Smoking

I was supposed to quit smoking about a year ago, but instead found the next best thing.

I decided I would try to quit by using one of the new prescription drugs, Wellbutrin (sold in Thailand under the name "Quomem" without a prescription).

Now, I've found an exceptionally cozy middle ground: On this drug, I smoke as much as I want to. Whenever I crave a cigarette, no problem, I just light up.

Two-and-a-half months ago, I bought a carton of cigarettes, and I still have 2 packs left. Yup: I probably smoke 2 to 4 cigarettes a day. Even out at a bar, surrounded by smokers, drinking, intoxicated, I still have no super desire to smoke.

I enjoy my cigarettes now. But, unlike before, I have to make a conscious decision to sit down and take a smoke break... whereas it used to be that I would look down, and realize that I had smoked half a cigarette, and not remember having lit it because it was just a reflexive habit to light up that required no thought.

Maybe I'll quit completely some day. Most likely, with this drug, I'll just forget to smoke a cigarette for a few days, and then finally give it up for good. Yup... it works that well.