Sober Ever Since

Thanks to dryblog for this quote

"When my wife said to me do you think could you try this weekend not to have a drink? I said don't be so stupid. I could stop any time I like. That was a real belief I had... Yeah, I went to a treatment center, and I went twice. I went once and came out for a while, stayed sober for about a year and a half and then kind of just thought well, you know... Maybe I have licked it... maybe I'm just sort of special and different, you know? And I didn't go back to drinking. I went back to drugs first, and I found that I didn't like the drugs without the drink. So I thought well, that was clever... I went into treatment just over 10 years ago now, the last time... I've been sober ever since."- Eric Clapton, 'Larry King Live' 1998 interview quote  ¶ 5/31/2005 11:03:00 PM 0 comments

  Blog Solutions for Car Buyers   ¶ 5/31/2005 10:59:00 PM 3 comments

 
Ebby T. the man Bill W. called his sponser.   ¶ 5/31/2005 03:04:00 PM 0 comments

  Sober 24 Take a look at one of my favorite recovery websites, Sober 24. You can chat in the chat rooms, state your opinion on the discussion boards and keep track of your "sober fuse." Its fun and even useful from time to time.  ¶ 5/31/2005 05:51:00 AM 1 comments

 
The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous   ¶ 5/28/2005 11:05:00 AM 2 comments

  Time 100 Heros and Icons of the 20th Century In 1999, Time magazine chose its 100 hero's and icons of the 20th century. A.A. own Bill W. was among the top 100.  ¶ 5/27/2005 05:17:00 AM 0 comments

  Wall Street 1929   ¶ 5/26/2005 05:35:00 AM 0 comments

  200 Year Old Whiskey Found The Associated Press reports on a 200 year old bottle of whiskey found in West Virginia. There is a joke in here somewhere but, I am up before 6:00 a.m. and I just cannot think of one.

If you can however, put it in the comments or E-mail it to me. You know, just like "The New Yorker." Well, so much for my Delusions of Grandeur but, send your jokes to me anyway.  ¶ 5/25/2005 04:52:00 PM 1 comments

  More Smart People
Dr. Robert H. Smith co-founder of A.A. and another "smart guy," who had trouble getting off the floor.   ¶ 5/24/2005 05:00:00 PM 0 comments

  Smart People I heard this at a meeting not long ago:

"I have always been smart, scored high on tests and done well in school. It doesn't really matter how smart you are however, if you are too drunk to get off
the floor. "

  ¶ 5/24/2005 04:24:00 AM 79 comments

  Addicted to Love Love addiction comes in many forms.  ¶ 5/24/2005 02:16:00 AM 0 comments

  Tribes and Alcholism Indian activist, Tom Ball links alcholism to unresolved cultural grief.  ¶ 5/23/2005 04:32:00 PM 0 comments

  Awesome Art You have to see the brilliant Art of fellow blogger Scott Woodward. It is incredible!  ¶ 5/23/2005 04:14:00 PM 0 comments

  Thank You Dick B. Read about the "astonishing success of early A.A," on Dick B's site.  ¶ 5/22/2005 11:50:00 PM 0 comments

  Strange Tidbits - New Blog Hey folks, try out my new Blog, "Strange Tidbits."  ¶ 5/22/2005 10:26:00 PM 0 comments

 
Marty Mann the first known woman to find longterm sobriety in A.A. She then went on to found the National Council on Alcholism and Drug Dependence in 1944.   ¶ 5/22/2005 06:07:00 AM 0 comments

  Is Alcholics Anonymous a Cult Is Alcoholics Anonymous a Cult? Before I started to do research (if you can web surfing research) for this Blog I had no idea that there was a group of people intent on exposing one of the most effective movements in America’s (and the world’s) history as a Cult. Oh I had heard the occasion person “in the rooms” talk about how their mother, sister, husband or friend told them that they were an A.A. or Treatment Victim and they were part of a Cult. I was unaware however, that there is a small number of websites that lambaste A.A. as a dangerous Cult. One of these sites even accuses Bill W. as being demon possessed.

In the end I suppose whether A.A. is a cult or not all depends on how you define cult. In the interest of truth I have linked you to some sites and you can be the judge. Call your sponsor however, before you before you start selling stuff at the airport.  ¶ 5/21/2005 06:26:00 AM 4 comments

  And Speaking of Bill W. Speaking of Bill Wilson, what were you doing on November 11, 1957? Bill was speaking with Ebby T. at the Hotel Astor in NewYork City. The speech was in celebration of Bill's 23rd sobriety anniversary.  ¶ 5/21/2005 05:09:00 AM 2 comments

  Cognative Treatment for Dual Diagnosis Medical News Today reports that cognitive treatment has been showen to be effective for chronic alcholics with another neuropsychiatric disorder.  ¶ 5/20/2005 06:23:00 AM 0 comments

  Bill W. A Strange Salvation "Bill W. A Strange Salvation," by Paul Hourihan is a novel looesly based on the real life of A.A. cofounder Bill Wilson. I have not read it but the tittle intrigues me. Is is after all a Strange Salvation that we find in the rooms of A.A. or other 12 step groups.

Anybody read it? Let me know.  ¶ 5/20/2005 04:57:00 AM 1 comments

 
Bill as a "Doughboy" in WWI.   ¶ 5/19/2005 11:28:00 PM 0 comments

  New Treatment in New Russia Treatment for alcoholism in Russia like most everything else there is in flux, reported Knight Ridder Newspapers. The most common treatment is hypnosis-like program called Coding. For more insight into alcoholism treatment in Russia see April 14, 2005 "Beating Their Addictions"  ¶ 5/19/2005 01:35:00 PM 1 comments

  God and Sex We remembered that our sex powers were God-given and therefore good, neither to be used lightly or selfishly nor to be despised and loathed. The Big Book page 69  ¶ 5/19/2005 05:38:00 AM 1 comments

  Sex Solutions   ¶ 5/18/2005 10:35:00 AM 3 comments

  Alcoholism and Star Wars The Mirrior reported that when ask to pay homage to Star Wars Creator George Lucas at an awards dinner Carrie Fischer said, “Thank you for ruining my life." Fisher is the now 47-year-old actress who played Princess Leia in the original Star Wars movie. In recent years, Fischer who is also the daughter of Hollywood icons Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fischer, “star” has fallen as she succumbed to alcoholism and drug addiction. She however, blamed "the awful hairdo and the bad dialogue" for tarnishing her career.  ¶ 5/18/2005 07:49:00 AM 2 comments

  The Kudzu Solution WebMD.com reports that treatment with an extract of the kudzu plant reduces alcohol use by heavy drinkers. Kudzu is an every-expanding vine that was initially introduced to the Southern United States as a solution for soil erosion.  ¶ 5/17/2005 08:07:00 AM 2 comments

 
Lois and Bill   ¶ 5/16/2005 01:28:00 PM 4 comments

  Best Advice -#1 April said,

The best advice I ever got in the program came about 2 weeks after coming back from a relapse. I had a ton a resentments that were tearing me apart. I had heard prior to my relapse that resentments are the number one thing to send out back out the door.

I had finally hit bottom and was full of resentments, I didn't know what to do, but I knew that I didn't want to drink again. One night during break at a meeting, I walked up to someone I knew had a lot of sobriety, someone I was comfortable around because I had met them before my relapse. I told them of my resentments and how I didn't know what to do.

They told me to go home, write all of resentments down on paper, who I was mad at and why and then next to it try and write down what part I had played in it. I should do that for every single one. They also told me to read pg 552 in the Big Book when I was done and that between those two things, I should begin to ease my resentments.

It worked. It wasn't easy, nor perfect, but it worked. That advice and my willingness to take action on it saved my life.  ¶ 5/16/2005 10:24:00 AM 1 comments

  FREE RECOVERY GIFT Free Gift, Free Gift, Free Gift, Free Gift, Free Gift, Free Gift...

What is the best advice you ever got in "The Program" (A.A, N.A., CA and other 12 step programs)? The first ten readers to E-mail me (my E-mail is listed under my profile) with the best advice they ever got in the rooms will win a free recovery gift. I plan to publish the best answers on my Blog (first names only of course). Along with the advice, please send me your name and mailing address. Also tell me if it is ok to use your first name when I publish it.

Free gift, free gift, free gift, free gift, free gift, free gift, free gift, free gift, free gift, free gift....  ¶ 5/16/2005 07:56:00 AM 0 comments

  Vaccine to Help Smokers Quit Swiss researchers reported, that a trial vaccine to help addicted smokers quit smoking has shown has shown hopeful results. Forty percent of smokers who got the vaccine in a clinical trial were then able to quit for nearly six months.  ¶ 5/16/2005 07:36:00 AM 1 comments

  Recovery Radio PrimeZone reports that in a world of “shock jocks” and Conservative political radio programs Worldwide Radio Network's new two-hour offering, "Recovery Radio," is gaining an ever increasing audience. The program uses a listener involved format and topics centers around alcoholism and substance abuse.  ¶ 5/15/2005 08:49:00 AM 0 comments

 
Bob and Bill   ¶ 5/14/2005 10:23:00 AM 2 comments

  Step One We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol and our lives have become unmanageable. The Big Book page 59  ¶ 5/14/2005 07:09:00 AM 0 comments

  7th Step Prayer My Creator, I am now willing that you should all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove ever single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me the strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen The Big Book page 76  ¶ 5/13/2005 12:56:00 PM 1 comments

  Financial Recovery "Although financial recovery is on the way for many of us, we found that we could not put money first. For us material well-being always followed spirtual progess;it never preceded." Big Book, page 127  ¶ 5/12/2005 06:16:00 AM 5 comments

  God Grant Us T-Ball Last night I went with my son(see May, 9, cute isn't he)to his T-ball game. Now this is T-ball, the players are four, five and six. Not grown men (and one woman) not even High School boys they are four, five and six years old. So the idea is to have fun; get a little exercise; learn some basics but, most of all have fun, right? Not as far as some of the parents are concerned.

I learned in the rooms many years ago that you can only give away what you have. I have a lot of things to pass on to my son but when it comes to sports, especially baseball; I am nothing short of illiterate. I am much more interested in the human drama that the technicalities anyway. I watched the Ken Burns series on baseball, I remember that TA Cobb was a bastard and Josh Gibson ended up in an asylum but, that is it. How to hold the bat, where the shortstop stands or even what is the shortstop? I have no idea.

So I got into this conversation with this mother of one of the other boys. She claimed that her boy has since toddlerhood insisted on having athletics as the focal point of his life. Acording to her, his first word was ball, and he spent is preschool years prefecting his pitching arm. My boy's first word was mine and he spent his preschool years pretending to be Junterman a superhero he created whoses special power is throwing flames from is eyes. The mother went on to say this year Buford "insisted" that he have all the proper major league endorsed baseball equipment which she bought him. This year my boy "insisted" that we buy him a moterized kindergarten-sized motercycle but, we declined.

On one hand I thought that she was ridiculous but, on the other hand feeling sort of bad that I did not have more to give away to him when it comes to sports. Just then, I looked out on the field and what did I see. Buford and my boy are both sitting down eating the grass while they are supposed "on" second and third base respectively. You have to love kids for keeping it honest.

God grant me to serenity to accept the things I cannot change...like T-ball parents.  ¶ 5/11/2005 03:53:00 AM 1 comments

  How We See the World People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is a confession of their character. Ralph Waldo Emerson  ¶ 5/10/2005 07:32:00 AM 2 comments

 
Life on life's terms   ¶ 5/09/2005 03:15:00 PM 1 comments

  Self-Righteous Pie Speaking of self-righteousness (see May 7, 2005 post)…I have a good friend in "The Program" who like me likes to lapse into periods of unrepentant self-righteousness or as we like to call it having and "big o" slice of "self-righteous pie." Of course it drives us to our knees or at least on the phone with our sponsors every time.  ¶ 5/08/2005 06:04:00 AM 0 comments

  The A.A. Police I just came back from a meeting. It’s a meeting that I used to go to all the time until my schedule changed. The meeting has really changed. That was all decided in a group conscious that I did not attend few months ago. I know that is the way things are and should be decided in A.A. or any other 12 step group for that matter. Today I really hated that group conscious is the way that we decide things. At that meeting this morning I wanted to be the person who decides. I wanted to be the "A.A. Police".

While I sat in that meeting I resented the changes. I am taking a mental health day today and I wanted something familiar. The meeting did not feel familiar. The format changes were actually pretty minor but, they just sort of threw me. The meeting was on the second step and nobody seemed to be talking about or even attempting to talk about the second step. And I a self appointed member of the A.A. police grew more judgmental with each person who shared. I said to myself, "I don't want to hear about ex-wife, your abortion or how the sister who took you in a few months ago now does not understand you.

I knew I was being a self righteous pain in the ass. In the end however, all I could do was come home and write about it and then get on my knees and give it up to God. An A.A. friend of mine used to always say that sometimes you got let people be wrong. Today I more interested in being serene than right.  ¶ 5/07/2005 05:57:00 AM 1 comments

  Thought for May 6 There but for the grace of God go I  ¶ 5/06/2005 05:23:00 AM 0 comments

  Is the NDIC Facing Extinction? In the May 9, 2005 edition U.S. News and World Report sheds light on the White House plan to kill the National Drug Intelligence Center. The White House may want to eradicate it, but NDIC just might manage to live on.  ¶ 5/05/2005 01:40:00 PM 1 comments

  Jockey's Ride

The Pittsburg Post-Gazette recently reported that Jockey Jerry Bailey's new book takes the reader thorough the details a previous life of alcoholism. It's titled "Against the Odds: Riding for My Life."

  ¶ 5/04/2005 05:38:00 AM 1 comments

  Sainthood for Axl Rose Is Axl Rose the future Patron Saint of Malt liquor? Laugh out loud at this irreverent papal parody.  ¶ 5/03/2005 05:31:00 AM 3 comments

  Slogan and Eggs Easy does it.

For the longest time when ever I heard or read "easy does it," all I could think of were eggs over easy. It made me laugh anyway.  ¶ 5/02/2005 02:00:00 AM 3 comments

  Slogan for Today First things first. Yeah, yeah we have all heard this before but, it still works.  ¶ 5/01/2005 07:48:00 AM 1 comments