Sober on the Playa

Elorrum · Post by **Elorrum** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 6:20 pm

yeah, there's places in my brain, where I really shouldn't walk alone.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 6:25 pm

Elorrum wrote:yeah, there's places in my brain, where I really shouldn't walk alone.

your never alone if you reach out just a little.. there are a bunch of us out here to reach back

bigbluedoggy · Post by **bigbluedoggy** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 6:37 pm

Lots of sober people out there and many of us know each other. Don't be afraid to ask for help on the playa! Find me and say hi!!! I'll be at the ePlaya Meet & Greet Thursday evening for sure!

swampdog · Post by **swampdog** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 7:42 pm

Anonymous Village - 6:30 & detroit
Camp Stella - 7:30 and detroit
Hokey Pokey camp - 3:00 plaza
Destiny Lounge "won't be at 3:30 and Cairo" - according the the map posted by jes5199??

I've been debating whether to stay sober this year. Been sober since February, you'd probably say white-knuckling it. I want to party but I don't want to have to start again.

I guess - I know the answer I'm going to get by asking in this thread. So that must be the answer I wanted.

swampdog · Post by **swampdog** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 7:43 pm

yeah, there's places in my brain, where I really shouldn't walk alone.

Yeah, I know that feeling.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 8:17 pm

swampdog wrote: ?

I've been debating whether to stay sober this year. Been sober since February, you'd probably say white-knuckling it. I want to party but I don't want to have to start again.

So ya worked your way out of something sence Feb.. How much effort do you plan to waste.. Myself I hate to rework old shit..
I might party harty and not make it back..

Sanddog42 · Post by **Sanddog42** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 8:45 pm

Thanks Swap-D. I'm with Stella.

Just future-tripping:

I won't be fill-in-the-blank enough: cool, radical, cute, gay, young, entertaining, thin, ad nauseam. My head wrapped in a velvet rope I'm not allowed to cross. I'll end up lonely and apart from, watching everyone else's outsides have fun.

I don't believe everything my brain tells me, but it sure is a pest sometimes.

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 8:54 pm

If you really have a problem with something, is it really that hard of a decision? I mean, you know already you have a problem with it (or it has a problem with you) or you wouldn't be reading the thread. It is the same decision you face every day in life. It is no different, really. And once you slide, getting back to where you were can be like starting all over again.

If you honestly know in your heart that it isn't for you, then don't. Yeah, that is easy to say and harder to do ... but really in the end it boils down to that. If you were "normal" (Norm?) and able to have a drink or two and leave it at that, then you wouldn't be reading the thread to begin with. Here you are. Here we are. Better to just do as best you can moment by moment than worry to much about what lies around the bend, in my opinion. Worry about right now. Always.

Sanddog42 · Post by **Sanddog42** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 9:18 pm

swampdog wrote:I want to party but I don't want to have to start again.

You may not get to start again.

On the other hand, there will always be more opportunities to retox.

Best to procrastinate retoxing until tomorrow... and tomorrow... and tomorrow...

Kerouac wrote:"manana, a lovely word and one that probably means heaven."
-- On the Road

Elorrum · Post by **Elorrum** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 9:50 pm

Seriously it is the most exciting stimulating place to be. It can be any kind of candy store you want it to be. I'm not missing out on anything. I like to have the channels clear for new experiences and wake up feeling good and ready for whatever is coming next. Maybe I'm less brave or outgoing... but I stand a better chance of making a friend if I'm not obnoxious and fighting and falling over stuff, waking up bruised and ashamed. That's my old style, lovely. lol. I hope for everyone to live their life and enjoy what works for them. Each individual can make their own decisions about that.

swampdog · Post by **swampdog** » Mon Aug 23, 2010 8:54 am

Thanks, all. I may print this page out to keep your words of wisdom with me.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:35 am

Thank you all for the great mini meeting

CU in the dust

Sanddog42 · Post by **Sanddog42** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 5:43 pm

My theme camp, Camp Stella, is offering a chance to win a playa-ready bike delivered at no charge to the winner at Black Rock City on Monday August 29th. A mere $10 could win you this sturdy cruiser to which we have given a high quality, custom paint job with a subtle sparkle, effective night-use lights and a handlebar bell. We are a clean and sober queer and queer-friendly camp.

We are calling our bike raffle: "Rides of Passage."

Check out the raffle at: http://stella.storenvy.com/collections/ ... of-passage

Camp Stella offers daily 12-Step meetings to anyone who wants to attend as well as a drug and alcohol-free hang out space open to all. Also, in 2011 we will be hosting our annual "Plain Ordinary Whoopee Party" on Thursday night.

All of the funds raised from this raffle will be used solely for the purpose of making our theme camp a successful presence on the playa this year.

Bluemandrew · Post by **Bluemandrew** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 12:14 am

So as someone who imbibes frequently, I need some help. One of my best buddies needs to quit drinking, (of course he said this while drunk tonight but I digress...)(and yes this really is a buddy not me

)

I feel like he would be ready to move on towards working at that goal if he had a clear way. I want to help him, but all I can think to do is drag him to an AA meeting (which he says wouldn't help him (of course) as he had to audit a few meetings for some class he took in school so he knows everything.) He also says he's too shy for a meeting and he's afraid to see someone he knows. I'm sure many of you have heard this story before.

I want to help, he reached out to me, where do you start. I managed to get him through the rest of the night without any more altercations with his wife, and we (he and I) took the beer out of his fridge and got rid of it. Also poured out anything he had open (2 of which I took from his hands as he was trying to hide them from me...)

WTF? I told him I'd call in the morning, he says he has no time to make a meeting tomorrow night (he is a firefighter (yay surrounded by drunks all night) and works a weird schedule, so I believe that (though I can get him to go to one in between shifts I think if that's somehow imperative)

Also, any other options? I think if I had something to present him other than AA he'd feel better about getting to make a choice, but as an uninformed person I don't know what else there is.

Edited to add:
I will be calling my pal in the morning to see if his intentions are still the same about quitting once he's sober of course. My Dad drank, and I figured out pretty early on the whole - "if you ain't sayin' it sober you ain't sayin' it at all" theory.

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 6:45 am

He has to make the comitment and it sounds like he's already throwing up road blocks.

A person who decides to quit has to be prepared to do ANYTHING to stay sober.

Do some research for yourself so as not to become co-dependant. (obsessed with his sobriety to the point of your own ruin.)

He has time to drink, he has time for meetings.

He does'nt have to like it!

90 meetings in 90 days, and no excusses.

He's suppose to be saveing his life, so no half measures.

If he won't comit, stop trying to help or you will drive yourself crazy.

Not trying to be mean here, but I know too damn much about this shituation!

Bluemandrew · Post by **Bluemandrew** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 7:36 am

FIGJAM wrote:He has to make the comitment and it sounds like he's already throwing up road blocks.

A person who decides to quit has to be prepared to do ANYTHING to stay sober.

Do some research for yourself so as not to become co-dependant. (obsessed with his sobriety to the point of your own ruin.)

He has time to drink, he has time for meetings.

He does'nt have to like it!

90 meetings in 90 days, and no excusses.

He's suppose to be saveing his life, so no half measures.

If he won't comit, stop trying to help or you will drive yourself crazy.

Not trying to be mean here, but I know too damn much about this shituation!

I appreciate it, I'm fairly well equipped to deal with crazy but I wasn't sure where to go with this. This makes a lot of sense.

tamarakay · Post by **tamarakay** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 8:57 pm

If I had a dollar for every time I said I needed to stop drinking while I was drunk I'd be funding ALL the art on the playa. A phone call from you next day saying hey, you said... might prompt a memory, but I seriously doubt the intent will still be there. Best thing that ever happened to me? A very good friend taped my last drunk. Made me watch it sober. I kept that tape and watched it whenever I felt my resolve slipping. My son was five when I stopped drinking in 1988. He STILL will get between me and the beer when at the grocery store. He doesn't even know he does it. Still breaks my heart.

Good luck to you and your friend. You might check out an Al-Anon meeting, see if his spouse wants to go too.

Zhust · Post by **Zhust** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 5:12 pm

I'm pretty introspective to begin with, so I know when something is up. I quit drinking at the beginning of December, 2010. I've had a "system" for 5 or 10 years now: I'd test myself and quit for a week or a month, and most recently I'd limit myself to 7 drinks in a week. When that last system failed (I went out to have one glass of wine and ended up having another 6 drinks at a second bar) I realized it was over. My new system is that I can have a drink of something that is extremely unique (i.e. a 2000 Bordeaux, or a 30-year scotch), and maybe taste something, but that's it. I want to someday have a glass of wine on Friday and that's it. Unfortunately when I think of having a drink, there's a part of me suggesting making a night of it instead so (at least now) that is out-of-the-question.

People ask me why I quit, and I tell them how I was an embarrassing drunk on Thanksgiving. (I still can't face the girl I was pawing over.) And then I ask "when should I quit?" When my luck runs out and I finally get a DWI? Or worse when I actually hurt someone? When I go broke? When I lose my house? When's the right time?

I guess your friend isn't quite ready. I like the video of drunken behavior idea. Perhaps prompting a challenge to only have 2 drinks each night for a month. Then keep repeating the challenge every day until he figures out how many days it's been since you started asking.

I think the trick is to guide him to realizing that he does have a problem and it is not in his control. Maybe try being open to the idea that you're mistaken about his problem so you can resist accusing him of having a problem. Sometimes just listen ... although, you know how drunks get with talking — especially me!

darren y · Post by **darren y** » Sat Jul 09, 2011 3:03 am

Hey all you meeting freeks!!(no offense intended)

Stop buy & say Hi! this year
my Mister times conflict with most of your meeting times...??
I seem to miss out most years
So sometime between noon and sunset (any day) stop by the Mr. Mister @ Vamp Camp and share some sober wisdom,
cool off for a bit, on my deck.
I'm Mr. Mister (big guy, long hair, wearing a kilt)
I've been doing this Clean & Sober thing for just over 6,224 days in a row now.
there have been several impromt little mini meetings right on my stage (or near)
I like to have a little sane company once in a while,
does your camp have a sticker? I'll put it on the Bus

Sober on the Playa

Just for Today

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