Glad to be here

[Athan]

From @koba (August 2018). Been looking for this for a while in the archives and finally found it:

"It takes a lot of quit for your brain to get its shit together. This STUDY surveyed people who had quit smoking, and re-interviewed them a year or two later to see how they are doing. For people who had been quit less than 3 months at the time of the first interview, only ~ 18% were still quit (without having caved in the meantime). Once they looked at people who had been quit for 3-6 months (note that 3 months is pretty damn close to 100 days, ie., HOF here) the chances of them not having caved went up to 50%. It's not until you get to the people that had already been quit for 3+ years that the chances of staying nic-free until the next interview passed 90%. So if you think you don't need this place anymore after 20 days, or 100 days, or 365 days, well... the science disagrees."

[Athan]

Lost one of my horses yesterday.  He was old, way old as horses go and had been moving a lot slower as of late.  Yesterday he gave up the ghost. I went and rented one of those mini excavators as my tractor doesn’t have a bucket (you can’t just flush them down the toilet like you do goldfish). I dug a deep hole then me and my girls dragged Ol’ Chester off into it. We filled it back up and there to my surprise, his back hooves were just above grade, jutting up above the dirt. I know it’s not funny but I sat there laughing at it, the indignity of it all. This would have been a whole can job not so long ago, if I’d have stopped posting roll past the HOF. This was an excellent excuse if ever there was one. Not now. Not today. Not for any reason. No horsing around with nicotine addiction.  And if you got any ideas for a funny meme for the pic of two hooves sticking up out of the ground, well, go ahead and lets hear ‘em!

I'm the only male in my household so I am, by default, the head guy around here.  It just hit me, I'm the horseless head man.

[Athan]

Lost one of my horses yesterday.  He was old, way old as horses go and had been moving a lot slower as of late.  Yesterday he gave up the ghost. I went and rented one of those mini excavators as my tractor doesn’t have a bucket (you can’t just flush them down the toilet like you do goldfish). I dug a deep hole then me and my girls dragged Ol’ Chester off into it. We filled it back up and there to my surprise, his back hooves were just above grade, jutting up above the dirt. I know it’s not funny but I sat there laughing at it, the indignity of it all. This would have been a whole can job not so long ago, if I’d have stopped posting roll past the HOF. This was an excellent excuse if ever there was one. Not now. Not today. Not for any reason. No horsing around with nicotine addiction.  And if you got any ideas for a funny meme for the pic of two hooves sticking up out of the ground, well, go ahead and lets hear ‘em!

[Athan]

A 17 hour day.  New gig coordinating testing for the startup of a power station.  I got tight a few times but crunching cinnamon sticks still does it for me. Couldn’t wait to get home and see my ladies.  It’s raining pretty hard, has been all day. Up ahead I see tail lights and they’re not on the road – they’re in the ditch. I groan and let out a sigh as I pass the dude and decide to pull over. There ain’t much shoulder to begin with and traffic is light but far from not a factor. He’s down in there – water up to the door sill. It’s an old battered sedan and the driver is doing the back and forth futility dance going deeper into the muck and mire. I had a logging chain and a tow strap and offered to pull him out.  He agreed and waded to the front of the car to attach it.  I swear I thought we were going to have to call in divers. He got it hooked up and I pulled forward when another good ol boy showed up and stopped traffic while I pulled him to a higher elevation. It wasn’t going well. I was getting forward progress but the guy was just sliding along down in this ditch. I needed to go hard left ACROSS traffic. So another good ol boy stopped his truck and got out and stopped the cross traffic lane. By now cars were starting to back up – we were ten minutes into the ordeal. But going cross traffic was the ticket and he popped up outa the ditch and stable along the shoulder and my good ol boy strangers let traffic resume. I was unhooking the tow strap and chain and this fella is beside himself. He offers me 5 dollars, says it’s all he has. I was looking at his bedraggled appearance and his old battered car and wondered how he was going to celebrate Christmas.   At least he won’t have to pay a wrecker an exorbitant fee for pulling him outa the ditch. I sent him on his way and waited my turn to pull into the traffic. The second good ol boy who had stopped traffic coming the other way rolled down his window as he drove off – “Merry Christmas!!” he hollered.  Made me feel like Santa Claus!

[Athan]

BluManChew on FREEDOM
~~It used to be that my eyes would pop open first thing, and I'd be gasping for a dip, as I if had surfaced from the water after having gone deeper than my lung capacity would allow.

That dip is the breath that keeps the addict alive.  The addict "needs" it otherwise it suffocates.  It feels the same fear I would if I knew I were drowning.

While still an addict, it literally had been years since I stuffed tobacco into my face

Now, instead of breathing in Poison first thing, I breath In clean air, and freedom from dip.  With that freedom comes life, and with life opportunity.

Stay quit, fuckers.  Keep your heads above the water.

790 ODAAT - 12/06/19 ~~

[worktowin]

@Athan Please brother do not ever go anywhere.   I would be freaking lost without your insight and wisdom!  From the first week of getting buried in information following your signature to day 63 soaking up insight on your quit attitude.  Thank you for being here.

Not going anywhere brother. Life is much sweeter shared!

This is absolutely awesome, and is a testament to why this place works when nothing else does.  We win together here.

[Athan]

@Athan Please brother do not ever go anywhere.   I would be freaking lost without your insight and wisdom!  From the first week of getting buried in information following your signature to day 63 soaking up insight on your quit attitude.  Thank you for being here.

Not going anywhere brother. Life is much sweeter shared!

[jsjohnson]

@Athan Please brother do not ever go anywhere.   I would be freaking lost without your insight and wisdom!  From the first week of getting buried in information following your signature to day 63 soaking up insight on your quit attitude.  Thank you for being here. 

[oldschool]

Seven hundy ya big stud.

Lucky you are not is AZ today or you would be showered with my affection until ya choke.

Proud to be one day behind, forever, one day at a time.

Ok love you bye!!!

Skol, you're such a doosh, I can't believe I quit with you!
LUQITSOILYB!

Huge congrats Athan on that big 7!!

Congrats Athan on 7 floors of quit!

[kybo]

Congrats on 700, brother! 

And thank you for helping to keep KTC interesting/entertaining for the rest of us.   

[ChickDip]

Seven hundy ya big stud.

Lucky you are not is AZ today or you would be showered with my affection until ya choke.

Proud to be one day behind, forever, one day at a time.

Ok love you bye!!!

Skol, you're such a doosh, I can't believe I quit with you!
LUQITSOILYB!

Huge congrats Athan on that big 7!!

[Athan]

Seven hundy ya big stud.

Lucky you are not is AZ today or you would be showered with my affection until ya choke.

Proud to be one day behind, forever, one day at a time.

Ok love you bye!!!

Skol, you're such a doosh, I can't believe I quit with you!
LUQITSOILYB!

[Skolvikings]

Seven hundy ya big stud.

Lucky you are not is AZ today or you would be showered with my affection until ya choke.

Proud to be one day behind, forever, one day at a time.

Ok love you bye!!!

[Athan]

From ankape four weeks into it.  Every now and then you witness a fighting spirit that lifts you off the couch and into the air with a thunderous war cry. It is the stuff epic poems are written about; reverberating into the soul and enabling the ordinary to conquer the extraordinary. This is one of those:

Day 28
This morning I knew I would be facing triggers on a drive...I had myself psyched enough I almost took a different route. Then I thought, “that’s so stupid, (rolled up sleeves) NiC Bitch- let’s rumble!!” I realized that I’m really not scared to fight her face on- and if I proactively kick her ass every day she will know better than to try to jump me in a dark alley.

“Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship” ~ Denzel Washington

[Athan]

From Missouri Air Gunner (moairgunner - June '18 JackHammers) on 600:

MoAirGunner - Day 600. This is the new normal...I like the new normal...New normal finds the old normal very weird and wonders why we thought that was normal...Old Normal and New Normal now realize that the Nic Bitch is a witch...Keep melting that witch ODAAT just like Dorthy!!!