It seems like just about every major television channel these days has their own version of an addiction recovery show. The first was the A&E hit, Intervention that is now in it’s eighth season. During season five there was a boy on the show that actually went to my high school here in Phoenix.
The latest additions are on VH1 and are Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab and Sober House. As a person in recovery myself, every once in a while it is nice to get a look at other addicts to remind myself where I was and where I have come. Keeps me humble to keep doing the work I need to do to stay sober.
As I get more sober time under my belt, I find that the face of my addiction takes on different forms.
My former love of alcohol has now become junk food. It is fair to say that my diet is not balanced in any way. I can go days without eating a single fruit or vegetable. I am well aware of the toll this can take on my heath in the long run. However, I have never met a donut I didn’t like.
Just the other day I went to Target and picked up a pack of Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies. The entire bag was gone within a few hours and I didn’t share them with anyone. Even at the time I knew that what I was doing wasn’t normal and yet I still couldn’t stop myself. I have done this with Oreos as well.
The time I used to spend smoking each day is now spent on painting my nails. On an average week, I change the color combo at least twice. I say combo because I always paint four of my nails one color and my ring finger a different color. I often annoy myself with how anal I am about the appearance of my nails. I can be seen filing my nails in class most days in preparation for polishing them.
At the end of the day I may annoy myself and others around me with my obsessive junk food consumption and nail rituals, but I am no longer harming myself or my loved ones with my drinking problem. I only wish I could channel part of my addiction into working out!
Born March 13, 1999, today Mary Jane would have been 11 years old. She was born in Phoenix, Arizona and has since lived all over Southern California as well as a short time in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mary Jane was fortunate enough in her short time on earth to have traveled to many exciting places such as the Fijian Islands, Hawaii, New York, San Francisco, and several different parts of Mexico. She never got to live out her dream of visiting Miami. Mary Jane loved to dance and be the center of attention at all times. She was an only child and is not survived by any relatives.
Mary Jane was a huge part of my life for many years. She was my drunken alias and the reason she is no longer with us is because I have been sober since June 21, 2009. Anyone that came in contact with her over the past 11 years can attest to the fact that she will not be missed.
Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day to enjoy some fun in the sun before it gets too hot and what better way to do that, then a spring training game in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale.
Spring training in Arizona brings out all kinds of pseudo sports enthusiasts. It is more of an excuse to get wasted during the day without feeling too much guilt. Some of the teams that call Arizona home for spring training include the Giants, White Sox, Mariners, Brewers, Athletics, Padres, Rockies and new this years are the Reds. Of course this is the Diamondbacks home year round.
Taking in the sights from the Charro tent, I was able to grub on free food and drinks while watching the game. While I was busy taking advantage of the free bottled water, the guys next to me were definitely loving the free beer. In years past, I would have been right there with them.
I ended up leaving before the game was over, due to my poor choice in clothing and how warm it was outside. I also wanted to beat the drunkards out of the gates. After seeing the intoxicated state of people when I left and the number of bicycles out front, I wonder if anyone ever gets pulled over riding home.
It was that time of year again, time to get your game face on and pretend to be interested in golf. Formally known as the FBR, the Phoenix Open was this year sponsored by Waste Management and was called the Waste Management Open. I found that ‘Wasted Management Open’ was far more fitting based on what I observed over the weekend.
Friday was fairly mellow in crowd attendance. This being my first year attending the open sober, I didn’t exactly know what to expect. I was hanging out most of the day in the Family Pavilion. I got the pass from a friend so I’m not entirely sure who was supposed to be up there. It had a hosted bar along with an amazing food spread and the cleanest port-o-potties. I found myself talking to several players from the Phoenix Coyotes was told this only after I nearly said something really embarrassing about all their missing teeth. Apparently, when you get a tooth knocked out it’s really cool to go in public without it. One of the guys even placed his behind his ear while he ate a hotdog.
I would like to suggest a name change for the Birds Nest, which is the “club” everyone goes to after they are done pretending for the day to be interested in golf. I found something along the lines of Cougars Den to be more fitting. O.A.R. performed on Saturday night. I don’t know whether it was my sober ears, but the sound was not very good this year. I thought that the music actually sounded best by the port-o-potties to the left of the stage outside the tent. Go figure!
Saturday proved to be much more eventful. Everyone must have been overjoyed that it wasn’t raining and decided to get a little crazy. I found myself mesmerized by a young man that decided to run across the top of the port-o-potties. There must have been a line of around 20 of them and he just leaped from one to the next with what appeared to be ease. He was arrested at the end of his show.
All in all a weekend filled with watching drunk people do all the crazy things I used to do was pretty fun! Next year I will know what I’m in for.
I love the feeling of getting asked out on a first date. A reason to dress up, butterflies in the stomach, the curling of the hair, bragging to all the girls…
Dating and alcohol should without question go hand in hand. Nobody ever wonders why pretzels and beer go together so perfectly and the same respect should be paid to dating and booze.
I spend more time than I’m willing to admit getting ready. I change my outfit at least five times. Change my hair from down to up so many times that it’s no longer even curled.
I know that the outcome of the date will be determined within the first ten minutes. There is no hoping my date gets a little hotter after a few more cocktails, no praying that he sounds more intelligent if I have another glass of wine, no looking forward to his jokes being funny after a couple more beers. Definitely no chance his uni-brow that’s been staring at me all night from across the table will suddenly part ways and join their rightful sides if I have a shot of tequila and close my right eye.
At last, welcome to my world. The world of being sober and dating (trying to at least.)
On the up side, there is no longer an inner moral battle about whether or not I should kiss him on the first date because the answer is definitely no.
As they say, practice makes perfect. I hope to sooner rather than later figure out this whole sober dating thing because this girl has gotta eat!
i had the displeasure of meeting pat burrell of the tampa bay gays (i’ll get to that in a minute) at blue martini on friday. what a meanie!! having a good eye for all things shiny i noticed his phillies championship ring and decided he would be worth talking to (if you’re familiar with the crowd at blue martini that doesn’t sound as shallow). after a minute or two he offered to buy my friends and i a drink. although i don’t drink alcohol, it’s always nice to have someone else get me a redbull…after all i am a starving college student! while we waited for our drinks i started talking to one of his friends who seemed to be really nice and normal. meanwhile, pat was chatting it up with a guy friend of mine and was getting a little too close for comfort. at one point pat grabbed jon’s hand in a not so manly way and asked if he could buy jon a drink (which we had already ordered). jon then took a step back and gave pat a rather quizzical look to which pat responded with, “i’m a man’s man.” what is that supposed to mean? as the drinks arrived jon diverted pat’s attention back to me…lucky me! as i picked up my redbull and thanked him kindly he of course questioned me as to why i wasn’t drinking alcohol. simply put…i don’t drink! his response still gets to me…”if you don’t drink then you must have problems.” pat burrell then exits stage left. i hate to think that pat and his entourage really left the bar on account of me not drinking…oh well!
As a person in recovery myself, every once in a while it is nice to get a look at other addicts to remind myself where I was and where I have come. Keeps me humble to keep doing the work I need to do to stay sober.
