I've now gone 4 days without smoking and am starting to feel the benefits, didn't post on days 2 and 3 as there wasn't much to report really.
The past 2 nights I have dreamt that I smoked and been really annoyed about it which is strange, but during my waking hours I have managed to resist temptation.
Now I've just got to stick to my diet and try and lose some weight. I want to lose one or two stone as the doctors say my weight is OK for my height, but I have a "muffin top" in size 12 jeans now and there's no way I want to go out and buy new size 14 jeans!
Pigeons have laid eggs in my window box again, didn't realise they bred twice in a year. I think these two may be the two or at least one of the babies from the last eggs. I will definitely post pictures when the eggs hatch, there are two again.
24 July 2010
21 July 2010
"The Cove"
I watched the film "The Cove" last night on More 4 and was deeply moved and saddened by it, it's about a group of activists who are protesting the yearly capture and slaughter of Dolphins in Taiji Japan. It's heavily covered up and the cove they do it in is heavily blockaded by fences and guarded around the time of the event.
They eventually manage to film the slaughter using hidden camera's and what is shown is deeply disturbing. They trap the Dolphins and some are selected to be sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars and taken to sea parks, usually female bottle nose Dolphins like "flipper". Then the rest are herded round into the Cove and brutally killed with knives on the end of sticks and spears, the water turning red with their blood. It's awful to watch but if you love Dolphins and have ever wanted to swim with captive dolphins or considered going to see a Dolphin show you must watch it, as this is where those dolphins come from.
One thing I found most interesting about it is one of the campaigners is the guy who captured and trained the 4 Dolphins that played flipper. After the show was over they died in captivity, the one he liked the most "Cathy" apparently committed suicide in his arms (Dolphins can choose whether or not to come up to breathe and she apparently lost the will to live in a tank). He now feels responsible for the whole Dolphin industry as flipper is what made people all want to swim with them and see them doing shows etc, and has devoted his life to freeing as many captive Dolphins as he can and campaigning against Dolphin slaughter.
The thing I didn't like about the film was it focuses on this one town in Japan and doesn't discuss any of the other places where it goes on. In Denmark they have festival the whole towns take part in where they herd the dolphins and whales ashore kill them and then the children of the village run down amongst the bodies of all the slaughtered whales and dolphins. They aren't even trying to cover it up or acting like it's shameful thing, they do it openly and are refusing to stop despite years of campaigning by groups like greenpeace.
a quick search of Youtube this morning surprised me, as it turned up a lot of video's actually saying it was stupid or pointless film. I was even more surprised to find that not all these critical films were by Japenese people who were still in favour of Dolphin hunting too, This guy is Austarilian and I assume lives in Japan. He makes some good points about how the film wouldn't help change Japanese opinion on the subject. There are cultural differences in how we see dolphins, and asking these isolated remote towns (not all Japanese people endorse or even know about the whale and dolphin hunting that goes on) to stop is similar to how the Fox Hunters reacted when Fox Hunting was banned. But at least we did ban it, the Japanese government needs to recognise that some aspects of cultural heritage have to be left behind even if they meet with resistance as they are just plain barbaric.
I think the film was more intended to encourage new activists in the western world really rather than to influence the Japanese, as the old ones won't be around forever and once they are gone they need people to take over.
as I said above Dolphins are slaughtered far more openly in Denmark too which is closer to home for me, and people there should be more aware of a dolphins intelligence, and mercury content! I'm going to look into this and see what groups are campaigning to stop it, I'll update later.
Update: All I can find on the slaughter of Whales and dolphins in Denmark seems to date from about 2 years ago, though I remember Greenpeace campaigning about this back in the 80's, it's shocking that is still apparently going on. There's a very good blog post here on the subject. All the petitions seem to be closed and I'm not sure if anyone is currently campaigning to stop the activity, if anyone knows of any groups let me know.
And this is my first day without smoking, this evening will be the hardest part, then the next 2 days, hopefully I'll be able to hold out.
They eventually manage to film the slaughter using hidden camera's and what is shown is deeply disturbing. They trap the Dolphins and some are selected to be sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars and taken to sea parks, usually female bottle nose Dolphins like "flipper". Then the rest are herded round into the Cove and brutally killed with knives on the end of sticks and spears, the water turning red with their blood. It's awful to watch but if you love Dolphins and have ever wanted to swim with captive dolphins or considered going to see a Dolphin show you must watch it, as this is where those dolphins come from.
One thing I found most interesting about it is one of the campaigners is the guy who captured and trained the 4 Dolphins that played flipper. After the show was over they died in captivity, the one he liked the most "Cathy" apparently committed suicide in his arms (Dolphins can choose whether or not to come up to breathe and she apparently lost the will to live in a tank). He now feels responsible for the whole Dolphin industry as flipper is what made people all want to swim with them and see them doing shows etc, and has devoted his life to freeing as many captive Dolphins as he can and campaigning against Dolphin slaughter.
The thing I didn't like about the film was it focuses on this one town in Japan and doesn't discuss any of the other places where it goes on. In Denmark they have festival the whole towns take part in where they herd the dolphins and whales ashore kill them and then the children of the village run down amongst the bodies of all the slaughtered whales and dolphins. They aren't even trying to cover it up or acting like it's shameful thing, they do it openly and are refusing to stop despite years of campaigning by groups like greenpeace.
a quick search of Youtube this morning surprised me, as it turned up a lot of video's actually saying it was stupid or pointless film. I was even more surprised to find that not all these critical films were by Japenese people who were still in favour of Dolphin hunting too, This guy is Austarilian and I assume lives in Japan. He makes some good points about how the film wouldn't help change Japanese opinion on the subject. There are cultural differences in how we see dolphins, and asking these isolated remote towns (not all Japanese people endorse or even know about the whale and dolphin hunting that goes on) to stop is similar to how the Fox Hunters reacted when Fox Hunting was banned. But at least we did ban it, the Japanese government needs to recognise that some aspects of cultural heritage have to be left behind even if they meet with resistance as they are just plain barbaric.
I think the film was more intended to encourage new activists in the western world really rather than to influence the Japanese, as the old ones won't be around forever and once they are gone they need people to take over.
as I said above Dolphins are slaughtered far more openly in Denmark too which is closer to home for me, and people there should be more aware of a dolphins intelligence, and mercury content! I'm going to look into this and see what groups are campaigning to stop it, I'll update later.
Update: All I can find on the slaughter of Whales and dolphins in Denmark seems to date from about 2 years ago, though I remember Greenpeace campaigning about this back in the 80's, it's shocking that is still apparently going on. There's a very good blog post here on the subject. All the petitions seem to be closed and I'm not sure if anyone is currently campaigning to stop the activity, if anyone knows of any groups let me know.
And this is my first day without smoking, this evening will be the hardest part, then the next 2 days, hopefully I'll be able to hold out.
19 July 2010
Only One More Day Of Smoking To Go.
I haven't done so well today I must have shared at least 5 cigarettes with my boyfriend, starting to hit me how hard it will be to stop completely with no nicotine at all. Just have to use all the techniques I've learned and try to get through the first 3 days, as after that all the nicotine in your body has gone and the cravings are all mental.
I'm going to miss smoking too, all the going outside with the other smokers and having an excuse to take breaks at work and all that. It becomes part of your identity too it's not just an addiction to the nicotine, though that is the hardest thing to break at first.
I'm going to miss smoking too, all the going outside with the other smokers and having an excuse to take breaks at work and all that. It becomes part of your identity too it's not just an addiction to the nicotine, though that is the hardest thing to break at first.
18 July 2010
Giving Up Smoking
I've decided to give up smoking, I've been smoking regularly since I was about 13 so this is a big step for me. I started taking the drug Champix on Wednesday and my quit date is supposed to be Wednesday next week. The drug is working so well however that I've been cutting down since I started taking it and haven't smoked at all so far today (it's about 3.30pm now). It's also been keeping me awake at night as the dose goes up which is annoying, I'm going to go to the doctors tomorrow and try and get some sleeping pills. With the Champix you also get a journal that you read every day and do an activity, it's been surprisingly helpful and has made me realise some things about why I smoke that hadn't occurred to me before.
I was socially awkward as a teenager and was bullied verbally, I never suffered any physical bullying or had my stuff taken out of malice or anything, people were to scared of me to do that it turns out. When I began to smoke it made me slightly more popular with the other smokers in my school and it gave me confidence.
Nowadays smoking has become very unfashionable however, we have to stand outside to smoke and can't stand at the bus stop while we smoke any more etc. This isn't what's made me want to give up smoking though, in fact it made it more of a sub culture for me, I've always liked being different even if it meant I wasn't always popular. There's something fun about going outside a pub to smoke, eases the boredom if you are with people you'd rather not be, it's one thing I'm going to miss.
It is in fact the cost of tobacco and it's impact on my health that is making me stop, tobacco costs a ridiculous amount for what it is now, probably because so many people have given up the government is losing the huge revenue it makes from it. And I'm sick of always having some degree of phlegm in my throat and on my vocal chords, I keep getting this thing where I go to speak and no sound comes out unless I clear my throat, very annoying.
I'll try and blog every day about how I'm doing since my blog has been very quiet recently, and hopefully I'll help inspire others to try and give up too. After all it will probably add years to our lives if we do.
I was socially awkward as a teenager and was bullied verbally, I never suffered any physical bullying or had my stuff taken out of malice or anything, people were to scared of me to do that it turns out. When I began to smoke it made me slightly more popular with the other smokers in my school and it gave me confidence.
Nowadays smoking has become very unfashionable however, we have to stand outside to smoke and can't stand at the bus stop while we smoke any more etc. This isn't what's made me want to give up smoking though, in fact it made it more of a sub culture for me, I've always liked being different even if it meant I wasn't always popular. There's something fun about going outside a pub to smoke, eases the boredom if you are with people you'd rather not be, it's one thing I'm going to miss.
It is in fact the cost of tobacco and it's impact on my health that is making me stop, tobacco costs a ridiculous amount for what it is now, probably because so many people have given up the government is losing the huge revenue it makes from it. And I'm sick of always having some degree of phlegm in my throat and on my vocal chords, I keep getting this thing where I go to speak and no sound comes out unless I clear my throat, very annoying.
I'll try and blog every day about how I'm doing since my blog has been very quiet recently, and hopefully I'll help inspire others to try and give up too. After all it will probably add years to our lives if we do.
10 July 2010
Writers Block
Sorry I haven't posted in so long I've just had a complete lack of inspiration for things to blog about. I haven't been able to think of any good new articles either so I haven't made any money at any other sites too. Though My Jimi Hendrix Squidoo lens is doing quite well now, if you were following my Hendrix posts then check it out as it contains more information that came from the comments people left and other sources I have read since writing them.
The heat doesn't help It makes my brain tired and I lose a lot of sleep which makes it harder to think of things to write. Just reading through my blog and seeing what posts are most popular with search engines gives me an idea of what to write about though so I should be able to get something else done soon.
The heat doesn't help It makes my brain tired and I lose a lot of sleep which makes it harder to think of things to write. Just reading through my blog and seeing what posts are most popular with search engines gives me an idea of what to write about though so I should be able to get something else done soon.
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