At this precise moment ten years ago today, I had my last cigarette ever.

I started smoking in junior high, which was not unusual in the late 1970s. I kept up with the filthy, vile, and disgusting habit for twenty-five years, doing Great Pumpkin knows what kind of damage to my body and inflicting discomfort and repulsive smells on the friends who got within twenty feet of me.

In the end, I pretty much quit cold turkey. I used a little nicotine gum and I’d tapered off for six months before by not smoking inside the house. But it was just time. And I’ve never looked back. I now find the notion that intentionally inhaling any kind of smoke into your body would be a good thing is utterly fucking ridiculous. Being around smokers is as unpleasant for me as it must be for someone who never smoked. Maybe even more so.

I fully understand how hard it is to quit, though.

But it’s not impossible…

Dammit…

And the cat that I do not have is quite adorable.

Two and a half years after splitting up, I’m still finding annoying little pieces of paperwork that need taking care of in order to fully dissolve my former relationship. This time it was the insurance. I’m wondering if he process would have be been more or less streamlined if there had been an actual marriage certificate and divorce decree involved.

<facebook rant>The aggravating thing is that marriage confers a whole slew of rights and protections with the stroke of a pen. Same-sex couples have to negotiate, sign multiple legal documents, and jump through any number of other hoops in order to get a FRACTION of the same rights and protections. If the relationship ends, we then have to go through the whole process in reverse. All this to preserve the “sanctity” of an institution that any male-female couple in the country can enter or exit pretty much on a whim, relatively speaking.</facebook rant>

Fortunately, it ceased being traumatic for me quite some time ago. Now it’s just fucking annoying.

Great day otherwise, though. Had a meeting with my colleagues around the state about contributing to the Digital Public Library of America, followed by a software experience where everything actually behaved as expected (and as planned). That was a nice change of pace.

And I have a surprisingly open calendar tomorrow so I may be able to get some actual work done before my vacation.

Mmmm. Canada…

Thoughts while doing laundry and eating surprisingly good low-carb butter pecan ice cream:

• We’ve documented that I’ve become something of a neat freak and a much more attentive housekeeper over the past several years but I’ve also become a much better (and somewhat more creative) cook. If I were ever going to get married again (ain’t gonna happen BTW) I might make someone a really good wife.
• I am beat. I didn’t sleep well last night; I had really weird dreams all night, probably brought on by the death metal show I was at earlier in the evening. And I moved another load of stuff this afternoon. Thus the  long and introspective post I’d planned is on hold. Fuck introspection; I’m going to sit on my ass and watch a movie.
• I may actually get to see one of my favorite Canadian power pop bands while I’m in Toronto in a couple of weeks. That would be nice.
• Did I mention that I’m beat?

Pictures after the jump, if you care… Continue reading “Randomly Sunday night” →