelon, frequent naps and plenty of paddling around the coral reefs soon had me feeling better :)

During the flight home, I figured that I've already saved about $30 that would normally have gone towards smokes during the week. Over the course of the next year, that could either be a nice bonus chunk to stick on the mortgage, or a nice getaway next winter. I'll keep this in mind when battling the cravings that are bound to plague me over the next while.

While I'm busy patting myself on the back about being smoke free for over a week, I'd also like to brag shamelessly about my tooth flossing: I've flossed before bed for 399 of the past 401 days, hooray for me! This impresses no one but myself and my hygienist, but I just had to get it out there. :D

November!

whoopee!

a few things that make me say whoopee tonite:

my back feels much better...am now ambulatory and back to work and am hobbling my way back to a normal life, have been able to stop taking the brain-numbing muscle relaxants

the Live Green Toronto festival is on this Saturday and I'm helping to man the beekeepers' booth, it'll be grand to see my bee buddies again

Monday and Tuesday are days off for me

The last Harry Potter movie is out soon, and we're working our way through all of the previous ones, merrily shouting "Potter!" as we go

I got paid for overtime that I had completely forgotten about having worked

whee...

herming like never before

The past couple of weeks have been an exercise in full-blown hermitry for me. I've just finished looking at my hellokitty.com email, and it appears I haven't checked it in over a month! So then, I've been part-time herming for a month or so, but last week ended up being an actual house-bound hermit when my back decided I'd been taking being ambulatory for granted and blew up for no good reason. True, I did fall down several weeks back (twice, actually, both times on top of a ridiculously heavy bundle buggy full of mulch that I was pushing down the street-- the first fall-down was accompanied by a deliciously humourous shout of "UHHH!" that startled neighbours and still makes me laugh upon recollection) but that was *weeks* ago, and was the last serious trauma that I can recall.

The horribleness started with a twingy lower back, which quickly became a backache that extended down into my leg. A visit to my doctor got me a prescription for some anti-inflammatory pills and some muscle relaxants that goof me up and knock me out, as well as a diagnosis of sciatica. We made a quick visit across the border last weekend to pick up some audio gear, I spent many happy hours doped up in the passenger seat and enjoying the scenery. We also painted our new bedroom, with Byron doing most of the work and me being the drugged out trim-painter. It looks grand, btw :)

Beyond our road trip and the painting I've spent most of the last two weeks hanging out, missing work, making brief excursions to the back porch, creeping around the veggie bed, playing cribbage on my phone and having naps. Sounds like a relaxing time, and it is, except for the periods of excruciating pain and only being able to stand for about 10 minutes at a time :P

I'm confident that things will get better though, the internet tells me that the pain often goes away on its own within a couple of weeks. Looking forward to that happy day!