can we have an AA meeting up in this, uh, joint?

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This is a one-off meeting of the non-incorporated Paper Thin Walls group of Alcoholics Anonymous. My name's Wanko and I am possibly an alcohoic and will serve as scetratry of this meeting lol

wanko ergo sum, Monday, 2 April 2007 23:10 (eighteen years ago)

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking, which is optional.

wanko ergo sum, Monday, 2 April 2007 23:11 (eighteen years ago)

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking, which is optional.

It's 5:55pm and I'm already drunk. I am beginning to manifest alcoholic behaviors that I've never
before exhibited (I'm 32!). Lately I've been drinking every day, and it's starting to begin earlier
and earlier; these days I'm popping the cork right after work. except it's not even a cork: as my
intake has increased, I've found myself drinking cheaper and cheaper hooch (tonight it was I
kid you not Steel Reserve beer) just to be able to afford it. I've had 2 24-oz'ers. I'm
about half wasted I guess, but the good news is I always stop at about this level of inebriation.
I never get, like, drunk. Still, I am getting kinda concerned because at work I find
myself very very much anticipating... not so much the buzz.. but maybe even worse, that first sip.

Anyway 3 or 4 months ago I would drink a glass of wine w/dinner 2-3 times a week and 'go out
for drinks' maybe once a week and get wasted maybe once a year. Now I drink daily, I look forward
to it, it's a habit, and I'm not sure exaclty where it's headed. Or why it's happening.
I know there are drinkers here and maybe you can tell me, uh, which step I need to work on?

wanko ergo sum, Monday, 2 April 2007 23:12 (eighteen years ago)

sorry about the double joke post

wanko ergo sum, Monday, 2 April 2007 23:13 (eighteen years ago)

Hello, meeters,

I have no idea what my deal is or where it will go. I am in wanko's position save I would never go for Steel Reserve or its spiritual kin. Advice also appreciated. I do not actually intend on quitting drinking.

signed
:
:
:
V

Abbott, Monday, 2 April 2007 23:16 (eighteen years ago)

I have maybe 1-3 drinks a day, always after 7 p.m. or my day is totally useless.

Abbott, Monday, 2 April 2007 23:17 (eighteen years ago)

The fact that both of you drink within limits is a good sign. You have to start worrying when the concept of 1-3 drinks and a nice buzz is unintelligible. You're either sober or you're shit-faced, there is no in between - that's a sign.

milo z, Monday, 2 April 2007 23:21 (eighteen years ago)

i had my first beer at 10:15 this morning

mookieproof, Monday, 2 April 2007 23:25 (eighteen years ago)

i had my last beer at 10:15 this morning

remy bean, Monday, 2 April 2007 23:39 (eighteen years ago)

You're either sober or you're shit-faced, there is no in between - that's a sign.

Is that every day or just OK on weekends?

Hard like armour, Monday, 2 April 2007 23:40 (eighteen years ago)

I normally have about 3 or 4 beers a night sunday-thursday. And get rotten Friday and Saturday night.

I assume most normal people are like this.

Drooone, Monday, 2 April 2007 23:58 (eighteen years ago)

Hi I drink like a fucking drain, it costs me a fortune, and I have just decided to give up both it and cigarettes. Every time I say this it doesnt happen, but I have a motivation now I didn't have before. I think maybe this time it'll be ok.

Trayce, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:00 (eighteen years ago)

I probably wont completely quit the booze but I need to stop the bottle of wine a night dealie.

Trayce, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:01 (eighteen years ago)

I think that's a new speed record for backsliding.

milo z, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:03 (eighteen years ago)

LOL

chaki, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:05 (eighteen years ago)

I can easily go a few days without drinking (i've had three beers tonight by the way, heh), but I think if for some reason I was told I could never touch a drop again I'd go into a blind panic. Which is a bit worrying.

chap, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:10 (eighteen years ago)

Is it a bad sign to feel panicked if there is no alcohol in the house?

Hard like armour, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:14 (eighteen years ago)

So has anyone's partner broken up with them because of a supposed drinking problem?

me, yep.

Drooone, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:15 (eighteen years ago)

The break up CAUSES the drinking problem.

Hard like armour, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:16 (eighteen years ago)

i am drunk and back at work. exceptionally bad idea.

strongohulkington, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:19 (eighteen years ago)

if anyone from work is reading, i mean drunk on the insane beauty of this crazy world.

strongohulkington, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:19 (eighteen years ago)

So has anyone's partner broken up with them because of a supposed drinking problem?

Very nearly so. I used to drink way too much, way too often to the point where it made me unhappy. The bottom line is that when I get too drunk, it's just not pretty. Unfortunately, I don't have that switch that most people have that tells them to stop drinking - I just keep going. I am certain that this is an inherited thing. Last year I didn't drink for about six months. Lately, I've been drinking maybe once or twice a week and limiting the amount I drink to 3 or 4 drinks. So far, so good. I think that I can keep this up but if starts being difficult then I think I'll just give it up for good.

ENBB, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:22 (eighteen years ago)

has anyone else here ever had an intervention? i'm not sure if mine counts because half the people were drunk.

strongohulkington, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:24 (eighteen years ago)

yes

chaki, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:30 (eighteen years ago)

intervention buddies!

strongohulkington, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:32 (eighteen years ago)

This thread is my mortal enemy.

John Justen, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:38 (eighteen years ago)

apparently i have reached the "people talking amongst themselves about how 'worried' they are about you behind your back" stage

strongohulkington, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:39 (eighteen years ago)

"i ran into kim at h&m the other weekend and we had a 15 minute conversation about how worried we are about you."

strongohulkington, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:39 (eighteen years ago)

^^^^ direct quote

strongohulkington, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:39 (eighteen years ago)

On the bright side, they care about you, right? When you're wandering the streets begging for Night Train money, you won't be forgotten.

milo z, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:41 (eighteen years ago)

WHY DONT THEY CARE ENOUGH TO STOP ME

strongohulkington, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:42 (eighteen years ago)

really it's just annoying. when i'm vomiting in the potted plants at work and falling asleep at my desk = be worried.

strongohulkington, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:42 (eighteen years ago)

[Removed Illegal Image]

rps, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:42 (eighteen years ago)

yah dude be glad you have people that care about you! my intervention was 3 dudes that buy drugs from me!

chaki, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:44 (eighteen years ago)

oh i love my pals, don't get me wrong

strongohulkington, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:45 (eighteen years ago)

haha i have a feeling this intervention was 99% "look, you need to slow down because we're sick of our girlfriends being worried about this and bugging us with it."

strongohulkington, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:45 (eighteen years ago)

Oh I've been intervened upon... but it was about Drug Use, a couple of years ago. I have only in the past year achieved total abstinence from drugs, even quit smoking cigs, feeling great, and then insidiously this silly little drinking problem starts to surface. wtf. I may be deluding myslef but I cannot envision my drinking getting too out of hand b/c booze MAKES MY HEAD HURT.

wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:53 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, in my ripe old age of 29 I can no longer tolerate hangovers like I used to (please see worst hangover thread). The inevitable pain I know will follow if I go overboard these days is enough to make me watch what I'm drinking. Sometimes.

ENBB, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:56 (eighteen years ago)

I may be deluding myslef

Word!

Aimless, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:58 (eighteen years ago)

wanko ergo sum i think i am you and you are me somehow.

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 00:58 (eighteen years ago)

lets hope not for wanko's sake!

chaki, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 01:00 (eighteen years ago)

ORDER

wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 01:02 (eighteen years ago)

When I get home from work I- 1)Pop open a bottle of wine 2)Do the dishes from the previous evening and let that bottle BREATHE 3)Have a cigarette 4)Drink that wine and cook something. My dinners have been increasingly overcooked due to the "just one more glass" syndrome. On the weeknights I can easily drink a bottle but on the weekends it's usually two a night. I take Sundays and Mondays off but tonight I've had three Sapporos because it's so nice and springlike. And because I like to drink. I've known people who have taken months off of drinking and I get scared because I know I could never do it.

brownie, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 01:13 (eighteen years ago)

I think that's a new speed record for backsliding.

;_;

Trayce, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 01:29 (eighteen years ago)

I've been intervened on for actually no reason based in reality! I weighed abt 200 lbs (very nicely carried I might add, vainly) and dropped 60 or so in 4 months bcz I was so horrendously depressed after abortion that my apathy lead me to not want to eat anything except a can of tuna or two a day. Everyone thought I was cranked out and intervened, even tho the only symptom was weight loss. Also staying inside all day, but they didn't believe me when I told them, "hello, I've just had horrid depression for xxxxxx list or very reasonable & very personal reasons I would not share otherwise." Like they thought I was having sex for crank bcz I had to work long shifts & stuff and wasn't drinking w/them all night. I booted a lot of friends that day.

I was not on crank, in case it was missed. not even good old alcohol, cigs, et. al.

Abbott, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 01:35 (eighteen years ago)

And still afterwards it was always gossip of worries & warnings. WTF.

Abbott, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 01:36 (eighteen years ago)

People be irritating sometimes.

Trayce, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 01:43 (eighteen years ago)

This thread is only making me feel better about how much I drink, hahaa thats not right is it!

Trayce, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 01:44 (eighteen years ago)

I will gladly host an intervention in which I tell all the drinkers what wicked badasses they are.

John Justen, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 01:45 (eighteen years ago)

Hello, I'm SO THERE.

Abbott, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 01:48 (eighteen years ago)

my pal chuck, who posts on ilm, has no sense of smell either! weird. but then ilx is weird.

scott seward, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 05:38 (eighteen years ago)

WHOA! You must connect me to this man! This is what it doesn't smell like...when doves cry!

Abbott, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 05:40 (eighteen years ago)

that explains his lack of taste ;)
xpost

gershy, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 05:40 (eighteen years ago)

No, I bet we are both like DAREDEVIL!

Abbott, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 05:42 (eighteen years ago)

you know whats really funny abbott, is that i was just teasing about that. ive actually been told i have a really, really foul body odor (and YES i have tried to do something about, so, so many times...) & ive overheard a lot of women saying stuff like "he's one of the best looking guys ive ever seen...but my god that smell...i just cant stand it. but otherwise id LOVE to fuck him. and he seems so marriagable too...". if you dont believe me, then why would a guy as good looking as me be posting on a motherfucking internet messageboard at 12:40 on a monday night??? the more i talk to you the more i believe we are soulmates....im not trying to come onto you harsh or anything its just...how can i deny the truth.......


XPOST FUCK CHUCK YOU HAVE NOTHING INCOMMON WHAT DOES OLFACTORY SENSE HAVE TO DO WITH SHIT WHAT THE FUCK THE SOUL IS NOT LINKED TO WHETHER OR NOT YOU LIKE THE SMELL OF SAUSAGE JESUS CHRIST

deeznuts, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 05:45 (eighteen years ago)

there're things that really bug me about it too -- but the years i've spent actually being a part of it have been so much better than the dry years when i wasn't making meetings, and nothing else has worked for me at all. so i just am grateful for it myself.

-- Mike McGooney-gal


same here mike, say, where's kenan with his rational recovery leaflet and bottle of vitamins? aa makes him "bristle"!
i only have a very limited sense of smell, it disappears for weeks on end then kicks in at unexpected moments so i will suddenly get a noseful of damp movie theatre carpet or fly spray, it's nearly always something horrible.
hi scott!

estela, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 05:50 (eighteen years ago)

He's the shitty Ben Affleck joke of a Daredevil and I have UNFATHOMABLE POWERS?

zpost

Abbott, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 05:52 (eighteen years ago)

hi estela!


i'd better hit the hay. stone-cold sober!

scott seward, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 05:52 (eighteen years ago)

:)

estela, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 05:56 (eighteen years ago)

surely impossible. (xp)

deeznuts, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 05:56 (eighteen years ago)

UNFATHOMABLE!!!!!!!!

Potentially fathomable but MIND-BLOWING!!!!

Abbott, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 05:57 (eighteen years ago)

Hi. I'd've been in here last night, but I was out getting drunk.

Noodle Vague, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 07:02 (eighteen years ago)

yes

aimurchie, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 07:39 (eighteen years ago)

Sorry - I was lurking and got suddenly barred so I had to test the ground. This is where I landed.
I love long, articulate posts.
See ya!

aimurchie, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 07:42 (eighteen years ago)

omg how did I miss this thread?

Hi guys. I'm an alcoholic.

kenan, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 07:48 (eighteen years ago)

although I can't tell from this thread whether it's it's intended to discourage me or not. :)

kenan, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 07:49 (eighteen years ago)

I quit pot and started the evil cigarettes!

OMG me too Abbott! I was a nonsmoker all my damn life then one day I ran out of weed and still had some smokes and thought "oh well head spin at least" and blargh there it was, somehow.

Trayce, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 07:52 (eighteen years ago)

Kenan: yeah this thread just feels a bit "woohoo! Lets go to a bar!". heh. Mmmm.. achievement. Srsly I wanna go home and have a drink now wtf.

Trayce, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 07:53 (eighteen years ago)

where's kenan with his rational recovery leaflet and bottle of vitamins?

I've given up both. The "alternative" to AA was basically like, "Hey man, suck it up." Which is fine if you don't have a serious alcohol problem... not so good if you do. And I love what a coworker said about vitamin supplements -- they make your urine really expensive.

aa makes him "bristle"!

I can't be alone in that. There's got to be lots of people who read up on it, decide it's a weird Xtian cult, and then go have another drink. And there IS that element; the AA meetings I have been to were Jesus-crazy. They were also, and pardon any implied racism or classism, in black or hispanic neighborhoods that were predictably poor. I can't relate to these people. I can't talk to a recovering crackhead. His experiences are on the other side of the world from mine. If I need to talk it out, and I'm sure I do, I need to do it with people who have at least two things in common with me. Drinking too much is not enough of a common ground all by itself.

And seriously, fuck Jesus.

kenan, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 15:17 (eighteen years ago)

haha expensive urine

yeah re: AA meetings or recovery groups or freakin sports teams - any group you're going to be a part of has to reflect at least some of your values (even if you feel you've lost them all in the addiction haze) for it to have a positive effect on you, i think, yeah. e.g., yoga has been helping me with addictions/depression-based things (which i think are minor anyway), and it's about 'higher power / bigger picture' stuff but in a way that i can relate to.

on the (not all that many but enough, more than 10) occasions that i've been tragically wasted and then smoked stupid strong w33d, i've basically blacked out, thrown up and passed out where i landed - SUCKS SO MUCH - never again, etc. thankfully this always happened in safe environments with good people.

i could v easily go 9 months w/o booze, weed, etc, esp if a healthy baby was a result. but i still like scott's t-shirt idea. also: scott, you are an inspiration (for realz)

rrrobyn, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 15:43 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah my sobritey never improved until I just admitted to myself that AA and everything about it creeped me out the f--- out, and quit it completely. There are different psyches and and different circumstances and thus, I believe, different optimal approaches to recovery. AA was not for me (it took me > 2 yrs and many hundreds of meetings to figure it out).

Incidentally I am Christian and never got a good answer to the question 'what's new about the 12 steps that I as a Christian, or any theist really, doesn't already practice anyway (or at least try to)?' My final analysis of what makes AA tick and keeps people coming back is very cynical but I won't go there, now.

wanko ergo sum, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 17:00 (eighteen years ago)

I think if for some reason I was told I could never touch a drop again I'd go into a blind panic

Funnily enough, I'm the opposite. I love my booze and mostly manage to keep an acceptable (my definition, I'm not sure a doctor would agree) balance, but I do sometimes think to myself that if someone said "omg if you don't give up booze you'll die" it'd be a really positive thing in my life.

The way my sense of discipline works is that if I KNOW I can't do something, it's fine, I don't do it (it's a struggle sometimes but I know I simply can't do it, so I don't). If I can do a *little* bit of something, then I do it, and gradually the little gets bigger and bigger until I'm back where I started (or worse).

Mark C, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 17:14 (eighteen years ago)

Mark - I'm exactly the same way which is why I've been able to abstain from drinking for long periods of time. It's the same with me for smoking. If I decide to stop then I just stop - no withdrawls, no cravings - nothing. If I start smoking again socially though then eventually I'll wind up buying a pack.

i could v easily go 9 months w/o booze, weed, etc, esp if a healthy baby was a result.

Robyn, OTM. I can't wait to have kids someday and know that I won't have any problems abstaining during pregnancy and motherhood. Sure, I can fuck with my own life/health but when someone else is involved it's a whole other story.

ENBB, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:30 (eighteen years ago)

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m64/eljeffebonanza/BLOODDIAMONDS.jpg

ghost rider, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:32 (eighteen years ago)

DAMMIT I WAS ABOUT TO DO THAT

HI DERE, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:34 (eighteen years ago)

That picture is amazing.

ENBB, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:34 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, I'm with Mark C and ENBB. I gave up smoking about four years ago because I started having a few weird health problems (some of which were heart-rate-related), and so I told myself "Dude, don't press your luck." And that worked for two years, because I basically convinced myself that smoking would KILL me. And then, when the issues mostly went away, I quietly told myself, "Well, I guess I can have a couple now and then." And so I took it back up again. I'm still mostly a social smoker -- usually only on weekends, when I'm drinking -- but I think it would be really hard for me to give it up completely because I don't have that voice in my head anymore.

jaymc, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 19:48 (eighteen years ago)

Try hypnotherapy. It works.

Hard like armour, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 22:26 (eighteen years ago)

I think you have to believe in it, even just a little bit, to have it work. I am too hard-wired against those things.

Abbott, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 22:29 (eighteen years ago)

I agree, the hypnotherapy just reinforces your own willpower.

Hard like armour, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 22:32 (eighteen years ago)

not to shit on him or anything, not oo much, but i should point out that jaymc is a huge hypochondriac, and his concerns about health are not the kind that actually make people die.

kenan, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:37 (eighteen years ago)

Er, they actually can. not like in a day, but yes. His concerns will push me to the brink after they turn into my concerns.

Abbott, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:43 (eighteen years ago)

ok, so has anything heard of this thing where like they chainsmoke (alright pack a day or so)(+ drink heavily) for a few years & then rather suddenly not only lose any craving whatsoever for cigarettes but actually can't smoke them at all because their lungs or throat or something just can't handle them?? cuz this has happened to me over the past week or so & its kind of freaky. thx docs.

oh ps im (by now only very very mildly) asthmatic but this never seemed to matter at all before. cumulative thing or whut?

deeznuts, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:49 (eighteen years ago)

That has been what caused a lot of people I know to quit smoking, or vaguely sauntering away from it, anyway.

Abbott, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 00:54 (eighteen years ago)

Are you folks all solitary drinkers?

As much as I like drinking in groups, I'm more fond of being alone.

Michael Servetus, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 06:10 (eighteen years ago)

...that way I can watch as many Red Dwarf episodes as I want. ;-)

Michael Servetus, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 06:11 (eighteen years ago)

I'm skilled at both.

Drooone, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 06:11 (eighteen years ago)

But which are you more fond of?

Michael Servetus, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 06:12 (eighteen years ago)

I think I'd rather drink with other people, as I find drinking to be a fairly social exercise...most of the time.

Drooone, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 06:18 (eighteen years ago)

I do enjoy solitary boozing after a shit day at work however.

Drooone, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 06:19 (eighteen years ago)

I mostly drink ... well not alone but at home at least. I do like drinking out in company too tho.

Trayce, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 06:25 (eighteen years ago)

I generally find when I drink in public (even after a few beers) I do something incredibly embarrassing. Last week I drunkenly fell over and head butted a random pub-goer. If I stay home its always a win-win for all involved.

Michael Servetus, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 06:50 (eighteen years ago)

Weeknights = solitary. Weekends = group action, which ends with me heading to Crazytown and shouting things such as "I LOVE HAVING TWO BALLS IN MY MOUTH" to my neighbours.

Hard like armour, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 07:30 (eighteen years ago)

Stopped smoking 2 years ago, and drinking 18 months ago. I used to be (for a long while) a bottle-of-wine-a-day merchant, and it got worse after a while. My last night on the drink I got through two bottles of wine and a litre bottle of whisky. Funnily, though, it wasn't a health thing that triggered my stopping; I just got to a point when I realised that I didn't want to be a pissed idiot all the time.

I was lucky, I guess. For me, drinking became something I genuinely didn't want to do, and not doing it became as easy as, ooh, say, not poking needles through my eyes. What I would say, though, is I think that my main problem was that I didn't have an 'off' switch. If you can drink to moderation, you're ok; if you can't, it may be time to start thinking about things. If you want to, that is.

peteR, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 10:10 (eighteen years ago)

ugghhhhhhhh

strongohulkington, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 14:19 (eighteen years ago)

perhaps i'm turned around on this whole temperance thing

strongohulkington, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 14:19 (eighteen years ago)

I used to drink way too much, way too often to the point where it made me unhappy. The bottom line is that when I get too drunk, it's just not pretty. Unfortunately, I don't have that switch that most people have that tells them to stop drinking - I just keep going. I am certain that this is an inherited thing. Last year I didn't drink for about six months. Lately, I've been drinking maybe once or twice a week and limiting the amount I drink to 3 or 4 drinks. So far, so good. I think that I can keep this up but if starts being difficult then I think I'll just give it up for good.

-- ENBB, Tuesday, April 3, 2007 8:22 AM (Yesterday)


this describes me almost exactly! Even down to the inherited part. except i've never given up for six months. i rather think that would do me a lot of good if i were to do that though. but i seem to be able to handle the moderation thing ok just now so maybe i'm ok.

gem, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 14:24 (eighteen years ago)

two weeks pass...
REVIVE!

Michael Servetus, Saturday, 21 April 2007 06:26 (eighteen years ago)

nine years pass...

step one is admitting you're powerless

rip van wanko, Friday, 11 November 2016 00:07 (eight years ago)

drank through W. can't burn the same bridges I just rebuilt....

PappaWheelie V, Friday, 11 November 2016 15:09 (eight years ago)


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