My Journey - Like It Or Not!

Kathleenā€™s Place said:
Wow, how interesting!!!! And what a great attitude you have! šŸ„°

I quit smoking for 5 years one time so I well know the battle. Hardest thing, honestly, that I ever did in my life. I had kicked it, didnā€™t miss it and I was free!

Then my husbandā€™s next youngest brother died. I looked out the window and saw my husband sitting alone and smoking a cigarette soon after we heard the news. I felt so sorry for him and wanted to be with him. So I went out and we talked and cried.

I reached for a cigarette...he tried to stop me.... but I said ā€œno, just one!ā€ Well you would have thought I had just put out my last cigarette 5 minutes ago, rather than 5 years. And I was off and running šŸ˜¢

So word to the wise....never think you can have ā€œjust oneā€ ever, never again!!!!!

So VERY VERY PROUD of YOU!!!!!!
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No truer words ever spoken Kathleen! There's no such thing as "just one".
I'm still on a couple of quit smoking internet sites trying to pay it forward any way I can. Anything I can relate about my own journey that could possibly help another person trying to quit is what I feel compelled to do. Support from those same sites helped me a lot when I was quitting.
 

Have, since last posting, relocated to Tuktoyaktuk from Iqaluit for a 6 month work contract. Pretty much same thing in terms of living situation although just after I left Iqaluit, there was a huge Covid outbreak there o_O

Glad I missed that .... and only by a week or so šŸ˜³

The big news around these parts today is the the weather forecast at the moment is calling for zero degrees for a high temp. next Tuesday šŸŽ‰
Big deal because it hasn't been at freezing or above since last October sometime. Gonna have my T-Shirt ready and a couple brews on ice as well :giggle: If the sun's out .... that's a bonus(y)
 
bet you were thinking *phew*

good to see ya. how's the work going? i don't really know what you do.
 

I do core sampling both out on the ice and on land or lake beds. Then send the results south for analysis. They send me the data from their analysis and I interpret it and send it to the client I'm under contract to.
They examine and determine a number of things based on the refined data.
Core sampling.jpg
 
So in 4 mo. when your contract is up...what's the plan? Retirement? Different job? Saw it in the other post. Thought I'd ask.

Warm thoughts to you.
 
MrPants said:
I arrived here at this forum today so let's start there. The past doesn't have any significance other than to say it made me who I am today.

In my place on the earth we are now having 9 hours of daylight, moving from the 24 hours of darkness we had just last month in December and now moving toward the 24 hours of daylight we will have in June 2021. It's something you never really get used to; at least I haven't :(

Tomorrow, which it almost is now, will mark 4 years since I stopped smoking. This may not seem like much of a big deal to most but it will to other smokers who have also quit. They say addiction to nicotine is one of the hardest addictions to walk away from. I don't know if that's true but I do know it was a long journey - roughly a year to become really comfortable as a nonsmoker. I didn't do it to live longer; I did to live better! to anyone out there who might be considering quitting, please do it. Freedom from addiction is well worth the struggle. Feel free to PM me if you want any input from me on getting started and resources to help you along the way.

Enough about that. I'm glad to be here; a part of this amazing forum and I hope to be able to add something to the group along the way :)
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Hello MrPants, Having grown up in Alaska, and having used the internet name of TooMuchMuktuk, your location of Tuktoyaktuk, and your profile picture of a polar bear caught my attention. I did a quick internet search. Wow, you live in a very interesting community. I hope you share more tid bits of what you life is like up there.
 
Yes, I too, would like to hear more about your life there. Even though I could not live in such a cold climate, I have always read books or watched moves about such a life. It is amazing to me how people live day to day in those locations.
 
MrPants said:
I arrived here at this forum today so let's start there. The past doesn't have any significance other than to say it made me who I am today.

In my place on the earth we are now having 9 hours of daylight, moving from the 24 hours of darkness we had just last month in December and now moving toward the 24 hours of daylight we will have in June 2021. It's something you never really get used to; at least I haven't :(

Tomorrow, which it almost is now, will mark 4 years since I stopped smoking. This may not seem like much of a big deal to most but it will to other smokers who have also quit. They say addiction to nicotine is one of the hardest addictions to walk away from. I don't know if that's true but I do know it was a long journey - roughly a year to become really comfortable as a nonsmoker. I didn't do it to live longer; I did to live better! to anyone out there who might be considering quitting, please do it. Freedom from addiction is well worth the struggle. Feel free to PM me if you want any input from me on getting started and resources to help you along the way.

Enough about that. I'm glad to be here; a part of this amazing forum and I hope to be able to add something to the group along the way :)
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Welcome! Why give readers the option to like it or not? Personally, even with the choice of like or dislike I find your post interesting.
 
Mr. Ed said:
It's not about me?
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Actually; it is about you Mr. Ed & everyone else! You all can choose to like my lifestyle or not. Won't change a thing in terms of how I choose to conduct my life and that's the way it should be for everyone. Follow your own instincts - not others. That's what makes us individuals; right?
 
MrPants said:
Won't change a thing in terms of how I choose to conduct my life
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It is obvious you didn't get the memo that we should conduct our lives according to everyone else's demands. It is for our own safety and protection from independence and freewill.

Why else do we have parents to tell us how to think and breathe? When we reach seniority, we are fortunate to have people tell us we can't do this or that again for our own safety.
Curious, getting old is much like early childhood, as the forces that be remind us there are people better qualified than you and me to conduct our lives for us.

That's what I call security. šŸ‘šŸ‘
 
MrPants said:
One thing I will be left with when I leave this place is how the local indigenous people are confused and very worried about the future of this place where they want their children to live and continue to celebrate the lifestyle of their elders. It's slipping away .... it really is and we should all be concerned about that.
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The children have seen other life styles because of the internet. They feel theyā€™re missing so much and this is part of the reason for the high suicide rates amongst the youth. The world really is changing - culturally and physically. I have no idea what we can do.
 
It's Sept. 1st today and that marks the final month of my employment. I have not renewed any contract to work beyond end Sept. October 1st will be the first day of retirement for me šŸ„³šŸŽ‰

Lots to be done this month wrapping things up but will be glad to leave this place just as winter sets in :love:
 
MrPants said:
I arrived here at this forum today so let's start there. The past doesn't have any significance other than to say it made me who I am today.

In my place on the earth we are now having 9 hours of daylight, moving from the 24 hours of darkness we had just last month in December and now moving toward the 24 hours of daylight we will have in June 2021. It's something you never really get used to; at least I haven't :(

Tomorrow, which it almost is now, will mark 4 years since I stopped smoking. This may not seem like much of a big deal to most but it will to other smokers who have also quit. They say addiction to nicotine is one of the hardest addictions to walk away from. I don't know if that's true but I do know it was a long journey - roughly a year to become really comfortable as a nonsmoker. I didn't do it to live longer; I did to live better! to anyone out there who might be considering quitting, please do it. Freedom from addiction is well worth the struggle. Feel free to PM me if you want any input from me on getting started and resources to help you along the way.

Enough about that. I'm glad to be here; a part of this amazing forum and I hope to be able to add something to the group along the way :)
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I don't recall welcoming you Mr. Pants, so a late welcome from me! I enjoy your posts and am happy you're here with us. Congratulations on your quitting cigarettes, I smoked from age 15-30, over a pack a day and I was feeling too out of breath for my age and after a couple of tries, succeeded in quitting cold turkey, smartest thing I've ever done. No health issues from it yet, so I'm grateful. I've been to Canada and Alaska in my younger days and I agree about the Aurora Borealis, absolutely breathtaking to witness. My husband and I did our camping in a tent in secluded areas, the view was amazing. I also had a small camera that could not take any good photos, but the images will never leave my mind and heart.
 
MrPants said:
It's Sept. 1st today and that marks the final month of my employment. I have not renewed any contract to work beyond end Sept. October 1st will be the first day of retirement for me šŸ„³šŸŽ‰

Lots to be done this month wrapping things up but will be glad to leave this place just as winter sets in :love:
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That is wonderful, glad you're retiring and can best enjoy your life....congratulations, hope the month passes fast for you! šŸŒ…

congratulations-on-your-retirement-beth-tidd.jpg
 
I still have a couple of things to wrap up here before leaving but my current lease expires today at midnight so I've booked into a B&B for a couple of days. My stuff is all packed up in a knapsack & a duffle bag. This is the stuff I will be taking with me. Everything else was given to locals I have come to know either closely or just casually over my stays here in Tuk. I shipped some stuff to my brother's place a month ago just for storage until I can get there or until I need it.

My original plan was to head for Brazil for awhile and roam around. I'm pretty good at roaming -lol!
It's a fabulous country rich in history and tradition and has really nice climate and some of the most beautiful beaches in the world along it's east coast with the warm waters of the south Atlantic lapping at the shores - a place I want to explore but the Covid situation is a little crazy at the moment and although I have my 2 shots, I really don't want to chance a new, unknown experience in a highly dubious place right now.

A good friend (and former colleague) has offered me one of his spare bedrooms at his place in St. Catharines, Ontario (close to Niagara Falls) for as long as I like so that's where I'm headed eventually but first, I'm going to visit my mother in New Brunswick. She's in a care home and will be 101 in mid-Nov. so I really need to go see her before I get too far away. Each visit now may be our last and we both know it! Makes it tough when the visit is over because the reality of the situation is palpable.

So I get on a plane bound for Edmonton on Sunday and from there I expect to be in Moncton NB by late Monday where I have reserved a car. Will drive to see my Mom Tuesday then I may tour around the east coast for a while depending on the weather. Can't get out of here soon enough. The cold and snow is already here and it gets way worse as we get deeper into winter!

Guess I'll have to think about changing my avatar soon :unsure:
 
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