Sagepaper

I might need to include more personal news and family happenings on this Blog. I am not as inspired by current events when there are lulls in reporting in the areas which interest me most. Before, I was filling in slow days with poetry. I must confess, I have been using personal archives for that.

I have not gotten it together to go sit in a restaurant and get down to the business of writing. It has been a while since I last regularly composed poetry. My skills are rusty. It takes some self-discipline to simply force yourself to write to maintain adequate mechanics of writing. I have tried this a couple of times since starting this Blog. I made quick progress in brushing-up, but I wrote nothing "postable."

Now, I have begun to smoke cigarettes again. My health is in great jeopardy. I last quit because I was coughing up blood, and it actually got worse for a day or two after I temporarily quit smoking. I made the termination permanent. Until, of course, six or seven months later. I was experiencing a flare-up of my chronic pain, and had already taken everything I safely could take.

Nicotine is a mixed bag with pain. Long-term smoking increases baseline pain levels. Quitting smoking is usually a recommended step for chronic pain management. However, almost any smoker can tell you that at a given moment in pain, a cigarette will offer some relief. Sadly, it is not enough short-term relief to warrant the long-term pain.

You know the mistake I made without my telling you. I turned to tobacco in desperation. And what did I think? Just one will be a good thing for my pain; I won't smoke any more than that. Can you say, "Pack-a-day?" I have exceeded my one cigarette allotment.