It’s that time again - July 2007 was a good month:

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/boundaries/ultimatums - why the hardest thing to do is often the right thing to do.

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/freeps-fatal-euphoria - the dangers of fentanyl.

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/are-alcoholics-and-addicts-just-unlucky - not really, and I think I have seen that mirror before.

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/strive-for-mediocrity - on setting goals.

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/recovery-reining-it-in - a sledgehammer is not always the best tool in recovery.

Being in the produce business, this story of a real life pineapple express caught my attention.     

Six Canadians have been arrested in connection with an international drug-smuggling operation that attempted to smuggle cocaine and marijuana into the country in hollowed-out pineapples and shipments of watermelons last week.

Demi Moore is in the news for going to rehab after a trip to the emergency room this Monday.  According to reports Ms. Moore suffered a seizure after doing whippits at  her LA home.  And what is a whippit?  It’s basically the slang term for inhaling nitrous oxide to get high – that’s the same stuff your dentist calls laughing gas or just “the gas”.  Whippits can be done in 3 different methods that I have heard of:

1. The high schooler method of buying a whipped cream cannister and huffing out the gas by simply turning the can upside down.
2. The college method of buying ready made “whippit” canisters that even come with balloons for ease of use.  These can be bought at party stores aka “head shops”.  I once saw a girl do one on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras, and like Demi she promptly fell out and had a mini seizure…fun times huh.
3. The serious partier method – get the same kind setup the dentist has, complete with gas mask.  This method has been known to be deadly.

Inhalant Addiction is a real thing, but my guess is that if Demi is indeed addicted to something – its not NO2.

“Whippits,” “Poppers,” “Oz,” “Rush” and several other street terms refer to the simple yet devastating problem of inhalant abuse.  Unlike many of the more exotic intoxicants, inhalants can be any kind of household or commercial substance that produces a high when its fumes are inhaled.  Volatile solvents (liquids that evaporate at room temperature and produce fumes), aerosols, gasses (nitrous oxide, ether), and nitrites are all inhalants and can all cause immediate and lasting damage, severe addiction, and possibly death.

Inhalants affect the brain almost instantly, depriving it of oxygen and destroying tissue with incredible toxicity.  Because the high is short-lived, users often try to extend the experience with repeated use, increasing the damage and the complications of addiction.  Chronic use will almost certainly lead to significant nervous system destruction, including impairing or even destroying the user’s ability to speak, walk or reason.  Even first time users may experience permanent damage or death.

For more information on Inhalant Addiction click here.

We would be remiss not to mention the passing of Etta James this last week.  This famous recovering addict and alcoholic is regarded as having bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and was the winner of six Grammys and 17 Blues Music Awards.  She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008.   Rolling Stone ranked James number 22 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number 62 on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists.

As an alumni of the Betty Ford Clinic, she wrote about what the 12 Steps meant to her in her autobiography “Rage to Survive”:

I had no trouble admitting that my life was unmanageable.  It’d been unmanageable for years.  I also loved the idea of  surrendering to a Higher Power.  That went with what I’d learned as a little girl about a loving and forgiving Jesus.  The twelve steps are about making a moral inventory, admitting to yourself, to God, and to your family, the exact nature of your wrongs.  The steps are about being honest and understanding that any real recovery has to be spiritual.  Amen.  I dug the steps because they combined psychology with God, offering a deeper kind of healing.  

Although most sites are sharing a vid for her famous “At Last”, We will go with a “Sunday Kind of Love” on this Sunday.

It’s been over a week since we added some tools to the “Sober Toolbox”.  Here are five more from the 2007 archives:

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/recovery/trading-one-drug-for-another - What is MMT and why do we support it?

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/sweet-dreams-go-up-in-smoke - Alcoholics, Addicts, and Sleep.

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/addiction-recovery/getting-honest-with-yourself - Step Zero

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/like-a-murder-of-crows - On drunkeness through rose colored glasses

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/another-busted-crutch - On smoking and recovery

They say loose lips sink ships.  Especially if those lips were loosened with alcohol.  Reports are now coming out that some passengers witnessed Captain Francesco Schettino drinking at the bar with a “beautiful woman” shortly before his ship hit a rocky crag close to the shores of the Italian island of Giglio.  On top of that, Italian prosecutors claim Schettino was steering the ship near the rocky shore to send a greeting signal to a friend - sounds suspiciously like the maritime version of a drunken booty call disaster.

Plus there is the news that the captain basically fled the scene of the accident asap – turning the phrase the”captain goes down with the ship” on its head, and getting arrested and hauled off in handcuffs promptly thereafter.  This may turn out to be a bigger DUI on the high seas than the Exxon Valdez of the late 80′s .  It may end up his action resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen people as many passenegers are still missing.  What does a vehicular homicide charge with over 4000 passengers look like? – that’s the potential for more victims than even a 9/11 like event.  Mind boggling.

I hate to admit it, but the thought that the captain had been drinking immediately came to mind at first hearing of the wreck.  I could see the thought too had crossed TDA’s mind, even though we never brought it up in a discussion of the event at a birthday party this weekend.  I’m sure the truth will come out and I’m not sure why – but I hope that alcohol was not a factor in the accident – although my gut tells me it was.

I was looking for ideas on dealing with difficult people and came across some good advice at James Altucher’s blog in the post  ”How to be THE LUCKIEST GUY ON THE PLANET in 4 Easy Steps”.  Step B of his plan is:

B)      Emotional– If someone is a drag on me, I cut them out. If someone lifts me up, I bring them closer. Nobody is sacred here. When the plane is going down, put the oxygen mask on your face first. Family, friends, people I love – I always try to be there for them and help. But I don’t get close to anyone bringing me down. This rule can’t be broken. Energy leaks out of you if someone is draining you. And I never owe anyone an explanation. Explaining is draining.

Another important rule: always be honest. Its fun. Nobody is honest anymore and people are afraid of it. Try being honest for a day (without being hurtful). Its amazing where the boundaries are of how honest one can be. Its much bigger than I thought. A corollary of this is: I never do anything I don’t want to do. Like I NEVER go to weddings.

In a related post, How to Deal With Crappy People  he states:

There is only ONE only way to deal with these people in a way that will make you happier instead of sadder. ONE WAY. And it always works. This is the most important part of the Emotional leg of the Daily Practice. COMPLETELY IGNORE THE EVIL PEOPLE:

• Completely ignore them.
• Don’t think about them.
• Don’t talk to them.
• Don’t write them.
• Most important: Don’t give them advice. They will NEVER listen to your advice. It’s arrogant and stupid to think they will. It will only lead to  more cycles of pain for you. The goal for me is to stop all cycles that cause me any pain at all. Giving advice to crappy people will only result in more pain for you. That’s the only possible result. Much better to be happy than to flush knotted up brown advice down a toilet that caused you agony to push out. This is hard.
• Most important: Never gossip about them behind their backs. Just completely disregard. We don’t care about their happiness or how evil they are. We only care about you. Its hard to do. Never ever talk about them behind their backs. Repeat this 500 times. This is hard also. Because it’s an addiction.

 You can download this chart as a pdf at http://kevinelliott.net/blogs/entrepreneurial/files/Daily-Practice-Chart.pdf

“If you can tame the beast called addiction, you can do anything”, TDA said in his post, “It’s About Getting on With Life“.  He tested that hypothesis a couple of months ago, when he tried to tame a beast appropriately named “Drunkbuster”.  As you can see in the video, the beast got the best of him on this ride, but just like life in recovery – if you stumble in your journey you just have to buck up and get right back to it.

Congratulations TDA on your adventure into the wild world of bull riding.

Drunkbuster Factoid – Drunkbuster really hurt his hoof smashing it into TDA’s breast bone.  After about of month of pain he healed back up to full health (-;

Clearly not much to do with recovery but a very amusing vid with only 300 views on youtube – really out there. I just wondered how many hits I would get with a post titled Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-bop-bop – I will let you know.

Going through almost five years worth of posts is going to take some time – but it’s cool to reread them.  Starting from the beginnings of the site and working my way forward,  I will try to add 5 to 6 posts to the “Sober Toolbox” tab at the top each week.  This week’s additions are:

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/what-happened-before-the-balloon-popped - a post about the warning signs of relapse by long time TDA friend Erin over at WhatWinnersDo.

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/much-ado-about-aa-yahoos - “One bad apple don’t spoil the whole darn bunch”

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/recovery/discoveryae%c2%a6its-about-getting-on-with-life - on the empowerment of recovery.

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/advice-from-the-damned - on changing the things you can.

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/do-not-trust-me - trust me when I say this… don’t trust me.

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/far-reaching-consequences a reminder of how bad it is.

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/the-devil-is-in-the-details - reading between the lines and the dangers of perhaps sharing to much.

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/a-touch-of-the-sniffles-get-me-some-nyquil - thoughts on stinkin thinkin + some good comments

http://discoveringalcoholic.com/alcoholism/calculating-the-cost-of-alcohol-problems - howmuch does it really cost?