Saturday 15th October 2011 - Day 243

G'day Friends,

Well, life is going well in the world of quit, and I think I can safely say that I'm well and truly of my addiction to nicotine.

It just occurred to me that I haven't posted any of the pictures of what I've been up to this month....so here goes.

The month started out with Kim and Zoe's wedding at Garden Island on 01Oct, which was amazing.  It was such a beautiful spot to get married overlooking Sydney Harbour and Fort Denison.

Kim and Zoe - Seconds after being pronounced Husband and Wife.

Then, the following day I decided to go for a walk around the city, which started in Hyde Park, then via the Domain, then Farm Cove, they Opera House, and then across the Harbour Bridge to visit my friend Sarah P in North Sydney.



Looking up through the trees in the Domain.

Walking away from Woolloomooloo Bay towards Mrs McQuarrie's Point.

They Harbour Bridge and Opera House, viewed from the opposite side of Farm Cove.

Looking up as I crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The Following day Casey and I went for a walk to Newtown to visit KC and her boyfriend for lunch, which was a great walk, and the weather turned on for us, so it was a really pleasant day.

After another wondrous week at work, I flew up to Toogoom in Queensland to visit Mum for the weekend.  I couldn't believe how much work Mum had done to the yard which was looking amazing compared to the plain grassed yard that it was the last time I visited.

Mum and I in the back yard.

Ego and I on Saturday Morning.

Sunset over the lake, viewed from the back yard.

Toogoom Beach at 0730 Sunday Morning....what a great lead in to breakfast.

Sarah was kind enough to pick me up from the airport on Sunday afternoon, and so we went for a walk to Circular Quay and had ice cream that afternoon.

Sarah and the Ice Cream in Circular Quay.

Howie The Thinker, at the feet of Shakespeare.

During the week I had the dubious pleasure of being duty on the ship on Monday night, which ended up having a little surprise of fireworks at about 8pm.

Fireworks - I bet you'd never have worked that one out.

More Fireworks - Lucky I was here to tell you!

Well, then the week progressed quietly and we had an early finish for work on Friday, so I was home by 1pm, and filled my Friday evening with napping, the Internet and re sealing my bath tub with silicone sealant......Unbelievable isn't it.....How do I keep up with such a high tempo life on the weekends!

Today I decided to go for a random wander around town and ended up at Paddy's Markets in Haymarket, which was a solid reminder of why I don't go there very often......because it is always vastly overcrowded.  Afterwards I finally, after nearly a decade of saying that I would, went into the Chinese Gardens of Friendship, which were stunningly beautiful, after which I came home via a stroll through the city.  Here's a couple of pictures I took in the gardens:

All in all I'm quite pleased with my weekend so far.  Tomorrow should be a good day of catching up with friends and celebrating my friend Bobby's birthday.

Well, I think I've taken up enough of your time.  Thanks for reading Friends.  I hope you're all having a great weekend :)

Take Care,

Howie..

Thursday 13th October 2011 - Day 241

Hi Friends,

Long time no write.  I guess I don't really have too much in the way of excuses, as I"ve been pretty relaxed lately.

Well, the last month has been eventful, but in a nice easygoing way.  I've spent a weekend in Qld with Mum last weekend, which apart from having left my wallet on the plane at the Sunshine Coast airport was fantastic.  I barely left Mum's house, apart from to go for a walk around the lake on Saturay, and a quick walk down the beach on Sunday, before flying home around lunch time.

Apart from that, the world has been fairly quiet.  I've celebrated my friend Lishy's birthday, in addition to bearing witness t,o and helping my friends Kim and Zoe celebrate their wedding.  I've walked to North Sydney to have lunch with Sarah, and walked to Newtown with Casey, to catch up with KC and her gentleman friend Jules for lunch.  The visit to Newtown paid double dividends as I randomly caught up with my friends Celia and Jo, both of whom I'd effectively lost contact with, so now we're planning a dinner catch up which should be fun.

Well, on the quitting front, I've quite gladly maintained my sweet quitness of both cigarettes and alcohol.  I have to admit though, I'm very much looking forward to February 15 next year so that I can enjoy a few glasses of wine with my friends and Family.  It was such a shame to see Kim and Zoe marry and not be able to share in the toast of their wedding.....although I did hold the glass of champagne and raise it too my lips, so that I looked the part........

Unfortunately I also received a little bit of bad news, in finding out that my mother has emphysema.  I guess this is life reminding me that it's a good thing that I've quit smoking, but it's hard to look at the positives in my world when the woman who brought me into is suffering the negative repercussions of not having quit smoking.  Giving hope is the information I've been reading on google about the promising research that has been done with human multipotent lung stem cells that were injected into mice and appeared to grow new cells and tissue.  This is Howie crossing his fingers that this translates into something usable in human lung disease sufferes... X.

A lot of people have asked me if I'm feeling better for quitting both drinking and smoking, and the honest answer is.........not noticably.  I think that I am healthier (as is demonstrated by the extra kilograms I have put on since quitting smoking/drinking), but because it has become the norm for me, I just feel normal.  I am, however, thankful that I haven't had a hangover in exactly 8 months.....especially as the last hangover that I did have on the 13th February, made me feel like I wanted to crawl into a cold dark hole for a year!  I'm also glad that I went to the doctor for a post-quitting checkup and he tells me that everything appears normal with my respiratory system, so cheers to that.

Ok Friends, thanks for reading and I hope that this post finds you all well and happy.  Enjoy your time with your Families and support them in a healthy lifestyle :)

Howie..