As a writer I am always looking for a way to quiet my mind. That way I can search for some pure thoughts. When I smoke that quieting happens almost immediately. But as a 21st century smoker, a problem arises when I have to put the cigarette out and go back inside to get to my computer. By the time I retrieve my eyeglasses and get into position, its back to the scramble.


No one ever talks about the nicotine buzz. The enjoyment of just one cigarette can really pack a punch. It’s like how romance novels are filled with eroticism. Consider that many prim ladies reading those nice romance novels in the airport or bus station are often reading sex scenes that would curl the toes of the most seasoned old school Penthouse Forum reader...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: How to quit smoking,smoking pleasure,ellen leahy

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I often do what Walt Shepperd says because he is a mentor and I really respect his thinking.


At our weekly Syracuse salon on Montgomery Street he said, stop writing about smoking because nobody wants to hear about it. Then we proceeded to talk about smoking for a half an hour or so. This included methods both he and Nancy Keefe Rhodes used to quit tobacco, which included supplements and even charts and graphs that included Xs and Os that didn’t stand for kisses and hugs.


So, I didn’t write about smokin’ for a week, but also I didn’t stop smoking on my prescribed Easter Monday. I had every intention. The problem was I had three cigarettes left, and when it came down to it.


I didn’t want to stop...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Walt Shepperd,smoking in syracuse, syracuse city eagle, ellen leahy smoking,quiting smoking,emotional smoking

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This is really bad. You may want to just stop reading right here.


So, after I put the paper to bed last Tuesday, I spent the afternoon running senior citizen errands in Syracuse. I dropped dad, 89, off at the VA hospital for an audiology appointment; moved mom, 86, into shotgun (something they fight over incessantly) and then proceeded downtown for more running around.


What a beautiful day – we had the sunroof open and the windows rolled down as I proceeded to point out to mumsey all the different buildings in downtown...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: A really, really bad influence,smoking with mom, ellen leahy, marion Leahy,quiting smoking syracuse,prayer syracuse

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What kind of soul are you?


One day while giving my friend Tracy a lift to pick up her ride, we were discussing various people‘s natures. The theme of “He was an old soul” seemed to keep coming up. So much so that I said, “Aren’t we all old souls?”


She actually guffawed, “You, you, you’re a teenage soul.”


I was taken aback. “Me a teenage soul?”


She was still laughing.


What about all that life experience, world travel and hard knocks I had gained along the way?


Then I thought about it. Boy, had she nailed me. I do have this vein of incredibly immaturity and naiveté...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: What kind of soul are you,old souls,syracuse old souls,teenage soul

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