Something old, something new

Asuma, Kirby and I spent the weekend working at Anime Fusion, a new convention that several of our old friends have put together. The idea was to combine the old favorites with views of where those old favorites have led the anime industry and its fans, and totally aside from numbers, bottom lines and whether or not there were piles of anything appearing or disappearing, I have to say they did it and I think the majority of the other 949 or so people who attended would agree. If you check my Facebook page you'll find pics from me if someone's tagged me in them. I didn't bring any cosplays along since I didn't expect to have time to get into either of the ones I have so all the pics you'll see are just plain old me.

My job was much different than most of the ones I do at conventions--I had to check identifications to ensure attendees of adult content panels were actually adults. I've worked on Security staff, but usually didn't interact with the average attendee unless I was helping at the door of a major convention event (such as a dance or costume contest). It did give me a chance to talk to people I don't normally get much time to chat with--more parents attending to support their child's presence and safety, more of the host hotel's staff, groups of people who aren't normally at the daytime events because they prefer the night life of a con... the list goes on but it was definitely a fun segment of the convention's attendees to work for. I had as much fun outside the door of the panels I was carding as I would have had inside (except for one that had little interest for me since I have a steady sweetie--I had WAY more fun outside that one!), unusual for the jobs I usually have.

The other thing that this unusual assignment gave me was a close look at something I was wondering as I picked and packed my vaping travel kit. I know geekdom tends to be ahead of the public curve when it comes to new electronic goodies, so I wondered if I'd see more than the occasional cosplayer (costumed player--person who dresses as a favorite character, sometimes also assuming the personality characteristics in the process) whose character is so often depicted with a cigarette that having one in hand or mouth is necessary for costume accuracy.

I didn't have to wait long.

I met my first vaper outside the first panel, just as I'd closed the door on a 100% full and very popular panel that couldn't possibly handle another single person. I parked my ass and pulled out my Vea to catch up on my nicotine intake while staying handy in case latecomers wanted to get in. Almost immediately I heard, "HEY!! What rig is that? I like!"

Turns out the guy had an eGo battery with a neat-looking colored clearo tank on it. We spent nearly about half an hour talking equipment, juices, and best for me, how to use a tank, something I've been wondering about since I'm such a n00b. Yeah, now I want a tank--probably one of the ViVi Novas, maybe the mini. It should fit my 510-threaded equipment and be about as much juice as I want out exposed to light and air max at once. He also let me taste his juice--awesome Mt. Dew duplicate and dead-on! The store he got it from doesn't have a website but he told me which mall it's in so I'll have to talk Asuma into taking me over there next trip to the Twin Cities.

From there I ran into several more vapers--all friendly, eager to talk and share notes and favorites. Since I only know one other person outside of either online or the con folk I know who vapes, it was really cool to expand my knowledge base and ask some of the questions that are just tough to answer without being face to face with the equipment in hand. I know there's a lot of video on YouTube but I just don't get a lot of online time to spend searching it out and digging thru a lot of drek to get to the useful stuff. I even loaned my spare batt(ery) out to a friend who wasn't sure his event job would let him slip out for a smoke--he didn't get a chance to use it since there was a way for him to get to the outdoors without leaving things he needed to watch, but he got a chance to check it out and compare it to the eCig he'd normally use in a situation like that. We didn't get time to discuss it but maybe next time I run into him we will.

I only really got one negative interaction on the subject of eCigs--a very young lady whose kneejerk reaction to overhearing a discussion I was having with someone curious about how I was making all that "smoke" without a cigarette. "It's still horrible for you," was answered with, "Maybe, but not nearly as horrible as the 4,000-6,000 chemicals and hundreds of carcinogens in tobacco smoke. This has 5 chemicals and other than nicotine none of them are harmful," followed by a list of those 5 chemicals. I've never seen a teenager drop a subject so quickly after being so aggressive in starting it.

I did relapse on the smellsticks--I probably went thru nearly 2 packs during the trip, the convention and the trip home. Smoking's always been a crutch when I'm short on sleep and I definitely went short before the trip even began--we needed to be in the Mall of America area well before noon and Friday night's "sleep" was actually about a 3 hour nap. I'm settling back to pre-con though--I allotted myself 10 tobacco sticks each of the last 3 days and have come up using 8 each day, so it's time to cut to 7 starting tomorrow and going thru the weekend. I'm also trying the tactic of not smoking my favorite brand, which is helping, I think.

Speaking of sleep, I had a doctor's appointment Wednesday. It went well, with lots of support coming without my even asking, especially on the subject of smoking cessation medications. I told him I'd quit using the Nicorette inhalers because the eCig was meeting my needs much more thoroughly, explaining the differences in using them. I did bring up that I don't want to use Chantix or Zyban as the side effects of Chantix sound like a risk I don't want to take, especially the recent study showing that it increases the risk of a cardiac event, and Zyban is out because I react very very very very badly to that medication--it's also marketed under the name Wellbutrin and I had a horrible reaction to that one when it first came out and was prescribed as an antidepressant. He listed a few more that wouldn't be appropriate for me, mostly to warn me that they'd interact badly with other meds I'm on, then wrote another prescription for Ambien for me to keep on file at the pharmacy in case I wind up with more sleep issues, again without my asking. I'm saving the Ambien for times when I go more than 2 to 3 nights on less than 4 hours' sleep due to withdrawal issues because I want to normalize body issues related to withdrawal with as little more than the vaporizer as I can, since the goal is to get to 100% eCig and functioning normally with that only. Beyond that, we'll see what happens.

I'm also changing my stop date, something else that came up with my doc. He's in favor of leaving it for a week from today; I feel I still have a lot to work out issue-wise as far as coping skills are concerned. I still smoked less at the convention than I did daily before getting my Vea, but more than I have been per day before the con, so obviously I have to identify the triggers and learn to deal with them before I reach my Stop Date (a suggestion from a friend, rather than calling it a "quit" anything--"stop" implies that I can "start" again if I choose, with "quit" being an implied pressure to never restart and puts more shame into a failed attempt). So, my Stop Date is now Dec. 1, 2012. There's another convention between now and then that I'll be working PR for (no staff duties, just promotion for WSBC) so I get another shot at functioning as a non-smoker.

Well, time for bed--the other reason to take it easy on Ambien is the horrific hangover. I've had a 2 hour nap and nearly fell asleep around 8 pm in spite of it. Have a fun night and I'll be trying to get here more--another suggestion from my awesome MD is to write more to put my reasons not to smoke, reasons to stop and reasons not to restart out where I can look at them. It's also time for me to do more writing for fun to keep this blog from being boredom central and worth your time and mine.

Why is the Rainier Gone?

Once again, the usual disclaimer: I am not being paid to review, use or blog at all about Johnson Creek Smoke Juice's products. I just like their shit so I write about it.

I had to sit down today and refill my travel pouch--top off my bottles and carts, take out stuff I'm not using enough to carry around, and took the opportunity to play with a couple of mixes. One's new, the other is a Chocolate-Covered Cherry I've been playing with (recipe later). That's when tragedy struck!

I discovered that I was out of jcsmoke.com's Red Oak Rainier juice. I went thru a half-ounce bottle in 11 days.

I knew I'd like it but when I placed my order for my Vea and juices to use in it, I had to draw a line somewhere, so I'd only gotten 1/2 oz of the Rainier. Now I have about 5 drops left in my glass bottle. I knew I should have ordered more, but I didn't expect to vape it every night either. Fine, so next month I get 2 Tundra and 1 full oz of Rainier, since the Tundra is the daily one I put on the eCig every night so I have a full cart overnight and to start out with in the morning.

On the quitting front, I stuck to my 8 smellsticks today but I'm getting worse insomnia again, so time to suck it up and get thru it. I have a small supply of Ambien, so I'll resort to it when I can't stand the no-brain from lack of sleep and revisit the subject with my doctor next week. So, tomorrow I allot 8 again, then 7 Wednesday and reconsider from there. Getting withdrawal symptoms at all when I've only cut down has kind of blindsided me--I expected them once I quit completely, but didn't expect them so soon and they started last week already.

Feel free to drop suggestions for dealing with withdrawal in the comments--not sure why I'm having them at all since I'm using plenty of nicotine replacement (see the title of this post), vaping throughout the day using 24mg/100 ml strength juice plus still smoking some (8 down from 1-1.5 packs/day).

And no, smartass (I know there's one of you out there--there always is), "Quit vaping and just smoke your nicotine like normal people" is NOT a valid suggestion so don't bother. Actually, go ahead and do it--it'll give me something to giggle at when I delete your comment since all comments are moderated before they hit the page.

Time for bed (or try to sleep anyhow) so here's the mix for that Chocolate Covered Cherry mess that's making my room smell awesome and my newly-awake tastebuds squee:

2 parts Johnson Creek Red Oak Rainier Smoke Juice
1 part Johnson Creek Original Chocolate Truffle Smoke Juice

Mix, steep 2 days, then fill a cart and pig out!

If you're allergic to Propylene Glycol (the main allergy turning up amongst vapers) use the Red Oak line Swiss Dark--but expect the results to be thick, because I'm told the Swiss Dark is so thick it doesn't vape well or at all unless you mix it down anyhow. I may also add just a little bit of Vanilla once I get some on hand--vanilla always rounds out chocolate flavors and brings them out so it might really kick this mix in the ass even tho it's already pretty rockin'.

Have fun and happy vaping!

The Dawning Light, or, Habits I Never Knew I Had

Just a quickie post--my neck won't take a lot of babbling, which is nice for you--less of me to read.

Smoke counts:

Friday: 12
Saturday: 10

I'm allowing myself 10 tomorrow, then down to 8 on Monday, cut on Wednesday to 7 thru next Monday and see how that goes. I have a convention to work at this coming weekend, and usually having to go outside for every cigarette (I live with a smoker so we only smoke outside when sensitive family members come to visit) cuts down on my consumption but sometimes it increases it if a lot of my smoky friends are around--we wind up camping outside, shooting the breeze in the breeze, so to speak. I'll probably take along any clove cigarettes I have left and give them to a friend. Much as I love the taste there's no sense in them going to waste--I only smoked them when I was in the mood for something special so it's not working out very well to make them part of the daily routine. I think they're higher in nicotine than my regular smoke but the flavoring doesn't go down well for me as a regular thing--when I crave tobacco I want my Newports.

Speaking of which, if I had back a tenth of the smellsticks I've bummed out at conventions alone I wouldn't be purchasing another cigarette for the rest of this year, let alone until my quit date. As short on cash as I am from setting up with eCigs, that'd be really nice.

I'm also finding out pain spikes make it harder to control smellstick use--I'm guessing it's a comfort thing since I've been in chronic pain for most of the last 18 years and I've smoked far longer than that. To be honest, one of my better motivations to quit is that sometimes I'm on medications that make me sleepy and after having been in 2 house fires as a kid I'm scared to death that I'm going to fall asleep with a smoke and burn this place down. The trouble is, my smoke cravings peak at night so that's actually the toughest time not to smoke and those are the hardest cravings to vape away. I guess that's another reason there's a quit date, to get used to the change.

I do see progress though. I'm reaching for my Vea before my cigarette case after meals these days. I expected to have a rougher time eliminating the after-food "dessert" but with the flavors that nicotine liquid can be had in I can truly have dessert just by screwing on a sweet-flavored cart. I have a VG (vegetable glycerin) based cherry named Rainier that's awesome after meals and I'm using the Chocolate Truffle that doesn't vape well by itself mixed with it for a yummy Chocolate Covered Cherry. I don't have the proportions right yet but when I do it'll go in the DIY Nic Recipe tagged posts.

Have a good night and check out the post below this one for a big dose of adult funny--Shelf Life stars some of the best-known names in voice acting doing a live-action webseries and hilarious is an understatement when describing this one. So have a fun time and give it a look!