LB, hope you feel better soon!

R&A, hope your daughter gets better soon!

LDT, Wow! Fantastic for jumping in and participating. I was watching Amazing Race last night and one of their challenges was in India and was Bollywood dancing. I thought there was no way I would be able to get it. I love to dance but I am more of a freestyle dancer. I would love to be able to do it though.

I'm sure you'll get the bugs out of your website Manz. I did a website for a class in college back in 2000. Mine was really basic. I'm sure they've come a long way since then.

LF, good deal on coming up on 2 years! And congrats on your work!


I am looking forward to another day sober and grateful there is no snow here today.

Morning and evening Overs!

Feel better LB!

Having a recharge regroup recoup day.

Looking forward to celebrating a friend's 30th birthday Friday night and looking for present suggestoins. She's a wonderful caring loving woman. Opening the floor: what are some great presents you've gotten?

Have a great day!

Happy Monday all! I hope everybody has a great week.

Manz, I hope you get the site up and going.

Happy Monday! I hope everyone has a blessed day

Happy Tuesday all :lmao yes I still live in the future! Heeheehee

Another sunny morning, off to work in a minute but popped in for my morning catch up here!

Frances...... how about a deluxe spa pedicure voucher? I looooooooooove them.

OK, running now as realise I am late.......................

Ended up calling in today. I hate doing that because of how much i called in in the past while I was drinking...but no voice this morning, fever still, felt like I was ran over by a semi, etc. Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well.

Going to lay back down now that I've had some liquids in me.

Feel better, LB. I know I appreciate it when sick colleagues stay home—don't need the whole office getting sick. Always best to take it easy, minimize how long you'll be sick. Kind of awesome to be calling in for the right reasons, eh? :)

I got up 4 for an early-bird work thingie. Ouch. Can't wait for this day to end so I can go home and veg out on a movie.

Hope everyone's week is off to a good start. LDT may have trouble topping that weekend impromptu dance scene though... that was very cool.

Wow everyone is having a great time except for LB, get well dear.

I had a computer to repair and then a friend called and told me he was coming over with his Bobcat Saturday to do my driveway free because I fixed his computer as a favor, and set up his domain and namers and key words and phrases. Then another friend called and wanted to know when I wanted to do my driveway. Geez! I told him no sweat and I owed him one so I was fixing his computer anyway and I am going over there tomorrow. It is amazing some of the nice folks I have been meeting and hooking up with since I got sober. I vaguely knew all of these folks when i was doing steel building contracting but figured the big developers doing entire subdivisions of their own wouldn't want to hang with a non player in their income levels but apparently I've been adopted into a very small exclusive group of friends. My contribution is my computer and website and marketing expertise. It is very nice to have folks actually want to pay back even or better all the time, and then I feel the same. In other words no losers or users. Nice.

Manz, Dagnabbit! It was Monday afternoon here when you posted that! Stop doing that! Hey I really liked your new website. Hope you find an equitable solution to your dilemma.

Frances, I like the pedicure idea etc but am one of the tokens to keep type of gift giver. Like a silver antique hairbrush from an antique place, or a handheld mirror and comb set? Aw heck I am a guy, wrong choice for gift advice.

R&A hope the rest of the work day went fast for you. I got up early at 9 today, and puttered around. Ahhhh the retired life . . . sux! Enjoy work while you can. I was bored until a friend hurt his back and his wife called to ask me if I could go meet the 7 year old son when the school bus drops him at their house because they were stuck in the ER. I did and took him to deliver a computer to a Pawn shop I fixed over the weekend for a fee. See I do charge, just not folks in my network.

The weather is beautiful here! Pleasant 75, not humid, and bright sunny days since the rain last Friday. The local AFB had its Air Show Saturday and Sunday, so we had jets and vintage aircraft flying over the house off and on all day . The Thunderbirds also performed. No I don't go to them as I worked them for most of my career of 27 years directing traffic or supervising security and crowd control. They had 200,000 people there over two days and the traffic in and out is a nightmare. After 27 years in the AF I am not missing anything.
:c029:

I love this weather!!!!!!!!!!! So do the pups! For those new here i have an album with their pics on my profile page.

Have a great week overs!

LB...feel better!

Manz...I'm actually a natural blond but find it kind of boring. But it's so much easier than coloring!

The office job is getting problematic. I need to quit and find something that doesn't take away from my art so much. I think one of the reasons I stay is to make up for all the crap I did when I drank...gotta let that go:(. Being a martyr isn't what being sober is about.

Don't want to go to sleep because then I wake up and have to go to the office:(

Nite all!

Hey!!

Itchy..... thanks for the feedback about the website. And yeah, I am getting a resolution!

Lotus.... feel better soon hun. When I am sick like that, I grate raw root ginger add boiling water and let it stew until it is a strong as I can take, then add honey(and lemon if you like but I don't) and drink it as a tea. Tastes DELISH and kills just about any bug that is getting ya!

LF.. this is for you....

Hope everybody has a great day. I had a ****** day yesterday. I'm now jobless. Also, a very good friend of mine oldest daughter tried to kill herself Sunday night.

After all that I decided to treat myself to a haircut. I had 10 inches cut off.

LB, I hope you are feeling better.

Sorry to hear about your job Akasha. Unless like LF you wanted to quit anyway. Keep taking care from yourself. I hope you can convince your friend to get professional help, for her daughter, and herself, before her daughter succeeds.

400 days today !!!!!!!!!!!
 

I am posting on my 400th day to share how successful this has all been, and how worth while. I was on a dark windy road with a car that was falling apart to loserville but somehow found a map, a garage that fixed my car, and am now on a steady roadtrip to a sunny destination.

Seriously the change is unreal, we are now saving for a 2013 holiday abroad, dont know where but our budget could pay for any destination on the planet. Im getting a new 50" TV this week, Ive spent a month re-decorating the entire house, ill get some pics up when finished. Im now debt free from being thousands in debt.

The doctor has given me the OK on my liver too, meaning Im physically 100% and mentally 1000%, it was quicker than the quoted 1-2 years so very happy as it means my liver is in the state it was when i was a wee lad. Yes I can drink now if I choose, but the lifestyle we now have means I choose not to be having a beer for some time. My aim was always to get to 2 years and I will acheive it.

Will I have a beer in the future, Sure, and I can hear all the sighs, but as many will know I've handled this against all the advice given by professional and nothing they have said would happen has, I've stuck to my guns, done it my way, but as Ive witnessed on here there is no right or wrong process as long as the end result is the same.

My regret is that I never tried to stop years ago, and I cant get back those years, I wont dwell on what might have been, but rather on what can be. I never thought I could see a future as rosy as it looks right now, yet a still have the same job, same house, same life, the only change is that I no longer drink alcohol.

I really wish each and every one of you here continuing success as I know its in every one of us to suceed.

Kind Reagrds

Simon
(ProfessorFudger)

I'm sorry about your job, Akasha. I was that way for 9 months. I hope to never be back in that place. I wish you the absolute best in your job search.

It must be the season...thank goodness for failed attempts and yes, like Itchy said, I hope that these people, especially those so young get the help they need. I get to work this morning and noticed a friend was on messenger that isn't normally on. Messaged him (old, old friend). Says he's "Not good at all. ive been crying all morning and had to call a councelling hotline". He has a history of severe depression and then goes on to tell me that he had to call a few months back but didn't want to admit it to me because he felt his problems were so miniscule compared to mine (!!!), essentially. I don't know if that's my doing for not listening to him enough or his depression making it seem worse, or more likely than not, a combination of both, since we alcoholics tend to be a bit self centered (and something I try and work on diligently - but lord I am not perfect). Anyways, I've taken (semi) charge of the situation because he couldn't do anything and I knew exactly where he was having been there myself just a couple of short years back. He has been going to a therapist but has been bullheaded about medication. I saw him last spring when I was about 4 months sober and knew he was getting bad then and told him so trying to be a friend and pointing out what he may have not been able to see. While I was having him get his insurance information so I could find him psychiatrists approved by his insurance, his therapist calls him and sets him up an appointment with one and gets a note put in with them for meds immediately as well.
Even though I physically still feel like crap (but at least I'm breathing today somewhat), at least I am in an emotionally sane place (or damn near close) for the first time in....I don't even remember how long.

That is something we ONLY get in sobriety.

I am really thankful from the bottom of my heart today. Truly am.

Granted on the flip side (LOL), I feel like CRAP and still wish I was in bed. I cannot shake this bug. My boss has it now too (or the start of it) as do two other people here in the lab. Gee, you're welcome, everyone. I probably got it last week from the clinic for my stupid back.

Another "fun" story. I'm sitting here eating an orange and the thing squeezes a ton of fresh orange juice all over my shirt. I'm like grrrr....well....that's better than what happened to me in 10th grade. I was going to a Governor's Cup competition (you know - for "smart" kids?) and the night before got drunk as usual. I didn't realize it, but on the way to the restroom to get sick (I didn't know how to control my drinking enough at the time to not get sick then and did a lot) I got sick a bit on the shirt I was going to wear the next day. The next morning I hurriedly got up and didn't pay attention, put the shirt on and went. The whole day, everyone was avoiding me, I couldn't figure out why, I kept smelling vomit, finally I went to the bathroom about an hour left (after all my writing competitions and the fast trivia one too...I can't think of the name) I went and realized what happened. Changed my shirt. Of course it didn't matter by then.

So anyways, this orange squirts on me and all I can think is "There's been worse."

By the way, I ended up winning first place in both writing competitions and going to regionals and winning second place in regionals and going to state. I always wonder to myself what could have been if I hadn't drank. I know I can't do that, however.

Have a good day all.

And Manz - that sounds positively disgusting, so it probably would work. ♥ Thank you!

Welcome aboard Simon! Congrats on your 400 days. I assume you mean sober that number of days as your comment on drinking in the future is a mixed message to me. But regardless and either way I am so happy for you! I remember when you first started posting here and went into rehab.
A belated happy one year Birthday!:a122:

You are so right, in that it makes no difference how you get here, as long as you do. As for the future if you can make it and have somehow defied the odds and become a normie, more power to you. Like the folks who detox and get another month or 12 and relapse the dream is usually that they can get the alcohol self medication bennies without going back to the excess. Me personally I would not even if the man upstairs gave me a pass.

But I did love it when it was voluntary, until it wasn't. You're right too, it is amazing what you can do with a clear head and a forward looking attitude. I have found the same thing in my sobriety.
(quitting smoking 3 packs of 20 a day also helped get me to having a lot more discretionary income :c033: )

Whose that????
<----------

Me:) Changed my picture to blonde:) I could go into a whole philosophical discussion on the symbolism of changing haircolors and embracing my true inner nature, but I'm not going to bore you:)

One of those days...sober again which is always a gift...but some people from my past tend to sneak in from time to time & I continue to be amazed that even though they still drink, they keep moving forward in their life successfully. Meanwhile, I struggle to make ends meet, work a job that is lowing paying & boring, and still continue to do the next right thing. The fall from grace is a tough one, as is starting over. It's times like these that I struggle with my faith & patience.

So sorry to hear that, Akasha. Any leads on a new job?

Itchy....I see you've been around planes. I grew up in the military. We could practically be twins :)....hhmm, maybe not.

Not to be a "Debbie Downer" but here's what I'd like to say today......yesterday I was struck between the eyes ( again ) observing what could have been, and maybe was, ME in my former drinking life.

I walked into my "friend's" and fellow music teacher's studio yesterday to ask a a simple and friendly question. His entire studio smelled like a brewery. I knew instantly that he had either been drinking, and/or was trying to cover up the smell of alcohol.....and he was about to start teaching his young students. Even sober this person has a hair trigger temper, and yesterday was no exception......he bit my head off and jumped my case and I just left his studio. He reminded me of how alcohol fuels anger, hate and self pity. And it made me sad.

It also made me sad to realize I cannot be around that kind of person any longer. I was "holding out", being his friend, hoping he'd maybe get sober, get kind, get grown up. I wanted to see a glimmer of desire.... But he doesn't want that, and so......I move on....again.

On a positive note....I reconnected with an old friend today; one that I had not seen in many years. So it's true that when a door is shut, a window is opened.

My resolve is strengthen!

Thanks for listening.

congrats PF

and looking good LF!

LF.... I could expound on the whole haircut/colour...going back to find myself symbolism thing by reverting to the natural colour I havent seen since age 14....but I wont...oh, maybe I just did kind of! :lmao

Akasha....I am soooo sorry hun about your job. can I share this....

I was one week sober, and some may remember, I was made redundant(given the sack) from my job as a practice manager/optician. I thought my world would crumble, especially as a single mum. But I stayed sober, got better and now work in a completely different field as a Peer Support Specialist. I see that time, losing my job, as one of the biggest gifts that came my way.......

I Hope that just because this door has shut for you....an even better and brighter one will open. :ghug3

It is a public holiday here....a time to remember all those soldiers from NZ & Australia that fell for their countries(and other countries) in war. It is called ANZAC Day, and is symbolised by the red poppy from flinders fields............