Still Saddled-Up...

To the left you should see pictured, a screenshot of my LiveStrong quit smoking app...

So today marks 200 days since I quit smoking tobacco products & I'm confident in saying that it feels like I've kicked the habit for good! I no longer have cravings to light-up when I awake in the morning & 1 of my biggest triggers, riding in the car, no longer makes me think of smoking.

Not even stressed-filled moments, or late night battles with restlessness are any match for my new-found desire to stay-quit. It's funny... now that I'm a non-smoker, people on the street who are smoking bother me & I'm usually quite anxious to get further away from them. I guess I'm an elitist now, lmao! 

So far since quitting, I've notice an increased lung capacity, healthier skin & an insatiable appetite (lol) - I'm always hungry now! It's very easy to see how my father (who also quit smoking cold-turkey) picked up his weight so quickly years back. I too have a new clothing size now that I've replaced cigarettes with snacks!

But the new clothes I've had to purchase don't smell at all of smoke, so that's a positive at least :-D Also, my mother is happiest of all - she's got a really sensitive nose, so it always bothered her. According to my quit smoking app, I've managed to save roughly $540 since quitting - who doesn't enjoy the idea of lil' extra change in their pocket?

So that's about it, just wanted to update u guys on my progress & let you know I haven't fallen off the horse...

Out Of Office Reply...

I'll have use or lose leave (& a lot of it) for the very first time in my professional working career. 

It's about 100 or so hours (roughly 2 & a half weeks) of annual leave to burn, so I've been racking my brain trying to strategically pick the best days to stay home over the next 2 months. 

Now I know to plan/spread-out my annual leave, as best I can anyway, over the course of a year - that way I won't end up taking chunks of leave at the end of the year to avoid losing it. We're allowed to carry-over 240 hours of annual leave (pretty standard, I think), but clearly a staycation, at minimum, is now mandatory for me - noted.

In the past I've always made very good use (some supervisors might say too good use) of my accrued annual leave. Aside from taking a summer vacation, I took leave quite often during the other parts of the year & often times, for no reason at all. This year I used more 'slick' leave than usual, didn't take a vacation & now I earn more leave each pay period than I used to.

Granted, it's a good problem to have, especially for folks with kids & such, but not a super-huge benefit for me at the moment. I've taken additional leave for the obvious Thanksgiving & Christmas holidays, but the majority of days were selected arbitrarily. Looks like I'll have some extra me time, watching wonderful daytime television this fall, lol.

Social 'Not'working

Ok, so a month or so back I decided to try my hand at a couple of dating websites (yes - I am that desperate, lmao). 

BlackPeopleMeet.com & PlentyOfFish.com, were the 2 websites upon which I chose to post profiles to. The results so far have been... mixed.

The problem I have with dating websites (from the male perspective) is that most of the messages that a guy might send get lost among all the crazy/clown mail. So at the end of the day, it’s just as difficult as meeting someone with similar interest out on the street – i.e., still a crap-shoot.

Indeed, many of the women I’ve attempted to contact seem quite remarkable, save for their ability to select messages to read and/or respond to, lmao. But as stated earlier, I’m sure women get bombarded with bullshit on these websites, so it doesn’t anger me.

But I can say it’s already been very entertaining. Especially the quacks who do manage to contact me 1^st. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m the catch of the century, but of the women who actually reach-out... VERY few qualify for employment, lol.   

To be fair, writing about oneself can be difficult, I guess that’s why some people choose the write nothing at all approach, lol (good luck with that), so I’m often willing to apply the customary benefit of the doubt clause in most cases, but many are so busy trying to put their best (or someone else’s) foot forward that they end up trying too hard, or worse - being dishonest, in which case > next!

So in light of this, I try my best to be upfront and forthcoming on dating websites. I can’t really think of another instance when trying to accurately depict oneself (in words) is more important that a dating website profile (well perhaps a job resume, but hell... even then, lying actually helps, lmao).

If I don’t take away anything else from these 2 websites, one thing is clear. There are SOOOO many people out here in the world, good or bad, attractive or unattractive, accomplished or inexperienced, who just cannot find that special someone for whatever reasons, so technically, I guess the last thing I should feel is lonely, but still...