Bramble Tamble

Since Indiana's cigarette tax increase went into effect last week, I decided that $4 a pack or ~$38 a carton was it, that my wallet and general health would be better served if I unchained myself from the habit.

Is this the week that I quit smoking? Probably not. Is this the week that I give it another half-assed effort? Probably, if the below is any indication.

Attempt #1: Friday afternoon, about 1pm CDT. My last cigarette, or so I hoped. By 3pm, I was digging through my vehicle, trying to see if there was a pack that had a single cigarette in it that I'd overlooked. No dice. I ate about half a tin of mints in the interim. Clocked out at 3:30 and, instead of driving straight to the daycare, went instead to a convenience store to get two packs. Total quit time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.

Attempt #2: Saturday night/Sunday morning. Smoked my new last cigarette at roughly midnight; had been drinking pretty fiercely that evening (had bought beer for the 4th, and was finishing it off). Went to bed. Woke up the next morning, slept in the recliner for about 9o minutes. Wife comes into the living room - "Go back to bed." I went. Woke up around 11 that morning.

"Do you, ummmm, need anything from town?"

Wife: "No."

"Well, don't you need gas put in your truck, and weren't you wanting some fresh watermelon and canteloupe from the produce stand in town?"

Wife: "If you're going." (There was some residual pissed-offness from the evening before, no doubt related to me being up at midnight looking at naked girlie pics.)

So I went, and against my better judgement, picked up three packs when I was filling her truck up. Total quit time: about 12 hours, 10 of which were spent sleeping.

When will half-assed attempt #3 take place? Stay tuned.

Incidentally, I was discussing smoking and the tax increase with a trusted confidant at work who also smokes. We agreed that it would be just awesome if everyone stopped smoking now for the sole purpose of cutting off the funding that Your Man Mitch (Indiana's Governor Daniels, for the uninitiated) is anticipating with the tax increase. And then we both lit up.