There are a million and 1 reasons to Live with Addiction and only one to get Sober.

 By: David E. Carroll Jr

There are a million and one reasons people give for getting drunk.
1. My girlfriend left or is being mean to me.
2. My boyfriend is a prick.
3. My wife won't sleep with me anymore.
4. My husband is a prick.
5. My girlfriend is sleeping with my wife.
6. My husband is a prick.
7......
I could go on and on but the reality of the situation is people don't need a reason to get drunk and act stupid they do it because that is what they want to do.
I once had a friend who would get drunk every time we went out and would flirt with any man or woman who would look her way and would always get me into fights by telling the men I was being mean to her. I can't tell you how many times I pulled her out of situations which occurred because she was drunk and stupid . The next day she would not remember anything because at some point she would blackout. The funny part is that while blacked out she functioned perfectly, even to the point of driving a car. I followed her home many nights and she never swerved or gave any indication that she was wasted.

Some people drink everyday yet they deny having a drinking problem.
If you can not go a day without drinking some sort of alcoholic beverage then you have a drinking problem.

Certain people have asked how I can tell them to stop drinking because it is controlling their lives when I drink.  Well there is a difference in drinking a couple of beers or a glass or two of wine with dinner at times or getting drunk a couple of times a year vs drinking until I blackout a few times a week. Very few people I know drink to this extent but if you are one of them you have a problem and need to get help. 

There was a period of time when in my late twenties/early thirties (80's and 90's) I found myself drinking everyday and most days, while at work. Once I started this behavior I quickly found out I wasn't alone and started learning from my co-workers how to disguise my drinking. It was easy, a large white Styrofoam cup could be used to hide a Daiquiri or disguise a smaller cup with a cocktail inside. I had sales reps bring me bottles of liquor which we would sometimes consume behind the lock doors of my office. I can not even start to tell you how many deals I made while inebriated and no one seemed to care. Same goes for smoking pot, there were many days when my assistant and I would get high at lunch and go back to work, lock the door to my office and sleep until it was time to knock off.

Many of those days are remembered through an alcoholic haze but when I decided enough was enough, I quit cold turkey for over two years I did not drink a drop of alcohol. Not many people can say they have gone from being drunk every night to stone sober for two years. I did the same thing with cigarettes, I smoked on and off for over 25 years and when I decided to quit for good, I stopped and have only smoked a couple of times in the past 3 years.

The hardest thing I have ever tried to stop was my feelings for the girls and women in my life whom I have been romantically involved.
Addiction to Love is brutal.

The one reason I have for staying sober is:(fill in the blank)_______________________.

Valentine's Day SUCKS!!!

VD besides standing for "venereal disease" is just another day which has been co-opted by big business to make people's lives seem more relevant than they really are; so to all the people who will make the flower vendors, jewelers and candy manufacturers happy today just remember there are 364 more days in the year that you have to keep the promises you make or they are meaningless. Have A Happy Valentine's Day!

Blogging 101

Apparently to be a successful blogger one must:

1. Write about something which interest other people. Forget that nonsense and find a subject which interests you; a subject which lights a fire in the pit of your stomach and write about it with enthusiasm. If you do this the audience will find you. Remember the cliche, "If you build it they will come?" Well try it and see if it doesn't work.
2. Do it everyday. This is the one lesson I have not fully incorporated into my daily routine.
3. Be funny or sarcastic. Humor and criticism seem to sell especially if directed at    the agreed upon target of the day. It seems like the target changes at a pretty rapid clip in the caffeine fueled blogosphere.  These people of whom many have been legally diagnosed with ADD or ADHD  jump from one subject to another like rabbits on hot asphalt. This is not by any means a denigration of folks with any sort disorder because I have some of the same tendencies so I understand them better than people who are just normal.
4. Forget being modest.  You have to sell people on the fact that you are worth their time. There are literally millions of blogs in the blogosphere where a person can spend their time so why would they choose to spend it with you? What makes you special?

Updates to follow"

Still surviving my teaching gig.

This is the third semester and I have settled into my position as a teacher. There were times during the Fall that I swore that I was not coming back in January. I am going to be 49 years old in 10 days and have been in the workforce since I was 15 years old and dealing with 6th grade and 10 grade children has tried my last nerve. I can say for certain that I am better for having weathered the storm. I have taken the reins and am finally guiding them down the path I want them to take instead of being dragged along behind them.

I am not a parent so I do not have the luxury of having dealt with teenage attitude on a daily basis. In the past if a kid gave me attitude I would either send them to their parents or I would walk away but when you have other kids sitting there looking at you, while a kid is giving you lip, to see how you react, it is a different situation altogether. At first, I would get mad and threaten to pound them into the ground which they knew was not going to happen, then I resorted to sending them to the office for a paddling (yes a paddling), now all I do is look at them and smile like I know something they don't know and that seems to work in most cases. :)

Funny thing is I have a couple of kids with behavior issues in other classes yet they don't give me a problem. In my spelling class, I let the girls who are a little better at the material work together while I take the boys and work them like a coach or drill instructor and they seem to respond better than if I let them just get lost among the other students.

God Bless the Children

1/30/2013
Still here. Just added sixth and ninth grade Health and 11th grade Economics to the list of subjects I am teaching. This means I am have both ninth grade and 6th grade Health in the same class at the same time. The only way this is possible is to let the kids work at their own pace using quizzes and worksheets and when they get to something they do not understand I am there to guide them. Since this is basically homeschooling curriculum it makes "teaching" certain classes much easier than if I were having to orally present the information. Even the kids who are usually much slower seem to be able to work this way because as long as they can read and comprehend they stay busy.

The only problem I have now is keep butts in the seats. The kids come to me after Lunch and P.E., full of Energy and Sweet Ice Tea which makes keeping them in their seats about as easy as sticking a limp noodle up a Wild Cat's Rear. It can be done but there is a high degree of certainty that someone is going to walk away at the end of the day with some injuries and it is usually me.

Jeremiah 2:13

5 am this morning I was awaken by the words, "JEREMIAH 2:13." My first thoughts were, "What do they mean and why am I receiving them?" Rolling over and attempting to return to sleep became futile because the words were burning in my brain. Instead of finding my bible I decided to look the verse up on the computer. This turned into a study session which began with these words, For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. 

Finally after posting the verse to my Facebook page  for comments the frequency of the repetation of the words in my mind subsided. I understand what they mean now but this morning I was not so sure.

I have struggled many years with judging others harshly for what I perceive as hypocritical acts when in reality, I am the hypocrite. 

Great News...

Today my mom received the news that she is once again free of breast cancer.

She has fought a good fight and deserves some good news. My love for this woman knows no bounds.

The Valley of Death...

 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Psalms 23:4

This past week the deep southern portion of the United States was battered for a couple of days by Hurricane Issac and at times it may have felt like the Valley of Death for some folks. Many lost all of their worldly possessions in the flood waters yet they feared no evil because they know that material things can be replaced. The folks who believe in a  loving God know that Romans 8:28 says, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

It is during times like these that our faith is tested and people will start to grumble but if we stand fast on the promises of God and remember that in Hebrews 13:5 the bible says, "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" we will be ok.