Plane ticket purchased - check
Pizza belly gone - check
Good work out at the gym - check

After a good night with some good people, good beer, and good french fries, I went home in good spirits. I enjoy nights like that, where a couple of people just hang out, get some beer, and shoot the shit.

I woke up in not so good spirits this morning though. I ate my apple and peanut butter, went to the gym, and read some LOTR during Da Vinci Code commercial breaks. Oh the movie just is painful to watch, yet I can't help myself. Tom Hanks? Audrey Tatou? What happened guys?

I came home and surfed one of my favorite moving sites for inspiration. I came across a serial poster's post about quitting smoking. I saw the post had been moved to another forum, and I went on over there to check out it. This serial poster, as far as I can gather, is a middle aged woman who overcame crack addiction and is now a heavy weight lifter. Her post was about how hard it is to quit smoking. I was intrigued and continued reading. She ranted and raved and emotionally freaked out via internet, and I felt that woman's pain. I read on as she posted update throughout the day about her moods and the continuing days thereafter. Inspired, I threw on my jeans and tee, grabbed the cell phone and headed out the door. I called my dad and told him I was on the way to the store to buy nicotine gum and some patches. I whined about how expensive it all was. He told me it was more expensive to buy a new lung. Zing!

I walked the mile to the store, driven by my desire to try out the gum and patch, while my dad was on the phone cheering me on. I could have been running the 5k. $80 bucks later, I was back on the road with a bag full of anti-nicotine armor. This was several hours ago.

Presently, my dishes are cleaned, my room is spotless, and I have everything prepared for my first day of school tomorrow. I was talking to my mom on the phone about it. She was a smoker for 30 years and quit cold turkey. Just one day, she decided to quit and she did. I have nightmares that she steals cigarettes from me, and get totally freaked out. She told me about our cousin in NY who is bipolar and does all kinds of wild stuff. My mom talked to her dad, my uncle "L" who received a call from the French Embassy. Apparently my cousin flew to Paris, but could not afford to fly back. Uncle L bought her a plane ticket back, and she is now back in the good old US of A. I told my mother immediately that I too was bipolar, and if the urge hits for me to fly around the world, then it's not my fault. She didn't buy it.

Back to quitting smoking. So, I've been going back and forth about the quitting thing for quite some time. I thought with school pressure and moving pressure that it would be too much for me to try to quit. But, as I thought about it more, and about starting a new life, I realized I did not want this smoking baggage carried around with me. I mean, I get to my new home, and all is fine and dandy, then I quit, freak out and my new roommates and new employer think I'm a mess? No thanks. I'd rather be a total mess around people who already know me, and will realize that when I flip out, it will be from nicotine withdrawal and not mental instability.

Wish me luck. I'm going to watch some movies and hope to not have an emotional freakout that seems to accompany nicotine withdrawal!