Let the great experiment begin!

I will say this first off; my name is Brendan Hogan and I enjoy smoking cigarettes.  Perhaps not the after-effects of these cancer sticks, but I do enjoy the ritual, the relaxation, and generally, smoking.  The goal of this blog though, is to try to kick the habit.

I've been smoking consistently for about 7 years now.  It was a gradual progression; I began bumming smokes of my friend Joe in his apartment until he stopped handing them out so freely.  I remember having my girlfriend at the time(who was 18 when I was 16) run into various gas stations to support my habit.  Even as I began smoking, I remember hanging outside the Worcester Palladium, leaning against the wall in hopes one of the bands I just saw would ask to bum a cigarette, leading to a cool conversation.  Eventually, these breaks in my day built themselves up to a pack-a-day habit, leading me to where I am today.

As my voice got a bit raspier, I began to compensate; I started singing the lower harmonies in my band, and insisted on far more Tom Waits covers.  At a bar, how else does one meet women; strike up a conversation over the blaring (usually terrible) music, or wait until she goes outside for a smoke and appear as a knight with a Zippo as she was searching for her lighter.  I was insistent that my group of smokers were the only group left to fill the pariah role of society, that we were coughing rebels fighting for our insistence to light up wherever we please.

Then I got older.  And more out of breath.  And started coughing more.  And they're now about $8.50 a pack.  At this point, it's time to throw the habit away.  I'm beginning my process tomorrow.  The game plan is to start counting all the cigarettes I smoke in a day, and try to get that number down day by day.  I also plan to use/review an electronic cigarette, and move on to the patch if need be.  My goal is to go cold turkey by December.  We'll see how that goes.  More updates after a nicotine fix!

-Brendan