h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

{[caer csd] You must still be feeling well, Amy, to risk the old caffeine

I gave up smoking 19 years ago and can say that I never feel the urge to smoke now, although it was a good few years before I got to that stage.

Matina, I think its high time for a java and one for Amy too, please.}

My dad has smoked since his pre-teen years. He's now in his seventies and we'd like to get him to stop but short of violence I don't think anything is effective.

My favorite movie scene is from the Fisher King, when Perry follows the woman he has fallen in love with into Grand Central Station, the music swells, and the bustling crowd turns into a swirling dance.

Oh yes! That's a good one, especially as, in certain lights and at certain angles, as I'm sailing down the escalator into the underground and I close my eyes and squint a bit, you can get almost the same effect.

*card found near a mouse hole in the library*

[LIL]

hoping for rescue right soon now or else she'll be asking Amy to launch the next conversation

[]

Hoping to rescue Lil right soon.

My favorite cinematic moment of recent years is in "O! Brother Where Art Thou" when the poor Mississippi farmer, cousin of one of the convict heroes, explains where his absent wife is in front of his young son.

"She done r-u-n o-f-t."

[c]

amy, caffeine is a wonderous thing. now you've made me want a nice big cold caffeine-filled pepsi... oooooooohhhhhhhhhh, can you tell i'm a recovering addict and only allowing myself one per day?

This is something I might have told you before - I know I've told people in RL about it, but can't remember if I've told anyone at h2g2 - oh, never mind - just ignore it if it sounds familiar - that's what my RL friends do!

I became addicted to Coca Cola when travelling by bus from Sweden to Egypt 10 years ago - once we reached Syria, Jordan and Egypt, the only cold drink you got get outside of the big cities was Coca Cola...

...picture a wooden shed in the middle of nowhere, near a road or a path to some sight - a fridge run by a diesel fuel engine and only two products for sale: bottled water or Coca Cola...

...since the Coca Cola was more expensive, the fridge was filled with them, and the bottled water outside the fridge, the water being of the same temperature as the temperature in the shade, mostly something between 35-40 C (95-104 F)... I drank water because I had to, although I find warm water but bought myself a Coca Cola whenever I could...

...once I was back in Sweden I discovered, much to my surprise, that I just had to have Coca Cola - the first couple of weeks I drank a 1.5 litres bottle a day! Took me some time and effort to get rid of that habit...

Caffeine is something that I simply cannot fare without. I try to wean myself off of massive quantities of it, and for the most part succede. The difference this week, is that I am in training at an altogether evil hour of the morning. That, by the way, is why I have been quiet of late. Should last another week or two.

{[caer csd] I drink decaff , but otherwise everything else is caffeinated: tea, cola etc. For some reason caffeine in gives me palpitations, but not in anything else.

T No1 son used to drink so much cola that it affected his teeth and they are discoloured now to the extent that he could do with veneers}

I don't think I'm affected much by caffeine. I didn't suffer any symptoms or feel any benefits when I stopped drinking it and I didn't feel any effects when I had my first in a year this morning. And it didn't make my headache worse. I like the flavour though and I had missed that.

Last year I was so desperate to feel better that I took every bit of advice anyone gave me. A friend said that I should give up caffeine so I did but I think she had in mind her own 10-mugs-a-day habit and assumed everyone was the same. I was only drinking one cup per day, if that.

[BB]

Passin thro

Having a right mare upgrading my main machine to XP, it's takem most of the day just to get it to talk to the rest of the network


Amy
Your friend only has 10 mugs a day I was up to that before lunch

I quit caffeine cold turkey. Just stopped. But then again, I never did like coffee all that much....

Regular to diet soda took a little more, mostly because they weren't making caffeine-free versions of diet coke or pepsi with lemon, and I needed that lemon to ease into diet. But after about a week, I switched to caffeine-free diet pops (coke, pepsi, etc), and I feel ever so much better.

Now, if I could only quit smoking....I'm down to ultra lights, but every time I think "this is it, I'm quitting" and I try not to have any smokes in the house, I get all panicky and want a cigarette NOW. So I don't know how, really, I am going to do that.

{[caer csd], if its any encouragement, MR, the sugar added to ultra light ciggies is just as bad, I don't know the science stuff behind it, but they are just as carcinogenic as the full strength ones.

I managed to give up by knitting, needlepoint and chewing gum. Not a pretty sight, but it kept my mouth busy }

I think my problem is more mental than not, and the fact that the other half also smokes is part of the problem. He's leaving again, and none of the people I've met here smoke, so perhaps it will be easier to quit then. Or not.

I crochet, sew, and cook. Gum I can do.

Now, how long until the cravings go away?

MR -

One thing you will notice in Southern California is that everyplace is non-smoking, that might help a bit.

Also, my brother is a certified hypnotist (sp?) *shudder*, he has had great results helping people get off of cigs. He told me that when he puts them under, instead of telling them that they want to quit, he just places in their mind that they have never smoked. So far he's 100%.

Courtesy

does your brother live in SoCal? Because that might not be a bad idea.....

I limit myself to two cups of English Breakfast tea in the morning. Any more caffeine than that, and I'm a sweaty, shaking, nervous, b***hy wreck.

Usually caffeine gives me twitches at some point and I have to give it up for a few weeks, but that has not happened in nearly two years. My metabolism must be changing again.

MR, don't think about quitting, just about postponing the cigarette 5 minutes. And make the husband quit at the same time, because smelling the smoke on his clothes will make you crave a cigarette. This from someone who never smoked, but found himself craving cigarettes due to second-hand smoke. That threw me for a loop - I couldn't figure out why I wanted to buy cigarettes every time I saw them in the store.

d'E! that's crazy!

i agree with courtesy. living in SoCal will give you good reason to quit, as we are all terribly, terribly cruel to smokers here. i'm serious!