Tuesday, November 25, 2008

I'm just the pink flamingo on the Great Lawn of Life!

November 25 - When body, mind and soul create together, in harmony and in unity, God is made flesh. Then does the soul know itself in its own experience. Then do the heavens rejoice. Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 1, page 175
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Hi-ho y'all. Today was a great day. I was sober all day. Plus I did get up at 10:30 as planned. I did get to the 12:15 meeting. I don't know why I thought I could have lunch with the guys. The meeting is over at 1:15 and my dr. appointment was at 2 PM. I went straight to the DR. and had a grilled cheese at the shop in her building. Only $2.50, not great but it filled the bill at the moment.
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Surgery went well and I was home by 4:15. It is now 11::39 PM and my eye is much better. I can see with a lot of blur, but no spots. This will improve in the next couple of days. I go back on Dec 22 for more pictures to see how the "eyes have it".
Just could not resist that pun, it is so Daave.
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So, I've had a wonderful day, I think my eye is going to be much better, (think positive), I'm sober, I'm going to Rosalie's tomorrow to gobble some Fried Turkey with them, and Mamie and Bessie can run and play in the house, and in the field. I am blessed.
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Happy Thanksgiving to Y'all.
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Tonight I am grateful for:
  • God, My Higher Power
  • My Sobriety
  • Mamie, my schnauzer
  • My Sponsor
  • Your Sobriety
  • God's in my corner, and all is right in the world.
  • All y'all

Now y'all be pretty now, ya heah.(scroll down)

PS. Rosalie does not have a working computer so I won't post again till I get back home Sunday. Buh-bye.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Jangled Nerves - Laser Surger - Trying to be in NOW

November 24 - There is nothing you can't have if you choose it. Even before you ask, I will have given it to you. Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 1, page 117
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Hi, my friendly bunch of alkies. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
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Yep, my nerves are just jangled, frayed, worked, etc. Tomorrow is another Laser surgery on my left eye. I've already had several so I know what to expect, mostly. What I've not experienced is the importance of this one. Since the last one I have not had clear vision from the left eye, it is sort of like looking through cobwebs with little blobs here and there. I can read but there are letters missing. But you have all seen the version of the letters being rearranged in some words and you don't really notice it because the eye recognizeds the word, not the letter order. Well, that comes to mind when I read. Today has been one of the best days as far as vision goes. Tomorrow at 2 PM is the scheduled time. So one more time I am praying for the steady hand of my doctor, and if as before, today's quote has already been applied to the outcome. Sort of a good omen that quote. Could not have been more timely. But then there are no accidents. I have to remember that. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
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So my plan of attack for tomorrow is to be up by 10 AM, early for me, attend the 12:15 meeting at Lambda to get my day centered, have lunch with the guys, be at doctor's office at 2 PM. The eye will be doubled dilated - practically all pupil, and then buzzzet, busssit, etc. She plans to do about 2000 bssits tomorrow. This is not painful, just irritating. I have this 40,000 watt bulb shining in my eye, (well it seems that bright) fighting my impulse to shut my eye to escape the brightness, and trying my best to be comfortable in the schrunched down position in which I have to be. The doctor is a little short Jewish lady who is as sweet and calming as anyone I have ever met. But I am on this little stool that has lowered my butt about one inch from the floor. (WELL) So yes I am schrunched down. Not such a price to pay for the hoped for result. Then it will take two or three days for my vision to clear and be able to tell if the surgery is successful. I just know it will be. God has not been with me this far to let me down, but if it does not turn out the way that I WANT it to I have to accept was IS. Having been in the rooms and the program of Alcoholics Anonymous has given me the honor of witnessing other ALKIES go through trials and tribulations with grace whether or not the outcome is as desired. I know that my spiritual foundation is strong enough to take me through anything. Do I question this. Of course I do but the evidence has been before me too many times and throughout the course of my life, God has given me the strength to be a Survivor. How the hell else would I have gotten to where I am today. Just keeping the faith, in a grateful kind of way. There I go using a Pamism, but I can't think of anyone better to plagiarize than Pam.
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And on top of everything else, this is Thanksgiving week. I am going over to Silsbee, Tex to spend the holiday with my sister Rosalie and nephew Sam. That is always enjoyable. Sam fries two 14 lb turkeys and Rosalie makes about 4 side dishes to go with it. Sometimes I long for a good ole fashioned turkey and dressing and all the trimmings but it is not to be. So I will just be blessed with what is there and be thankful that I have been given another year with my dear Sister. I'm 67 and she is 76. Sam is 43. Actually she lives with Sam, so I should be saying I'm going to my nephews but its hard to change. However, my Mother lived with me for 18 years and I sure would set the record straight if some one said I lived with my Mother. It was my house - so she lived with me. But that is a whole other story. I don't think I have written about that, maybe so, it just does not come up on my current memory search. I'm in the Now. Looking forward to happy days this week and will just accept what comes down the pike for this week. I have learned this in AA and it just does not get much better than this.
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Tonight I am grateful for:
  • God, my Higher Power
  • My Sobriety
  • Mamie, my schnauzer
  • My Sponsor (An avowed Atheist but we click)
  • Acceptance of people, places, and things.
  • Spiritual progress not spiritual perfection.
  • Those that email me their gratitude lists.
  • All y'all
  • 50th High School Reunion in the planning stages. (50?)

Y'all be pretty now, ya heah.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Quiet

Wonderful, wonderful, day. Just so quiet. I just love to listen to the quiet. It always has a message. Today's was just a wisp of thankfulness. Thankful for living in a place that is quiet. Thankful for being able to enjoy the quiet. The quiet is invaded by the sounds of children in the street, but happy children so it's not really an invasion. They are just there. The quiet of today is wrapped in dark and angry looking clouds that just might give us a sprinkle or two. Or NOT.
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Today I feel good. Been under the weather for a couple of days. Woke up Thurdsday Morn at 4AM just soak and wet from sweat. Thank goodness for a King size bed, so I just got up, walked around to the other side, and went back to sleep Changed the sheets when I got up later in the day and thought well, I'm feeling better so it was just a thingy. So I went to the movie to see "Soul Men" which was Bernie Mack's last movie. I did not realize that it was also Isaac Hayes last movie. Got a good dose of the belly laughs. So it was enjoyable. I got to the movie about In the Woodlands about 3 PM and there were at least 100 girls with pillows, blankets, checkers, etc in lines on the floor waiting for the midnight opening of "TwiLight".The movie added two more auditoriums for the Midnight showing for a total of four showings. When I left at 6 PM there must have been a thousand girls and maybe two boys to see that movie. I never did do that kind of stuff. Well we did not have blockbusters when I was a kid. We had "The Durango Kid", Roy Rodgers, Gene Autrey, Hoppalong Cassidy, and those awful kissy movies. YUK. Tickets were 9 cents and popcorn was 5 cents and so were soda pops. Damned that was a long time ago. Come to think of it might near 60 years ago. Hell no wonder I don't feel so good sometimes. Anyway I got home and was just sweating up a good runoff so I just settled in, watched some TV, slefpt, went to bed, slept a lot more, got up about 3 pm. Stayed home all day Friday and Saturday. Feel so much better now. Just can't rush it like I used to back in the day. But I'm so thankful that I was only out of kelter for a couple of three days.
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So, now I'm just back to listening to music and the quiet of the day. Oh, and I might add, enjoying the musice in a quiet sober kind of day. See ya.
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Y'all be pretty now, ya heah.

Friday, November 21, 2008

"Dying" to "Living"

November 21 - How can you think of wasting a moment doing something for a living you don't like to do" What kind of a living is that? That is not a living, that is a dying! Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 1, page 185
I don't know if any of you noticed that there were no periods between my paragraphs yesterday. I do not know why but I'm doing the same thing tonight that I did last night, so there will either be a skipped line between paragraphs or NOT.
I did a lot of dying during my drinking years. I always said I do not like what I did last night, I am not drinking tonight. That was early, early morning as I went to work in much pain and agony. By 10, I was beginning to feel as though the human being in me might break through. Comfort food at lunch helped it reappear. By 2 I was rethinking my morning commitment to myself. By 3 it was "well maybe just one," by 4 I was on the phone talking to my buddies who were as adamant as I was in the early AM and we were talking about meeting as usual for drink or two and leaving the bar no later than 10 PM. By the time we got together at 9 or 9:30 we had all had a few (conservative for several) drinks at home to ensure that we would only have one or two and then head home. Never mind the fact that that never worked, it just did not cross our mind that failure to do anything but that was just not in our way of life. (Disease was not on our horizon then) Of course, we closed the bar, and at least two or three times during the week, the bar owner invited us to stay for an after hours drinky poo. Sounds like a good idea.
And so many times that meant falling out the door of the bar at sunup and getting on the motorcycle and riding home. AND then the phone call to advise my boss (as Pam Says) I am afraid I to come in. Actually I was afraid to go in, Hell if I showed up at IBM as drunk as I was, I'd be canned for sure. So I called in with an excuse that would have wiped out the Hordes of Genghis Khan.Sometimes those excuses were so bad that I knew I could not go in the next day or so, cause no one ever recovered from that disease du jour so quickly.
So yes, I practiced "a dying" while drinking. Part of that dying was my college education. Dead by failure to participate. Promotions were also part of that dying, dying by failure to participate. IF ONLY I had put as much effort into developing my career and preparing for it I could have done so much better than I did. Why after I got sober, I did become a Director of Human Resources, I did get those great bonuses and those raises. A promotion - no, but my years of experience at IBM I somehow managed to retain and got the job because I could answer the right questions during the interview that got me hired to a job that at which I made my living.
My dying was replaced by my living sober. Things only got better and better. Oh I did have to pay the piper for the wreckage of my presence during my drinking days, but I have moved on from days. Today I don't have to use the IF ONLY expression anymore. It does not apply. What happened to me was not an accident, My Higher Power, GOD, sent me many lifelines which I grabbed but never held onto. When my moment of clarity came I was so ready, I was so beaten, and I so surrendered that I dove in and did a hell of lot of work. I knew that the behavior of the past 32 years was dead. I knew that One Day At A Time I would put time plus new experience strength and hope between me and those days of "dying" and I would live a life that I could never have imagined or experienced if I had not grabbed that last lifeline. Last lifeline, yes, there may have been others, but I grabbed onto that one and I am not going to let it go. I know it will not get any better than that.
Tonight I am grateful for:
  • God, my Higher Power
  • My Sobriety
  • Mamie, my schnauzer
  • My Sponsor (we talked today)
  • Growth (not to be confused with girth)
  • Alcoholics Anonymous
  • Y'all

Now you be pretty now, ya heah.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

GROANERS - HUMOR

November 20 - A true teacher is not the one with the most knowledge, but one who causes the most others to have knowledge.
Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 1 page 115
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Hey y'all, I just added another day to my sobriety. How about you?
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Just feeling a little whimsical today so below is a list of Groaners that I know DAAVE will be jazzed by. Hopefully you will enjoy them also.
  • The roundest knight at King Aurhur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
  • I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleution.
  • She was only a whiskey maker, but he lover her still.
  • A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
  • The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
  • No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
  • A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
  • A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
  • Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
  • Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
  • A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
  • Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

On page 132 of the Big Book, sixteen lines down and sixteen lines up is this phrase " We absolutely insist on enjoying life." One of my faves.

"We are not a glum lot"

So we think cheerfulness and laughter make for usefulness, Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into merriment over a seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn't we laugh" We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others.

Today I am grateful for:

  • God My Higher Power
  • My Sobriety
  • Mamie, my schnauzer
  • My Sponsor
  • Movies
  • A very good sense of humor. I have a lot of laugh lines and yes somethings are that funny.
  • You

Now y'all be pretty now, ya heah.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

November 18 - Nothing occurs in your life--nothing--which is not first a thought. Thoughts are like magnets, drawing effects to you. Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 1, page 188.
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Hi, y'all. How the hell are you? Saw a bunch of you over at Scott W.'s wishing him a Happy 5th Birthday. Isn't that a glorious thing to do, wishing someone another happy year of sobriety. I can't think of anything better to do. Well, of course that they will be there next year to be wished the same for one more year, etc. etc. etc. I have no doubt that Scott will be there next year to celebrate #6. You know why I think that? Scott works a very good program. He has and uses his sponsor. He goes to meetings. He hangs with the with the winners. Last and not least, he is my friend.
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Last week my friend Larry was here for the week. He was with me for three nights and three days and then at his Mom's the next three days an two nights and then back here for two nights and two days. We talked a lot and then some. We went to Galveston. Parts of Galveston was like being in a ghost town. But there was evidence that a lot of work had been done. There was damage everywhere. Most restaurants of the Seawall were back in business. It was strange not to see the Balinese room hanging over the Gulf. The Strand was totally closed, most business gutted and the signs of fixing em up was evident in looking in the windows. West beach was the strangest of all. Miles of beach homes up on their stilts with most having no sign of stairs and a lot of them minus their decks. A lot of these homes were two three, or four bedroom houses. Some of them were huge mansions up on stilts - sort of Texas's answer to Newport R.I. Not quite, but where else but Texas would you find a colonial mansion on stilts (Tara by the sea) with a 6 car garage underneath. Now those garages were not enclosed, something to do with building codes so water and wind can go under and not take the house down. Those are some sights one just does not forget. We went down there because Larry's maternal family settled in Galveston in the 30's when they came over from Wales. Their old homes were still there intact in the middle of the city.
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Man, West Beach had certainly changed from 45 years ago. In those days a group of us used to go down there to camp out, drink, and have a good time. Many a drunk Saturday night was enjoyed on West Beach. And if we did not spend the night camping down there, we drove down on Sunday as Stewart's Beach was where anyone that was anyone gathered on Sundays at noon. At two o'clock the gay section on the beach was just abandoned and off we went to this little Greek bar over on the lower Strand to drink and dance the afternoon away. That place was small, but we could pack a couple of hundred sweaty, bathing suit clad people in there and have room to dance on the postage size dance floor. Sometimes we just danced in place. Drunk Driving was a sport back in those days. If you got stopped, you were hardly ever taken to jail unless it was really really bad, like puking on a cop bad. Anyway at 6 PM it was empty out Louisa's and drive the 65 miles back to Houston to a little bar out in the Village for the 8 0"clock beer bust. God forbid we sobered up. We'd stop in Galveston, get a couple of six packs for the drive and head out for Houston. Larry was right in the mix of all of this. However, he grew out of the heavy drinking. I did not. He is one of those people that can nurse a beer for an hour, pour it out because it is warm and get another cold one. Probably in the course of a day, he will probably drink two beers. I used to think he was a bit off - in secrecy of course.
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Larry is one of those friends that knew me back when, and through all of my drinking, my stunts, and never threw me away. He told me several times he thought I had a problem, but I just tuned that part out. He is also one of those friends that was glad as hell when I fell into the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous. I've been especially blessed to have long term friends that still are my friends. The thing that probably kept those friendships going is the fact that we lived in different cities. But you know it does not matter what city we are in, a drunk is a drunk is a drunk, be it LA, SF, HOU, NYC etc. I am so fortunate that I am an alcoholic in recovery. And hey, if I wasn't I would not have been blessed by knowing all y'all. Now that is one of the blessings of the program and it just don't get much better than that.
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Tonight I am grateful for:
  • God, my Higher Power
  • My Sobriety
  • Mamie my schnauzer
  • My Sponsor (whom I owe a telephone call)
  • Scott's 5th Birthday
  • Lambda
  • All y'all
  • Memories

Now y'all be pretty now, ya heah.

Monday, November 17, 2008

One More Day Of Sobriety

November 17 -- This is the greatest barrier to your enlightenment: You think you already know the truth! You think you already understand how it is. So you agree with everything that falls into the paradigm of your understanding, and reject everything which does not. And this you call learning. Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 1, page 195
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Hi there, my alkie friends. Today is Monday and I am doing my best to live in the now after the awful event of this past weekend. I am just so thankful that I am not one of those people that must pickup and start over. I am blessed.
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I am very protective and dedicated to my sobriety. Nothing and I mean nothing gets in its way. I had a very good friend back in Los Angeles and I had to give him up in my second year of sobriety. He started indulging in drugs (again) and I did not feel safe in his home or his company. I told him this and told him to call me when he came to his senses. He never did. I got a call from an attorney handling his estate that he had died of an overdose a couple of years ago. I had sent him a Christmas card last year and the atty called me to advise me of his death. SUCH A WASTE. I do not in the least feel at all responsible for contributing to what happened to him. I had to protect number one - ME. I have a commitment to sobriety and have worked to live with, by, and for the messages and the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. It has served me well. It works. If I work it, and I have no plans to stop. I have a conscious contact with my Higher Power, God, on a daily basis. I have an understanding and acceptance of myself which I never had before sobriety. Do I want to endanger that. HELL NO. It just does not get any better than that.
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Tonight I am grateful for:
  • God, my Higher Power
  • My Sobriety
  • Mamie, my schnauzer
  • My Sponsor
  • Kind words and encouragement from you bloggers
  • Long long long term friends
  • Tomorrow is class 2 & 3 of my diabetic education(12 years late)
  • Acceptance

Y'all be pretty now, ya heah.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Memories - Sylmar California

November 16 - You may do as you wish without fear of retribution. It may serve you, however, to be aware of consequences. Consequences are results. Natural outcomes. These are not at all the same as retributions or punishments. Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 1, page 42
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I pulled this headline from Sundays news from www.dailynews.com from the San Fernando Valley, Ca. The headline "SYLMAR MOBILE HOME PARK DEVASTATED BY FIRE" With 600 households, well-manicured lawns and luxury amenities, Oakridge Mobile Home Park was no trailer park.
The gate community, most of which was reduced to ash by a roaring wildfire that swept through Symar hills late Friday and early Saturday, featured a putting green, an Olympic-size swimming pool and tennis courts. It wasn't just a mobile home park, it was the Beverly Hills of mobile homes.
Oakridge Mobile Home Park was my home for the four years before I returned to Houston in 2004. Of all the many houses I have had over the years, this house was my most favorite. The house was a three bedroom, 2 path home in 1848 square feet. It had a utility room, formal living and dining rooms and a family room that connected to a lovely kitchen with a breakfast area. The home was all electric. I bought some of the furniture I have today to fit that house. I have very few small pieces. I am not bragging just telling it like it is. I love the home I have today but my mobile home in the Sylmar Hills is by far my favorite of all time.
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I celebrated my 10th year of sobriety in that house. I celebrated my 60th Birthday in that house. I had great neighbors whom I knew and talked and visited with. It was a very quiet neighborhood. The park was very strict in the colors you could paint your home and any and all additions, major changes, and landscaping had to be approved by the park management. All of the roofs had to be the same medium brown shingles that had a special treatment to have a continuity in design. These homes were from 1100 square feet to 4200 square feet. This may seem like a pain in the ass, but it was designed to keep the property values. I had a very nice, but small back yard, fenced and Dolly just loved to play out back. It was not unusual to see deer, or rabbits, foxes, or other wild animals wondering through the park. I had 36 rose bushes that I had to do very little to except keep them fed and watered. I loved my home and my intentions was to live there until I was boxed and planted.
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However, that was not to be. I was on medical leave from March 26 2002 until I was medically retired in July 2004. With my new fixed income, it was apparent that I could no longer enjoy my beloved home in Sylmar. I put it on the market and it sold in one day. There was a 30 day escrow and that just sailed through. Seven days before the close there was another fire that came within two blocks of the park. The streets were covered with white powder, it looked like snow. Rather an eerie sight to see in the first week of August in 110 heat. I was very shaky during that fire and we were put on evacuation notice and then the winds just stopped and we were spared. The following week, the movers came, packed me up and I drove away from that home on Friday, August 13, 2004.
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I spent the night at my friend's Dana that night. He lived around the corner on the street down the hill from me. And I left there on Saturday August 14, 2004. Dana sold his place in June of 2005 and Moved to Maine. He called me yesterday and told me about the fire. I was wrapped up in the CNN and MSNBC news for a good bit of yesterday. I did see my former home on tv yesterday and it was burning. I was just heartsick. Early this afternoon Dana called and told me about the internet story so I logged on and we went to the photo site. We looked at the photos together and commented on the various pictures, that was where so and so lived and that is where the clubhouse was, etc. Then we got to the aerial photos and he located his old house. His whole street survived the inferno. The street behind his home was my street and the first three houses on the right side of the street were gone. The first few houses across the street were gone. My house was the third house from the corner. GONE.
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I cried a few tears, my stomach was in a knot, and then I felt a calm knowing that what I was looking at was my past. A so called wreckage of my past. Looking at the houses that were left standing I compared it to when I got sober. There was this terrible last weekend of drinking and then I had my moment of clarity and have almost 17 years of sobriety. Looking at that picture just brought it all into perspective. The block after block of total destruction and then at my old house the destruction ended and a row of houses sort of represented the new experiences, strength and hope I have found in Alcoholics Anonymous. I'm not being a Drama Queen, just telling it like it is. I have my memories of those days in Sylmar Cal. I feel for all those people that lost their homes, many of them I never knew, and many of them I did know. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of them. The park will probably rebuild just as it did after the Northridge Earthquake of 1994 and there will be new people to enjoy the beauty of a very special neighborhood.
God has blessed me and I know He will bless them.
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Tonight I am Grateful for:
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God, my Higher Power.
My Sobriety.
Mamie, my schnauzer.
My sponsor.
Experience Strength and Hope from last nights Speaker at Lambda.
Dinner with Daave and Rick
My friends.
A wonderful week with Larry.
Memories.
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Y'all be pretty now, ya heah.

Michael, Michael Patrick, Michael David, PatrickDavid, etc.

And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation -- some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God's world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober, unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes. Alcoholics Anonymous, Acceptance was the ANSWER, page 417, 5th Edition.
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So much has come to light within the last two days. Some of it painful and some of it absolutely disgusting. The disgusting will be first - Many of us have been viciously attacked by a mental malcontent named Michael from Australia. He has also gone by Patrick, Michael Patrick, and his latest edition or twist is Michael David. I have received several comments from him this past week all designed to draw me into a fight. But Michael, the devil from down under, I accept the fact that you are who you are, you write what you write, and in reading page 417 or 449 I realize you are one of the person, places, or things I must accept. It is no accident that you have chosen to try to torment me. God has chosen this time in my life to have you cross my path. If I question your existence then I question God's wisdom and you or nothing else that exists, has existed, or will exist will ever bring me to something that is so blasphemous. Michael, Michael Patrick, Michael David, or whatever you choose to call yourself at this time or ever, please know that I forgive you and ask in my prayers for God to Bless you.
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Now you be slimy mother fucker, ya heah.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I'll Be Back

Hi. It is quite hectic with my friend larry being here. Have really enjoyed his being here. I have not really had time to post of to read y'alls posts, but I should be back on track come Friday.

Y'all be pretty now, ya heah.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Sobriety Cocktail

November 10 - The original wisdom surrounding suffering in silence has become so perverted that now many believe (and several religions actually teach) that suffering is good, and joy is bad. Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 1, Page 108.

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Today I informed of a new blogger, Dave, and I dropped by to visit. I liked what he had to say and the responses to this new blogger from several other bloggers. Wow, what support. Some talk was about cocktails etc. but mostly program. When I left my remarks, I did a Sobriety Cocktail. It just came to me. I like it so, I decided to make it my post for tonight.

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SOBRIETY COCKTAIL.

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12 parts Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
12 parts Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous
12 parts Principles of Alcoholics Anonymous
12 parts Promises of Alcoholics Anonymous
one dash of experience
one dash of strength
one dash of hope
Voila! Sobriety.
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Tonight I am grateful for:
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God, my Higher Power
My Sobriety
Mamie, my schnauzer
My Sponsor
New bloggers
My other fellow bloggers (females included)
A fantastic weekend
6,108 days of sobriety.
Lambda
Serenity when the devil from down under leaves me notes.
Growth that affords me the above.
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Y'all be pretty now, ya heah

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Many people choose to believe that God communicates in special ways and only with special people. This removes the mass of the people from responsibility for hearing My message...and allows them to take someone else's word for everything. Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 1, pag 6
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Just a short howdy and check-in. Larry got here yesterday and we have talked and talked and talked and talked some more. I dropped him at Joe's Sat nite and went to Lambda for the 8 PM speaker meeting. Sean shared his experience strength and hope. He has 3-1/2 years sobriety and really has a solid grasp on what sobriety is. After the meeting I went back to Joe's to join them for a late supper. They got in a very good 2 -3 hour visit by themselves. I'll talk about that later. Supper was very good and we left Joe's at 11:30 PM. Tomorrow we are driving down to Galveston and hopefully have lunch there and then back to H for Dinner.
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Not much else happening. It is good to have Larry here. I will post again on Monday Eve.
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This AM I am grateful for:
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God, my Higher Power.
My Sobriety
Mamie, my schnauzer.
My Sponsor.
The fact that I have friends that have stuck with with all through the drinking years, still love me, and never passed judgement on me.
Friends of any duration, they are a wonder and a blessing.
Y'all.
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Y'all be pretty now, ya heah!

Friday, November 7, 2008

Too Pooped to Post

Hi. Ran out of day so no post tonight. My friend Larry is coming in tomorrow from San Francisco. We have been friends for over 40 years. We were neighbors here in Houston in the 1960's. My house is not in the shape I would like it to be for company, but then he is a good friend and will just have to over look this overweight undersighted deenergized tired and run down old queen. At 10 AM I am leading the Friday AM meeting which is at my sponsor's house this week. There's usually 6 - 8 of us and we're age group 50 - 85 and we know each other quite well. There is a sense in the sharing here that is not in the other meetings I attend. I am really with my peers.
Have a great and sober Friday. I know I will. Harrumph, for no post today I certainly managed to push one out. I just don't know nothing about birthin' blogs.
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Y'all be purty now, ya heah.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Hmmmmmmmm.

November 5 - Joy, truth, love. These three are interchangeable, and one always leads to the other. I matters not in which order they are placed. Meditations from Conversations with God, Book 1, page 5.
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Have not been in a posting mood since Halloween. I hit a tree on my broom. Picture on Daave's blog.
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Back in the 70's there was a comic strip about an alcoholic old witch named Broom Hilda. I loved that strip. She was always falling off her broom or there would be a caption with a "hic" coming from above. I wonder if she ever showed up on a posting board in the rooms of AA?
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Not a lot to say tonight except that It is so great to have enjoyed another day of sobriety, to have attended a speaker meeting at Lambda at noon, and to have finished another day on the best side of the grass. Doesn't get much better than that.
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Tonight I am grateful for:
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God, my Higher Power.
My Sobriety
Mamie, my schnauzer.
My sponsor.
My cat scan on my head being negative for a concussion.
My Blood Pressure being under control for 2 days.
An additional BP medicine Exforge that did the job.
My sugars are under control.
My blood work was exceptionally good.
My sight in my left eye is improving.
Modern medicine.
My retirement health benefits and medicare.
The election is over and done.
79 days to inauguration.
All Y'all.
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Y'all be pretty now ya heah!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008