Good for you, man! It’s totally worth it on the other side of those bumpy first few weeks. Cinnamon flavored toothpicks became my crutch for a little bit to help with the cravings.
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This isn’t clear cut to me. The effort to expand a game in world is so much larger than text that you end up with a much more limited breadth of canon. You could have companion stories and appendices written, but then are those books or games?
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Games can also imitate or reference books of course. Like how Witcher 3’s two DLC were homages to “Interview With the Vampire” and “Angel Heart”.
And of course the whole Witcher series was based on the books. Really brought them to life.
Perhaps all this gaming advocacy is better suited to being in the dedicated gaming thread?
The actual point of this thread is that, after decades and a substantial amount of cash spent, @Buzzin_Canada-John has determined that there are more valuable ways for him to spend his time and money than on tobacco, alcohol and gaming. And he is to be commended for that. 
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It is, as mentioned, a commendable undertaking!
I feel lucky that I never saw anything in smoking. I did smoke a little bit during my military time, mostly out of boredom or to stay awake. Luckily, I never felt I needed to continue doing this.
I have to admit though that I find the very first instance when the lighter/match ignites the tobacco in the tip of the cigarette is a “charming” moment, for lack of a better word. But, it’s steeply downhill from there.
Now, alcohol: it just seems to be a whole different thing. I think (but I don’t really know), the addiction potential is not as high as for nicotine. I enjoy the occasional drink, but feel I don’t crave it in any way. Which is why, on the other hand, I don’t really want to give it up…
I am trying to stay away from alcohol for the entire month of February (yeah, I know, the bravery, picking the shortest month 
), and I am curious to see whether I’ll notice any difference.
I can say this much: it’s Friday evening, it has been a week from hell and I would really, really like to sample a good dram right now. And maybe, just maybe, I am a wee bit cranky because I “can’t”.
Good luck, @Buzzin_Canada-John ! We’re cranky with you!!
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The thing with booze… is that it always goes with the smokes. Have a beer… light up a smoke…
As Dennis Leary famously said in No Cure For Cancer …
“THIS … goes with THIS… you can’t have THIS… without THIS, sometimes coffee comes over to join in”
The logic is to make it as easy as possible to lose the smokes. 
Thanks!
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Scotch mints are good as well as a distraction too … Thanks for the suggestion
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EXACTLY … They are like Aerosmith ( the toxic twins … lol ) to pull this off… both have to go. 
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As a hobby it’s a bit of a blessing and a curse. On one hand it’s an extremely cost effective hobby, a free game can easily give months of entertainment while a hobby that involves building stuff probably involves a lot of gear, work space, and mess. The right games can also teach you some patience and persistence, or even give you a bit of intuition of how rocket science works.
The curse of gaming is that you don’t really need a whole lot of gear to pursue a skill hobby like music or drawing. You’re probably going to get a lot more satisfaction 20 years down the road about being able to play a library of riffs than you are about 100%ing your game library, because that skill is more generally applicable (and probably helps you in other ways).
I still enjoy games and I don’t see it as a bad hobby at all but I’ve gotten a lot more selective over the years as to what I allow to consume my free time.
And good on ya @Buzzin_Canada-John for dropping the ciggies, even just switching to a safer nic habit than smoking was hard for me.
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…
For anyone unaware of and/or interested in the gaming thread:
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So first couple days here… had a hella headache… SUCKED… and brain was foggy AF… could barely pick the bass up to do anything useful…
This AM… I grabbed the bass and got through ‘Evolve’ by the warning at 75% speed … ( that breakdown will take a bit to get to speed ) … at least I am back in the saddle
Still twitchy and irritable… but I live alone… no one has to feel the wrath
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It does get easier
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first 2 days … I spent mostly sleeping…
edit: ( and cat vids on YT )
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Hang in there, man. You’re doing the right things. Stay hydrated, rested and calm as much as you can. You got this.
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for sure… It’s good to have this little space where if I do have an especially crappy day… I can vent a little and not target anyone specifically… doing more harm than good … thanks folks.
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I weaned myself off with vapes 11 years ago. After I got to the lowest concentration I could buy I then bought 0% nicotine liquids and mixed them together until eventually I decided there was so little nicotine I might as well chunk them and did so.
Stick with it!
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Oh and a warning. I once gave up for six years and at some drunken party I figured I would be ok having a couple of smokes. A day later and I was back to my normal levels of smoking. Damn what a waster!
This time I figure the reality is I’m a smoker for life but I don’t smoke. I figure I can’t afford even one casual smoke.
Eleven years on and I’m so much healthier! And not so poor!
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Thanks for the insight … and part of the reason I am kickin the beers to the curb as well.
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One day at a time. Each day it gets a little easier! We got your back!
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