This has been one of my more stressful weekends; a lot of driving, which meant a lot of smoking. Where to begin?
Thursday: School as usual. Thankfully, I had a lot of work to do, which left me inside with my laptop attached to a wall socket. Less going outside means less of a temptation to light up. I had to pick up a couple extra shifts this weekend, which began Thursday after school. The traffic due to the flooding even leaving UMass all ready left me chain-smoking. I tried an experiment at work that night; I was only on a 5 hour shift so I decided to brave it out and leave my pack of smokes in the car. I lasted 4 hours before I was succumbed and bummed a cigarette off my co-worker. Mavericks; not even my brand. It was a busy night, stressing me out never mind the lack of nicotine. One of my tables actually asked me why I was so frazzled, and I had to tell them about my anti-smoking crusade. The mother in the family told me she managed to kick the habit herself about 5 years ago. I have to say, I believe it helped out my tip. Maybe that's another reason to quit; using my battle stories for profit.
Friday was a long one. I woke up around 8, hungover (which is a benefit; I never feel like smoking when I'm hungover, for a couple hours). I had to drive to my work for a meeting from 9-10, then drive from Braintree to Brockton by 11. There was no time for breakfast, so after the headache subsided to a low buzz, I was opening the pack to suppress the lack of home fries and toast. My band and I met up with this guy who works with our lap-steel player, and he wanted to record our album. This soon led to us sitting around drinking beers and smoking listening to our demos with him in his studio. I don't know why Budweiser, Camel lights, and music go so well together, but they do. We finished up around 3, just in time to get afternoon breakfast at a diner and get to practice. We headed back to Braintree, leaving around 7 for a long drive to Lowell.
My band had a gig Friday night. I tried to resist as much as I could, but the bar gig/outdoor patio area had me hanging outside all night with the other bands and various people. Standing in the smoking section was the worst; I could feel myself drifting in and out of conversation with my hands in my pockets just rustling my pack of cigarettes. Total for the day; 16. It's not great, but it's also not a pack.
Saturday and Sunday I spent working from 10-6 and then moving to my new apartment both nights. Talk about stress and wasting energy. My only saving grace was needing my breath hauling in couches and boxes and the like. Even though this was essential, I need to start supplementing cigarettes with exercise; by the end of everything, I felt like passing out completely. Working myself into such a tire seemed to be the best plan. I could barely drag myself to the porch to smoke that night. My goal was 14 for Saturday and Sunday each, and I'm happy to say I met them.
In the meantime, I need to start looking at more electronic cigarettes. The prices have too great a variation; at $10 for one model, I feel like that has to be bad for me or something. We're getting there people, one day at a time.
