Springtime for Russell (and Germany)

In about half an hour, around seven minutes past five, local time the sun will slip through some imaginary line and it will be Spring. It will also be when I quit smoking.

I've made a whole lot of half-hearted attempts since my last real one a few years ago. I decided to quit twice in the past week, but when I heard that Spring was coming that seemed to me to be a good thing to hang it on.

The greatest obstacle, of course, is that I don't really want to stop. I want to smoke and have it be affordable and not take all my wind away, but those things don't happen in the world in which I live. It would be easier, too, if I didn't keep seeing all those damn anti-smoking commercials on TV.
This time I have patches, and I've been experimenting with them a couple times. I don't know if it will help, but I hope it might. I got cheap ones, not the Nicoderm brand, and they're neither transparent nor small, about the size of an orange.

This also means, of course, that I'll be eating so much candy that my dental student(s) will cringe if they find out about it. But, since they also want me to quit, maybe they'll understand.

One would think that if I was able to quit drinking that I could also give up cigarettes. I don't know what I'll be like in the future,  but I expect to be fatter and less cool-looking. I know it's a good thing to do, and maybe it will help take my mind off whatever it is that's been dragging me down.

This, I think, is the first time I've publicly told anyone, and that may help my efforts. In the past, some close friends have known and helped, and my failure to give it up completely still makes me cringe in guilt whenever I think of it. So, this is for you.