days 1 and 2
Posted on Mon, February 8 2010 at 11:39 am
friday night, i met up with tim at sneha. before that, i rushed to safeway to pick up my nicotine patches. i had called my medical insurance (cigna) before and knew that they wouldn’t cover the costs. and that’s what my pharmacist told me, and she also told me that she didn’t have any in stock. i panicked, since i had told everybody that i would start quitting on saturday. but luckily, the counter in the front had some over the counter, so i bought a two-week supply of 21mg nicoderm CQ patches.
then, i drove to sneha to have dinner. it was good, as usual. then, i went to tim’s dad’s place to watch _the hurt locker_ on netflix. it was ok, a little intense at places, but not as good as all the critics had raved about. i don’t know why so many of them claimed it was the “best movie of 2009.” meh.
when i got home, i had a cigarette. then, i took a shower, and then, i had my final cigarette at 1:20am, february 6th. then, i called my mom and told her that i was going to quit smoking. she burst out with a “PRAISE THE LORD!” and then proceeded to tell me that believing on god would help me quit. ugh. then, i went to sleep.
then, saturday was the big day. i woke up, wanting a smoke, but i resisted. i popped an altoid. then, i read the instructions on how to place a patch on my body. i cut open a packet, peeled off the backing, and slapped it on my right upper chest. it itched like crazy for half an hour or so, and i didn’t feel anything. and you all know that my morning cigarette(s) are the most important because i don’t have any nicotine in my system yet, so that was really hard getting through the initial hours of being awake. but i got through it, with the help of altoids.
i had lunch with peter at cafe yulong, and then got a haircut. since i had a patch on, i didn’t want to take it off for a shower, so i got a shampoo at supercuts. my hairstylist was a chinese lady named linda, and she recognized me. we conversed in mandarin for a while, so i tipped her $5 on a $24 cut/shampoo.
then, i took a nap to the texas/oklahoma college basketball game, and then i watched the stanford/USC men’s basketball game. we were up 1 point with 0:55 left in the game, but we wound up losing by 5. fuck.
then, tim drove down from the city from an engagement photoshoot of vienna teng’s brother, and we went to dinner at maruichi. after dinner, he went to get money, and then, i drove us up to SF for aileen’s birthday party at lava lounge. i brought altoids with me.
i was determined to get drunk. i had three jameson’s on the rocks, and i wasn’t feeling much, so then, i told tim to get me a long island iced tea. that really fucked me up, especially since i drank it in like 10 minutes.
at the party, i saw aileen (of course), helen, cindy and rainbow. i told everyone that i was quitting smoking, and they were all happy and supportive. but when i was drinking, that was the second time on saturday that i really wanted a smoke.
we drove back down (i didn’t drive, of course), and i just passed out. i didn’t puke. however, i did forget to drink water, so on sunday morning, my tongue was bone dry and scaly. i dropped like two pounds of water weight.
i grabbed some jitb for lunch, and i wanted really greasy food to combat some mild hangover symptoms, so i got three eggrolls. then, i took a nap to the magic/celtics game, and then, i headed over to adam’s place for the super bowl. i brought altoids and two dr pepper heritage’s with me.
the game itself was well-played, but i didn’t find it exciting. i guess i wasn’t emotionally invested in it, and the interception by the saints really sealed the deal in the fourth quarter. oh well. my favorite commercial was the mcdonald’s dunk contest between dwight howard and lebron james, with the cameo by my favorite NBA player, larry bird.
after the game, i went over to santana row to meet up with tim at pasta pomodoro. i got the gnocchi in lamb and sausage sauce. it wasn’t so good. it was salty, and there were just too many gnocchi dumplings. then, i headed home and just chilled out.
day 2 of not smoking was easier to handle than day 1. i think the nicotine patch is definitely working, because i feel mellow and a bit sleepy from the constant flow of nicotine in my system; i really noticed this on saturday afternoon. i had less altoids on sunday than i did on saturday.
today will be a real test for me: a work day without smoking. i take smoking breaks every hour, and that routine will be hard to break. i brought a tin of altoids to work with me, and i still plan on going out downstairs to get some fresh air every hour, but this time, i just won’t smoke. i brought in my last two packs of cigarettes, and i am going to give them to my boss.
wish me luck!
