i don't like mondays

So I've been struggling with giving up smoking for a few weeks now.  I thought I had it kicked about a week after I had my stroke, but I've only recently (circa 2 weeks ago) come off the patches.  Unfortunately, I was getting my nicotine from the patches instead of the cigarettes, and that's no way to give up an addiction to something.  I knew this of course, but it seemed like the least intrusive way of getting off smoking right after I had my stroke.  So it didn't work, and to be honest I'm not all that surprised.  So for the last week I've been smoking again, and that sucks.
On Saturday I went to the Allen Carr clinic and took his course.  If you don't know who I'm talking about, then click the link and take a look.  He wrote a very famous book about twenty years ago called "The Easy Way to Give Up Smoking".  I had never read the book until last week, but I decided on Thursday that the method he uses had promise, and I booked myself on one of his courses on Saturday morning.  It wasn't really him of course, because he died last year of lung cancer.  He wrote the book and setup the clinics after discovering a way to give up smoking that relies on nothing more than convincing yourself that you actually do want to give up smoking.  He then went on and did the same thing for alcoholics and drug addicts, which is pretty cool.  However, for some reason the medical profession seems to be quite distainful of his method.  I haven't figured out why yet, and I'm sure its just a case of professional jealousy, but its interesting all the same.
So, after attending the clinic on Saturday, I came out and didn't smoke again.  The session they do lasts for five hours and includes some hypnotherapy and Neuro-linguistic programming as well as the standard course.  All in all I'd have to say it was brilliant.  I came out of there without a desire to smoke, and the withdrawl effects have been slight and managable.  Yes, I was a complete bitch yesterday, and maybe today, but that's a hell of a lot better than I've felt before when giving up.
Anyway, its a gray day, and I'm a little bit tense, and I have to go back to the hospital tomorrow (only for blood tests, but its still shite), and the programming I've been doing over the last days has been irritating me no end.  More about that in the next installment.