Dammit! I completely forgot how hard it is to stop smoking. Over the past couple of days, I’ve feel grumpy, happy, headachey; well pretty much all over the place. My emotions have been going crazy (mainly I’ve been feeling pretty low) but I still push on. I know I can do this.

I’m not using the patches this time, truth be told, they annoyed the heck out of me the first time, after a while they start to get really hot and then itch like crazy. I mean what the hell! Did someone just decide they were going to soak a nettle leaf in pure nicotine and then add some sticky to it? That’s what those awful hate patches felt like, so yeah, screw them, I dont need a constant itching to remind me that I want a damn smoke.

In other news, I’ve been a busy little bee, working on some new pics, I’ll get them up sometime before the weekend, I just have a few finishing touches I want to work on.

I’ve decided that today will be the day that I stop smoking.

I had managed this before, through the help of the NHS stop smoking clinic, and Nicorette Patches. I had quit for 6 whole months, however, one small car accident got me started again.

This time, I aim to do it under my own steam. I think that keeping track of my progress on the site will help me to talk through how I’m coping with it, and also hopefully help anyone else out there who wants to quit, see how it went for me.

My last smoke was just before midnight last night, I said my goodbyes, read a book and contemplated my choice. No going back now.

Day 1 is certainly going to be a bit rough, I’ve already skipped my “wake up” smoke, and I hate it. If I can get through a few days, I’m sure I’ll be fine. I can do this.

I just hope I don’t turn into one of those preachy bastards I hate so much, So if you run into me a year from now, and I start preaching about how much better your life would be if you quit, please feel free to slap me.

Ladykildare has a shop over at Etsy.com where she sells her handcrafted World of/Warcraft related items. I must admit, I’m a bit of a sucker when it comes to Warcraft stuff, and especially so, when it’s novel little things such as the Hearthstone Mobile Phone Charm.

If you don’t know what a phone charm is, I’ll give a little rundown of them. Basically, on most modern phones (and some older ones) there is a little handle or hole (typically on a corner) that I believe was originally intended for threading a wrist strap through like they have on the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS/Lite. Some rather shrewd individual thought, rather correctly, that there would be a profit to be made selling little trinkets to hang from these “strap holes”. These phone fashion accessories, have really taken off, with many different brands looking to make some money from the fickleness of the techno generation, most notably in Japan where these “Phone Charms” originated.

I’ve seen some crazy things people want to have hanging from their phones, including Lucky Golden Turds, but there are also less shocking things such as Hello Kitty, ILoveEgg and Pokémon. The sheer variety is staggering!

I also, have to confess, I have my fair share of these phone charms. Yes I know, not very macho, but I got most of them from those £1 Gashapon machine, and I tend to like gimmicky things. So to find a Warcraft themed charm, is a blessing (more macho, still geeky).

The site is American, but ship’s worldwide, so to the UK it would be $7.50 for the charm itself plus $4.00 S&H, so $11.50 or (at the time of writing) approx £5.60. Pretty darn cheap if you ask me, granted it IS rather small, and not official, but still definitely a good buy and a superb late/Christmas gift for any Warcraft fan, who wouldn’t want their own personal Hearthstone.

Of course, don’t forget to check out the rest of Ladykildare’s shop for other Warcraft trinkets and gifts.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve updated my blog, Sorry. I’ve been extremely busy lately, sorting a lot out, drawing and designing. My site also went down for a while due to some hosting gremlins that have now been solved.

So I return to you all with my latest digital piece. This is going to be a rather brief post, I’ll let the pic speak for itself.

Remember to click on the image to see the full thing (Also don’t be put off by the rather lame little thumbnail, the larger image is a LOT better)

My parents used to own and work in a nursing home. From the day I was born, I was in constant contact with the elderly and the disabled, people who were not long for this world and would soon be leaving us.

You may think that this would have been a depressing environment for a small child to grow up in, but I found it to be quite the opposite, It always made me thankful for life and everything that I have, and it taught me a VERY valuable lesson that I have carried with me all my life, the lesson that people who are old, or disabled should not be mocked, nor do i feel they should be pitied, they should be seen and treated as equals, because after all, they are. We are all only humans, nothing more, nothing less.

This is why I very often feel guilty when I see someone who is disabled do something that would be considered to be amazing for them. As an example, someone who has limited motor functions, being able to type. Why should I think that is amazing, and feel that sting of pity for them that they cant do much else? THAT is why I feel guilty.

Ghostwise on YouTube is a prime example of what I am talking about, he has a disablity, but he can still do so much that I find amazing, and I feel guilty for seeing him as different in the first place. I think this is where the problem lies, maybe i shouldnt feel guilty for seeing him as different, we are all different. It’s that stupid innar conflict where I fight the way my morals tell me I SHOULD feel, and the way I actually DO feel. Stupid I know, but I guess it is because of my early life that I feel like this.

Either way, I want to share this video with you in particular, not simply because he is disabled and is standing up, but because he has a message with it, the reasons behind WHY he is doing it, supporting the planet, the way it has supported us all, and being thankful and respectful of the environment and the world we live in.

I’m not one of these activists or global warming nuts, but I do think that we need to take better care of our planet and ourselves, and enjoy the beauty of nature. So I hope you enjoy this video, and it inspires you to even just walk that little bit more, not only because you are thankful for the use of your legs and aren’t disabled, but also because you are thankful that we live in a world where there is beauty outside to see and enjoy, sounds to hear, air to breath, and a life to live, no matter what ailements you suffer from.