Trick Or Treat this Weekend - Weekenders 29 October - 01 November 2021
 

:welcome



Welcome to the Weekenders





Trick Or Treat?

This could be how I used to see our AV.

Once upon a time I thought of drinking as a treat,

Looking after me with a drink after a hard day, or a drink after a good day.


Then my AV got greedy, wouldn’t stop. One drink wasn’t enough anymore and yet again the sly AV had Tricked me into a Treat, but I didn’t know when to stop having no ‘off’ switch.




If you’re celebrating Halloween this weekend, take care not to fall for the Trick And Treating AV (Addictive Voice).

If this is your first weekend sober, or many, come join us for support and chat...as we know the weekends can be a struggle sometimes. (We’re here all week too!) :)

Thank you, Mags! :tyou

Thanks Mags! I’m in!

And shotgun! :)

I’ll not be tricked by the AV this weekend, despite having a birthday party to go to. I’ve volunteered to be designated driver :)

Congratulations on shotgun Willow :c011:

Hi Aly :wave:

I'm in! I have a really busy weekend at work ahead of me and I know how tempting it will be to drink when I'm stressed.

Hi elihoping:wave: good to see you. A busy weekend will be easier and less stressful doing it sober and without an hangover. :)

Thanks Mags :Ghost2:

Dhttps://aminoapps.com/c/horror/page/...mNk2ZJqMgDRV8V

In forthe Halloween weeknd!

Hello! Hooray!

Thanks Mags

Welcome to Weekenders elihoping!

Congratulations on shotgun Willow.

We have a thing in the UK called Stoptober whereby you give up something for October. Back in 2014 I had the bright idea of using this as a way to help me quit drinking so I persuaded family, friends and workmates to sponsor me for a charity. I didn't make it. (reached day 20) I was too ashamed to tell anyone and to ease my conscience I matched everyone's donations and because the total was a fair amount I got invited to the charity's Halloween party when I went dressed as my avatar.

It was my lowest point as I could not stop using willpower and had not discovered that there are other methods for quitting, that would come 2 months later. Quitting for charity when you are an alcoholic is also not advisable.

Alice Cooper is not a bad example, he got sober 40 years ago.

https://youtu.be/HY8wGxj032A

I’ve missed your Alice Cooper avi, Saou. I thought my willpower would get me through my many attempts at stopping and couldn’t understand why it didn’t. Little did I know I was addicted.

Thanks Mags. I'm IN for another sober weekend.

I find Halloween to be a strange celebration. Not because it's macabre (it's not, it's good fun) but because in the UK it's something that wasn't really celebrated until the 90s. Before that it usually consisted of a handful of children going door to door with a lantern made from a turnip (not a pumpkin) with a candle stuck in the middle. Very low key celebrations. Then all of a sudden, in the 1990s, it started to take off as a celebration. Part of the appeal for me back then was that the local pubs started doing a themed halloween night so of course that appealed to the drinker in me. Any excuse for a party / a drink. I know that two of my local pubs have been decorated in halloween paraphernalia but I will be giving it all a wide berth and staying home. And not answering the door to any trick or treaters either!

It's a bittersweet weekend for me as Saturday will be the anniversary of my father's death. Along with my sisters I'm going to the Garden Of Remembrance at the crematorium on Saturday morning to lay some flowers and to reflect on our thoughts for a short while. Afterwards we are going for a meal and will then plan on what to do after that.

I hope everyone has a good, alcohol free, weekend whatever it is you are doing. Especially if like me, come Sunday afternoon / evening you wil be pretending not to be in when all the knocks at the door from the trick or treaters start 🎃

Robbie, I’m sorry Halloween is also your father’s death anniversary. It must be bittersweet for you all. It’s nice you’re visiting the Garden Of Remembrance with your sisters. :hug:

It seems to have shifted more towards what they are calling trunk or treat at community centers or churches. People line up their vehicles, which they have decorated for halloween, and the dressed up kids make the round collecting candy or whatever. There are also subject to be bounce houses and such. I suppose that people feel it's safer than having the kids go house to house in the dark.

Willpower alone never seemed to have a chance at getting me through more than a day or two.

Robbie, sorry you have to sort through the loss of your father.

CityBoy that’s new to us in U.K. though we don’t get many kids at the door anymore, last year some people left treats at the end of their drives to be collected, this year they’re having a Halloween do at the village. I won’t be going though with it being mainly for kids and what with covid being rife in kids over here. :dunno:

I’m in!

Thanks Mags❤️

Congrats on Shotgun Willow!

Trick or Treat in Illinois in my town was kept at night on Halloween. In my old neighborhood the adults got alcohol from the homes, the kids got candy. Then the kids would run around in the evening if it wasn’t bitter cold and the adults would drink and talk around a fire pit. It was fun until it wasn’t.

Will anyone notice me drinking a LOT? I hope I don’t start slurring my words….again in front of my neighbors. I better hold in my bathroom need urge because I’m not sure if I can navigate the steps in to the house without wavering. I hope I can stop so I can remember the whole night.

yeah, none of my hopes came true, except could hide the drinks in thermal coffee cups or thermos.

Glad I’m done.

Mags that was an excellent twist on the AV in your opening. If ever there was a bait and switch, alcohol was it. Such a great analogy and I have never heard it before! "Come here, I will give you sweet things...SMACK."

Sao, also a great post. I don't know if you've ever told the part about the charity contest, but I do know that shame and/or guilt is a pretty good motivator to change my behavior. You don't even want to hear some of the horrible stuff I did in my twenties, all in the name of being a free spirit and under the influence and therefore pretty much brainless.

The gorilla girls: I went back yesterday to make amends with Akenji and Yola. We seem to have let bygones be bygones. That's the thing with animals, they don't appear to hold grudges. Lessons from Nature. I also had the sweetest moment when I was alone at the enclosure and Nadiri was at the window with the tiniest infant. I was so touched by their obvious interest. We touched hands at the window. Teeny tiny baby hands and big huge mama hands. Lovely.

Bim aw, so glad the girls were fine yesterday. Must’ve been a special moment with Nadiri and infant Yola?. :) I agree us humans can learn much from Nature.

I'm in!
Awww, the gorillas know you, Bim. How sweet.

Elihoping, stress was always a big trigger for me. I had to learn other ways to cope with stress when I got sober. In the moment, I have to stop and just BREATHE. Amazing how much it helps. And then just in general, I started exercising more (walks in nature for me), trying to eat better, and get more sleep. Plus, as time went by, there was just less stress because I wasn't messing up my life anymore. Things just got smoother. Stick around and we can help you get through the weekend!

I'm another one of the grinches who turns off the porch light and hides on Halloween. I have reasons - mainly, my dog goes absolutely bonkers and it is just a horrible noisy, stressful day for him. And me. I have to go up and down a flight of stairs to get to my door, unless I sit on the steps (which I used to do sometimes). I have no kids at home to help me hand out candy anymore. My neighborhood is one that families from other parts of town bring their kids to, so it's BUSY. Also - it's a bit of a trigger for me. I used to get half drunk and hand out candy, and then head to the bar to finish off the night and get wasted. Those memories... not so good. Alcohol was no treat for me, after the first few years of actually being able to moderate somewhat. It turned into a real trick - akin to having eggs thrown at the house or other harmful halloween pranks. Glad to be done with all that.

MLD, our last house 20 years ago was in a neighborhood on the edge of town like you describe. On halloween, there would be cars and minivans parked with crews of kids and parents walking the streets. Early in the night, it would be somewhat organized with the parents saying "just get one piece", but towards the end it would have descended into a disorganized chaos with random kids grabbing handfulls of whatever reject candy you had left in the bowl.

Free, before my parents began having such bad health concerns, they lived in a nice neighborhood that had a big block party on Christmas Eve similar to what you describe. They would have a local group performing, someone doing homemade train rides behind a UTV, and other cool stuff. The last year they lived in that house, we were all there on Christmas Eve and of course I got terribly drunk. I'm sure there was plenty of slurring and wavering on my part.

Bimini, you must be related to Jane Goodall. Interacting with animals like that is very cool. I think that individual animals have a distinct personality just like humans. Perhaps some gorillas are more prone to holding grudges while yours are less so? It would be an interesting NATGEO study.

Thanks Mags! I am in!

Welcome Elihoping!
((Robbie)) I hope your day remembering your father is more on the sweet side than the bitter.

I will check in later. Have to get back to work and then go pick up my granddaughter from Kindergarten for the first time :0)

Iike most people in my part of town I live in a block of flats so usually someone in the lobby area gives the kids enough sugar to induce hyperglycaemia rather than they go down the corridors. In something that is both sad and heartwarming there is also a Local Buyers Club Trick or Eat Trail to donate to a local food bank. It received 5 tonnes of food last year and is more necessary than ever right now.

It would be rude not to play this Goth classic during the Halloween Weekender wouldn't it? Singer Ian Astbury is one of us too.

https://youtu.be/kaC6zb2uSOQ