Archive for the ‘Smoking’ Category
What Phelps Should’ve Said …
While I am not condoning pot usage or any other drug, this is hard to argue with …
I don’t know where this originated but it’s now all over the net. This is what Michael Phelps should’ve said intstead of apologizing for smoking pot.
Dear America,
I take it back. I don’t apologize.
Because you know what? It’s none of your goddamned business. I work my ass off 10 months per year. It’s that hard work that gave you all those gooey feelings of patriotism last summer. If during my brief window of down time I want to relax, enjoy myself, and partake of a substance that’s a hell of a lot less bad for me than alcohol, tobacco, or, frankly, most of the prescription drugs most of you are taking, well, you can spare me the lecture.
I put myself through hell. I make my body do things nature never really intended us to endure. All world-class athletes do. We do it because you love to watch us push ourselves as far as we can possibly go. Some of us get hurt. Sometimes permanently. You’re watching the Super Bowl tonight. You’re watching 300 pound men smash each while running at full speed, in full pads. You know what the average life expectancy of an NFL player is? Fifty-five. That’s about 20 years shorter than your average non-NFL player. Yet you watch. And cheer. And you jump up spill your beer when a linebacker lays out a wide receiver on a crossing route across the middle. The harder he gets hit, the louder and more enthusiastically you scream.
Yet you all get bent out of shape when Ricky Williams, or I, or Josh Howard smoke a little dope to relax. Why? Because the idiots you’ve elected to make your laws have have without a shred of evidence beat it into your head that smoking marijuana is something akin to drinking antifreeze, and done only by dirty hippies and sex offenders.
You’ll have to pardon my cynicism. But I call bullshit. You don’t give a damn about my health. You just get a voyeuristic thrill from watching an elite athlete fall from grace–all the better if you get to exercise a little moral righteousness in the process. And it’s hypocritical righteousness at that, given that 40 percent of you have tried pot at least once in your lives.
Here’s a crazy thought: If I can smoke a little dope and go on to win 14 Olympic gold medals, maybe pot smokers aren’t doomed to lives of couch surfing and video games, as our moronic government would have us believe. In fact, the list of successful pot smokers includes not just world class athletes like me, Howard, Williams, and others, it includes Nobel Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, the last three U.S. presidents, several Supreme Court justices, and luminaries and success stories from all sectors of business and the arts, sciences, and humanities.
So go ahead. Ban me from the next Olympics. Yank my endorsement deals. Stick your collective noses in the air and get all indignant on me. While you’re at it, keep arresting cancer and AIDS patients who dare to smoke the stuff because it deadens their pain, or enables them to eat. Keep sending in goon squads to kick down doors and shoot little old ladies, maim innocent toddlers, handcuff elderly post-polio patients to their beds at gunpoint, and slaughter the family pet.
Tell you what. I’ll make you a deal. I’ll apologize for smoking pot when every politician who ever did drugs and then voted to uphold or strengthen the drug laws marches his ass off to the nearest federal prison to serve out the sentence he wants to impose on everyone else for committing the same crimes he committed. I’ll apologize when the sons, daughters, and nephews of powerful politicians who get caught possessing or dealing drugs in the frat house or prep school get the same treatment as the no-name, probably black kid caught on the corner or the front stoop doing the same thing.
Until then, I for one will have none of it. I smoked pot. I liked it. I’ll probably do it again. I refuse to apologize for it, because by apologizing I help perpetuate this stupid lie, this idea that what someone puts into his own body on his own time is any of the government’s damned business. Or any of yours. I’m not going to bend over and allow myself to be propaganda for this wasteful, ridiculous, immoral war.
Go ahead and tear me down if you like. But let’s see you rationalize in your next lame ONDCP commercial how the greatest motherfucking swimmer the world has ever seen . . . is also a proud pot smoker.
Yours,
Michael Phelps
I love the rain.
rain rain rain.
That’s all it has really done in the past week or so and I love it. Yesterday, Radford received what I assume to be officially a shit-ton of rain. I don’t really know how much it was but Kristine and I went out and drove around at 4 a. m. and there were puddles I haven’t seen in a year or two and the windshield wipers weren’t really helping much.
I’m hoping the old saying when it rains it pours doesn’t only apply to negative instances; things have been going really well and I want that to skyrocket.
Bryan and I are trying to get better jobs which requires a little preparation. In a few months, we’ll be good to go and then hopefully life will get a little easier.
Isn’t that a dreamy view? That will never happen. I guess we’ll see.
Radford-Drunks
Some of you remember Holly at 7-11. She also was an art student at Radford and I’m not particularly sure what she is doing now but here’s her brother (on the left) singing Karaoke on YouTube. It’s not exactly like the original video of Radford I have but it’s just as representative of the times.
I can do anything someone else puts my mind to.
Why would anyone give away cigarettes especially after being intoxicated? Donohoe did because she found a cure for the addiction to cigarettes and nicotine. For less than $100 and about two hours of relaxation, she quit smoking cigarettes.
Hypnotism is a recognized and accepted form of medicine that is growing strong all over the country. Hypnotism or hypnotherapy has numerous myths and misconceptions that may include a dangling watch or ridiculous stunts, such as clucking like a chicken when a doorbell rings.
In reality, hypnotism and hypnotherapy is very controlled. Moreover, the experience is controlled only ten percent by the hypnotist leaving most of the experience up to the patient.
“It’s important to tell him everything, he’ll ask you questions, like when do you most need a cigarette?” said Donohoe.
Being honest with the hypnotist can help a patient solve a variety of problems, or life stresses including but definitely not limited to smoking cessation, weight management, and anxiety.
According to Michael McGee, LPC, MHt, and member of the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association, hypnosis connects us to our inner selves in a space between sleeping and being fully awake. While in this state the hypnotist can aid in relaxation while increasing awareness.
Once the patient is in this relaxed state he will then start to receive positive thoughts that were predetermined between the patient and hypnotist to reach the goal of the patient. In the case of Jamie Donohoe it was the goal of complete smoking cessation.
Donohoe was reminded of her own reasons for wanting to quit smoking, told she had the power to do it herself, she was then told to envision her life without cigarettes and then told to relax whenever she thought about, saw or heard anything about a blue rose. This relaxation will allow her to manage her own stress of smoking cessation.
McGee chose the image of a blue rose because it is an object that will most likely not be seen or talked about. This rose is a symbol for the brain to switch from “give me a cigarette now” to “I’m relaxed”.
“It’s like changing the channels on a TV,” said McGee.
After thirty minutes to an hour of relaxed awareness and positive thought reinforcement provided by the hypnotist, the patient is woken out of that in between state.
“After that I felt like I had just slept eight hours,” said Bryan Hawkes. Hawkes saw the same hypnotist as Donohoe and is hoping to achieve the same great results as her.
Donohoe and Hawkes both saw McGee for one session and had dramatic results. Donohoe had only been smoking for a couple of years on and off and felt she needed the final push to quit for good. It is now four months after her one-time, ninety minute session ,and she has yet to touch a cigarette.
Hawkes has been a smoker for almost a full decade and smoked an entire pack of cigarettes every day and, while he has only been a non-smoker for three days since his session, those three days are a lot more relaxed than any other time he has tried to quit.
“I tried the patch, I’ve tried cold turkey and I’ve tried just cutting back, oh yeah I tried the gum and none of that crap worked at all and with the patch I still had nicotine in me everyday so it was pretty pointless and they didn’t work anyway,” said Hawkes.
Quitting smoking for good has many positive results such as ease of breathing, less coughing, less bronchitis, feeling healthier overall, easier to get a good sleep and wake up habit.
Quitting smoking even for someone such as Hawkes who has smoked for nearly a decade can have immediate and long lasting results.
Within a month Hawkes will be reducing the amount of phlegm in his body due to increased coughing but by the end of one year without smoking Hawkes will be similar to a non-smoker in his lungs and heart, lowering his risk for lung/heart disease or cancer.
According to International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association most smokers try an average of four times to quit before it is successful. Perhaps that is because they are not actually doing it themselves. The patch, the gum and other forms of stop-smoking aids leave the patient out of the process, which is a recipe for disaster. Cold turkey quitting is unrealistic because the patient must actually believe that they can do it.
Through hypnotism, the quitter/patient is almost in complete control of the entire experience and therefore is quitting completely on his/her own. The only real job the hypnotist has is to get the patient and their subconscious on the same page.
Once there the hypnotist fills it with his or her own words and information to achieve the desired result and reach the goal. The patient is in control.
Christmas Eve
Gotta love Christmas Eve. Wal-Mart closes early and the only places to go are 7-11 and Sheetz. Nope. CVS saved my day today. It was around 6:30 p.m. and I really needed some Graham Crackers to complete my s’mores, after calling Sheetz and then going there to get my crackers I still had no help.
On my way home I realized CVS was open, went in and 3 minutes later was completely satisfied(I wish it only took 3 minutes every other time;). I hate this holiday and I wish it were over.
I’m a non-smoker now and the stress is making me want to eat,therefore I’m getting fat.
On a different topic: work is getting easier which is good in a way but the next phase is boredom and I don’t want to start that already. I like working at Papa John’s I just wish it had a future and a little higher pay. I guess I am lucky though, lots of others get paid less than I do. Which leads me to why I am a Grinch of sorts.
It started because I was/am very selfish, and I think that started from being an only child. Anyway, I hated Christmas because everyone always got really cool stuff and I only sometimes would get something pretty cool. Oh yea before I go any further, Cool=expensive.
Now I hate Christmas because I realized that there are so many people out there that are in such a horrible situation especially around this time of year. Knowing some of those things, you still want me to get dressed up, put on a fake smile and buy people who already have the basic necessities of life things to enhance their lifestyles? No I didn’t think so.
I would rather feed that little girl who hasn’t eaten in 3 days or buy the little boy on the street living out of his mothers Volvo, a G.I. Joe.
And if “I don’t have the money”, a.k.a. am way too lazy to do anything like that I am sure as hell not going to be buying you something Mr. I have enough money to give my daughter a car.(yea I’m talking to you Dad.)–I appreciate it, and I’m lucky to have that.
Update on no smoking
It’s been a lot easier these last few days and in less than 24 hours it will be an entire week without smoking!!! woohoo. It’s fantastic. If you need to quit smoking or need help with any other habit call Michael McGee of Blacksburg. You should also be able to find his information on the Radford University website as he teaches there.
Wish me luck on my exams next week. I don’t think it really matters how much I study my grades are still only go to be average but I’ll take it. I work my ass off to be able to be in class and if I work really hard and only get a C ill take it. All of y’all that don’t have to work and get B’s should be ashamed … not really just justifying myself.
It’s been 48 hours
It’s only been 49 hours since I have had a cigarette and I really don’t think I can take it much longer. I’m thinking of smoking one but what a waste. What’s the point of quitting if you’re not going to quit.
What I want to do is allow myself one cigarette per week but Kristine tells me that’s not smart and I’m almost sure she is right. BUT I NEED IT. I’m not going to smoke. I am going to get off here and start editing papers for Whim and studying for my final in news reporting that I have tomorrow.
wish me luck on the not smoking, we all know i’m a genius and don’t need any luck on my test. lol. wish me luck there too.
No Smoking
I am officially a non-smoker!!! This evening I went to the alternatives for therapy center in Blacksburg, Va and got hypnotized by a licensed hypnotist to quit smoking. Smoking cessation they call it. Granted I started the hypnosis at 7 p.m. and it is only 12:30 a.m. right now, I still feel that it worked.
I don’t hate the way cigarettes smell, I don’t not want one but I don’t want one either. The hypnotist also gave me a few CDs to help me if I feel I am going to have a relapse. Self-hypnosis can apparently be very effective.
Stoners are apparently the easiest people to hypnotize so Bryan had no problems and was “my easiest patient yet” according to the hypnotist while I was “going in and out there for a while”.
But either way I feel good about it and I can’t wait to get on with my life with cleaner lungs etc and a lot less chance of lung cancer and premature death.
Without the cigarettes Bryan and I are already bitchy. He left the house at 10 p.m. on foot and I haven’t seen him since. I hope everything’s okay.
