Soberlicious, I agree with most of your post.
I'm still going to stand by my statement about your bullcrap detector. If it was as finely honed as you say, it would have shut down the AV at the initial shenanigans. There would have been no addiction and certainly no progression had you called bullsh*t on it right away.
This is simply wrong. It oversimplifies the path taken to addiction to the point of caricature, so we're never to going to agree on it.
"Trimpey's an idiot. He gets under my last nerve. This sh*t doesn't work."
The second statement allows a tiny crack in the door for future use. Therefore, it's AV.
I think I've taken great pains in this thread to separate my observations of the book and author from my opinion of and adoption of the path.
Indeed, I'm on day 9 without issue, and fully expect to maintain it forever.