Jump to content

BearSchlong

Legacy Members
  • Posts

    4738
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by BearSchlong

  1. I agree with what twicehorn said about KK. Hard drinkers, the third category in the big book. I have that opinion about many contributors to this thread but none of my concern. It’s not about stopping; it’s 100% about what will happen when I inevitably pick back up IF I stray from my AA routines. Too many stories about guys with 25+ years sober who have a momentary slip and never make it back. There’s a big difference between “stopped drinking, feel better” and “stopped drinking, stopped actively contributing to my demise.” This morning I re-read the doctor's opinion and Bill’s story on a flight. Focused on and considered every sentence. That’s the way I drank. And I’m grateful for the 22-year beating I took that finally gifted my desperation.
  2. My kids are hard no contact with their mother due to her mental issues. She is now claiming that she had a stroke but was able to return to work the same day. #thecrazyladywhocalledwolf
  3. Website doesn’t lie. https://www.governorgregabbott.com/
  4. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/houston-i69-trailer-death-17583505.php?utm_campaign=premiumchron_breakingnews_20221114&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email Man killed after leaping onto moving trailer along I-69 in Houston, getting knocked off by bridge A man who climbed onto a tractor trailer and began dancing was killed after the truck passed under a bridge along Interstate 69, knocking him to the road below, according to Houston police. In a release sent Monday morning, officials said the unidentified man "jumped or climbed" on a moving 18-wheeler around 11:35 a.m. Thursday. The driver, traveling south, was unaware of the trespasser, police said. The man then climbed onto the truck's trailer and "began dancing and possibly recording himself," authorities said. As the truck passed below Tuam Street, which spans the freeway, the man hit the bridge and fell onto the freeway. Paramedics with the Houston Fire Department rushed the man to Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center, where he later was pronounced dead.
  5. Just served brisket to a buncha guys in the 82nd who just got back from Poland. And their wives. In 20 years they can tell me the specifics.
  6. Driving by the safety center across from the JFK SW center at Ft Bragg earlier today, there was a digital sign that said “days since last fatality: 114”
  7. Holy shit, North Carolina has the same system. Just did several turns today trying to get to the store. Well, kinda sorta.
  8. At Bragg with 1st LT son, playing golf on base Sunday. Later today I get the grand tour.
  9. I mean, little hips was good but isn’t even in the same discussion back when Chris was on his game. Gawd I’d give anything for a macho right now.
  10. Satellite based cell phone service compatible with legacy cell phones, based in a building at the Midland, TX airport. I tried to sell them redundant fiber backhaul but they didn't have enough money. Still, will be following them.
  11. Actually, they aren't allowed to turn left - at least, UPS drivers don't. https://www.ge.com/news/reports/ups-drivers-dont-turn-left-probably-shouldnt-either
  12. I’m at the taco joint at gate E31 right now, grateful I don’t have to go to E22.
  13. Have either of them asked for help? What's your interest in this?
  14. Reminds me of that old George Carlin bit. “You're gonna take a shit? Don't take one of mine, the weekend is coming up and I'm running low”
  15. Perry’s book is packed in my carry-on; I will read it this weekend. I'll probably take offense when he starts violating traditions but whatever. It's either that or Robert Caro’s book about Robert Moses which is well over 1000 pages and probably weighs 5 lbs.
  16. A parable. My 2nd AA meeting ever I was in a run-down building on the “wrong” side of the tracks. At first glance, people at that meeting did not match my ethnicity, education, or socioeconomic status. I sat next to an old geezer in a straw cowboy hat who was prattling on about how as a young buck he was a street bum in New Orleans who shot a guy and ended up in Angola prison. Upon his eventual release, he became a crackhead wandering the streets of Beaumont. Yadda yadda yadda he recovered, got a good life, etc. I missed that message because I was too busy thinking about my own fall from grace; after all, if I was going to be in this AA thing then these were my new peers. When I returned “home” (the guest house at my father’s estate) I was telling dad about this guy and his tale of woe and dad got a huge shit-eating grin on his face and told me the next time I saw him I was to introduce myself, kiss him on the forehead, and pass along dads love and affection. “Wait, dad, you actually know that guy?” His reply was that not only did he know him, that over the previous 20 years they had become close friends and that the man had built a halfway house from scratch and since 1992 had helped thousands of guys get sober. Furthermore, he had learned how to read, and earned a GED, a BA, and a MA, so his educational credentials exceeded mine. He was a land owner, had a doting wife, and was a good father. Armed with this new perspective, he became a valuable resource. I spent hundreds of hours with him, and when he would call me out, I would take the criticism constructively. The evening that stands out is when I showed up at our regular Wednesday night men’s meeting with a massive resentment about something (probably divorce/ex wife issues). He told me to sit down, shut up, and read page 90 of the 12 and 12. “It is a spiritual axiom that whenever we are disturbed, there is something wrong with us.” My suggestion is that you get out, explore every group, and try to find the winners. Watch and listen and they will be revealed. And for gods sake, work the steps with a sponsor. Mine is an old lawyer who can see through any bullshit I fling against the wall.
  17. All pages I've ever quoted or heard quoted in meetings are from the 4th Edition of the big book. If I don't have a physical copy handy, I'll use the search function in my Kindle edition. The idea is that the first 164 pages in the 1st through 4th editions are consistent. It will be interesting to see if gender-inclusive language is adopted for the 5th edition. I'd say the overwhelming majority of meetings start with the serenity prayer, the preamble, and “How It Works.” Still, my home meeting begins with “More about alcoholism” we also end with the 7th step prayer rather than the lord’s prayer. Unsure as to how that came about. I heard a good one a few minutes ago from Rob Dial, which supports my position that good sponsorship and a strong network of long-time sober friends are essential. “When inside the jar, you can't read the label.”
  18. Thanks for the additional information. I guess for some alcoholics, that's the way it happens. Blaming alcohol rather than taking responsibility to get treated for a known disease. The insanity of that was first evident when you mentioned he was exploring treatments that didn't involve complete abstinence. In other words, he got killed by what I consider to be the addiction industrial complex. The ultimate FAFO. I'll pray for you, his ex-wife, his children, and everyone who loved him, may there be solace found in the realization that nothing could have been done for him, his human resources had failed him. It's not tough love when you're trying to shorten someone's suffering, the paradox is that helping causes harm. When well-intentioned non-alcoholics mention the "fight" or "struggle," it makes me wince. To the recovering or recovered alcoholic, there is simply no fight. It's lay down your sword, surrender to win mentality. You're either done, or you're not. The BBOAA describes the posture on pages 84-85; of course, you have to work through the 9th step, but it's the 10th step promise: "And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone - even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality - safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition." I sure as hell ain't interested in "not drinking;" and doubly uninterested in "struggling." That dog doesn't hunt. I'm obstinate, so it took me 22 years to reach that point. You spot it, you got it?
  19. Awful story yet typical for many alcoholics. I’m confused on one point. Was it an explicit suicide letter he left? That would be oddly surprising. If you hadn’t mentioned the letter, my first thought was that it wasn’t a deliberate suicide, but rather an unfortunate evening where he simply overshot the mark. Or as my friend Earl H. says, “some nights I was content to just keep checking my own pulse.”
  20. Lol that part where he was talking about going to open houses and raising the homeowners’ medicine cabinets. “No way would Chandler steal my pills.” I identified with that so hard. I had my MIL’s Medicare lunch pail quantity Percocet supply.
  21. Glad she had that reaction. My wife pre-ordered his book for me, and we watched the interview. Our impression is that he is genuinely engaged in working the 12th step. I sent a copy to the wife of a guy who is circling the drain. I think part of his problem is that his endless and expensive rehab cycles don’t even dent her trust fund’s interest payments.
  22. Follow up: when we pushed back, we were 32nd in line, pilot said he was asking for an expedite otherwise we would be in line for 50 minutes and we ended up getting in front of about 20 planes. Then the weirdest thing happened on the threshold; pilot went to takeoff power for about 5 seconds, then to idle, then turned off the runway at the first turnoff, circled back to the threshold, then took off normally. I’m assuming the expedite had to do with needing the equipment at the destination to reduce disruptions to subsequent flights, right? Because we jumped most of the line. What are the conditions that would have caused the aborted takeoff?
×
×
  • Create New...