SOBRIETY
Summer vacation just ended and I got absolutely nothing done. You would think that with all the free time I had a lot could be accomplished? Exactly the opposite happened. What was great is that for about 6 weeks I didn't have to get up early. Problem was was that I went to bed very late. Usually I will go to bed around 1 A.M. if I have to work the next morning. I was staying up till around four or five. It's so relaxing drinking and smoking and watching Youtube late at night. I went through quite a few bottles of Bacardi and that's what screwed everything up. The next day I would be really hung over and become useless. Barely made it to the gym at all and threw away around $2000 by wasteful spending plus was short another $2000 because no salaries from morning work. I went to play poker again a couple of times. Promised myself I wouldn't go back to that place. Get this though... I went to the roulette table and the first bet I made, I bet lots on the last number drawn which happened to be number 11. It hit and the other players were surprised and they started congratulating me. Remember this is a psuedo-casino and doesn't pay out real money. I always make stupid decisions when I drink a lot. End up feeling like crap and guilty over lost money the next day. And since I have been having lackadaisical workouts, I'm not as strong as I use to be. I work out more when I work full-time. This summer was a waste. The plan was to promote a new school for adults that would make me around $400 an hour. 30 students paying $15 each per lesson. Instead I got nothing done and my savings went from $9000 to $4000 all because of drinking too much. The good news is that I only hurt myself and I can live with that.
Some people have had some really bad luck in the summer of 2016. A priest in France had his throat cut in church by some Muslim scum and in Nice ( pronounced Neece ) this evil Muslim man drove a lorry through a crowd of people celebrating at a festival. Many people including children were killed and injured. Youtube search if you want more info. I feel sick thinking about what happenned ( the blood and broken bones ) and didn't think it was possible to hate Islam more than I did before the summer. Families going out to enjoy a festival and the last thing on their minds would be dying or coming home with fewer members. My summer was a failure, but compared to the families in Nice, I have nothing to complain about. My heart goes out to all the people whose lives were forever changed on that tragic day. If I had my way, I would round up all the Muslims and have them thrown out of western countries. If Muslims want Sharia law, then they should move to countries that have it already. If they don't want Sharia law and don't think homosexuals should be murdered, then they are not Muslims and there's a good chance they can become productive people in society. Getting rid of welfare would cause many to self deport. In order to cure cancer you must get rid of the harmful cells.
Speaking of disease, let's talk about drinking. Some people say that alcoholism is a disease. A real sickness is something that's in your body that needs to be removed or cured like a tumor or the flu. Drug addicts and alcoholics just need to stop what they are doing so that's a little different. Lock 1 of them up for a couple of months and when they get out they will be clean. Those couple of months won't be easy, but it would work. Imagine locking someone arachnophobic in a room with a big harry torantula. They would freak out, but after a while they would get tired and calm down and possibly be cured of their phobia. Very extreme therapy, but... Can't do the same thing with someone who has incurable cancer. They are pretty much screwed because they have a disease. For some people substance abuse can really hurt them and for others it's just like a monkey on their back. If it's to the point where you can't function in society, then there's no choice but to quit completely. There are plenty of people that can still do their jobs and after work have a few beers or glasses of wine. I'm one of those people. I enjoy drinking socially, but I prefer to drink alone. The problem is is that drinking and smoking everyday isn't cheap and I get nothing done in the process. Christopher Hitchens would drink everyday, but at least he would get some work done. Remember I told you that I tried drinking and writing and it just doesn't work. This summer I told myself and a couple of people that I would make an attempt to be sober for 1 month starting September 1st of this year. Did I mention in my first book that 11 days was my record without having a drink since the age of 18? Anyways, Thursday Sept. 1st arrives and here I go. Success! Day 1 goes very well. I worked from morning till night and didn't have a drink. Read a lot that day and went to bed before midnight. 1 day without a beer is not a common event for me. In the year 2015 I believe I did it only once. Friday, Sept. 2nd arrives and I don't wake up hung over. Feeling good and work from morning till night. No drinks and day 2 is a success. 2 consecutive days of sobriety is extremely rare. I'm feeling really good Saturday morning at the beginning of day 3. Work is finished at 4:30pm and on the train a co-worker asks me what I'm doing that evening. Told him nothing much because I plan to not drink for a month. He's like wow. Says he hasn't gone that long without a drink since he was 12 years old. Nice responsible guy with 2 kids and like me he enjoys drinking. I go straight to the gym after work and feel fantastic. Have a super big appetite because I usually get my calories from beer so I eat. End up falling asleep watching a movie, but wake up around 9:30pm. Have some food stuck between my teeth so I brush. Corner of my mouth doesn't hurt, but feels uncomfortable. There's been a cavity there for some time now. Gums are inflated a bit. Don't want it to get worse so I take a small sip of Bacardi that I have laying around the house and swish it around my mouth and spit it out. Sit down for a while and after 10 mins or so think that I didn't use enough to sanitize my cavity. So I get up and take a bigger sip and swish it around my mouth and spit it out. Tell myself that I didn't cheat and am still in the game. After about 10 mins. DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! I'm not sleepy and really crave some cold Coronas. I end up folding and the game is over. I almost made it 3 full days. Man did those beers taste good though. Do I accept the fact that I'm a drinker for life kind of like a diabetic living with a disease? If so, it's going to be really difficult for me to become successful in life with this monkey on my back.