doonesbury
KICKING BUTTS

Well I won't bore you with all the reasons I hadn't tried to quit smoking yet. To tell the truth, my target date has been pushed forward so many times, I can't even remember all the perfectly legitimate excuses I used. Suffice it to say, that today is my first day without cigarettes.

The wellbutrin unfortunately is not the magic bullet I hoped it would be. It's not that it doesn't help at all, however, it doesn't completely eliminate the cravings as I had been led to believe. I still want to smoke but it undeniably helps to maintain my resolve.

I did get through the morning coffee without a cigarette pretty easily, but by 11:30 I was really missing my smoke break. I went out anyway, but it just wasn't the same. I was glad I also purchased the nicotine lozenges although they are pretty weird. You're supposed to let them dissolve without chewing on them. It took about an hour for the first one to do that and it was kind of odd talking on the telephone with this thing in my cheek. I was hoping to use that little plastic inhaler that looks like a cigarette holder instead, but I couldn't find one and no one I asked seemed to recall seeing them anywhere.

The good news is that the lozenge did quell the edginess and it doesn't taste at all bad, it kind of tasted just like any mint. I understand the gum is horrible.

In any event, here I am seven hours into the process and I feel like crap. I'm missing my after lunch cig, I'm unfocused, cranky and scared I am not going to make it. But for the first time in decades, I can say that at least for the moment, cigarettes are losing.

I'll try to update this from work this afternoon if I have a free moment, otherwise, I'll be back with a regular report after I vote tonight. It's primary day here in the Happy Valley and if you're reading this in one of the Super-Tuesday states, let me remind you one last time that a vote for Kucinich hurts no one and supports policy reform.