objective c - Manual object lifetime with ARC

Question

Examine the following code, and assume it was compiled under ARC:

- (void)foo {
    NSOperationQueue *oq = [[NSOperationQueue alloc] init];
    [oq addOperationWithBlock:^{
        // Pretend that we have a long-running operation here.
    }];
}

Although the operation queue is declared as a local variable, its lifetime continues beyond the scope of the method as long as it has running operations.

How is this achieved?

UPDATE:

I appreciate Rob Mayoff's well-thought-out comments, but I think I did not ask my question correctly. I am not asking a specific question about NSOperationQueue, but rather a general question about object lifetime in ARC. Specifically, my question is this:

How, under ARC, can an object participate in the management of its own lifetime?

I've been a programmer for a very long time, and I'm well aware of the pitfalls of such a thing. I am not looking to be lectured as to whether this is a good or bad idea. I think in general it is a bad one. Rather, my question is academic: Whether it's a good or bad idea or not, how would one do this in ARC and what is the specific syntax to do so?

Answer 1

As a general case you can keep a reference to yourself. E.g.:

@implementation MasterOfMyOwnDestiny
{
   MasterOfMyOwnDestiny *alsoMe;
}

- (void) lifeIsGood
{
    alsoMe = self;
}

- (void) woeIsMe
{
    alsoMe = nil;
}

...

@end