Nice posts, you two.
August, just to clarify: AVRT is not about doing battle. It's a alternate way of describing "cunning, baffling and powerful" (the AV) and "the utter inability to leave it alone" (the beast). When we begin to recognize these aspects of the problem, we learn in one way or another that they can be refuted or will "slip away" with practice. When AA folks acknowledge that one drink can be our total undoing, that's a different way of saying "the beast" is dormant and we're going to keep it in that state.