STEP ONE

As part of working step one I want you to think about reservations. Ask yourself if you are harboring any. Ask yourself if you were harboring a reservation, what would it be? Is there anything that could happen that might tempt you to use.
And think about resignation and surrender.

Explain the difference between resignation and surrender.

Is there an instance this week where you surrendered, and it kept you out of pain?

Are there times when it is best to consider yourself a casual observer instead of personally involved in a situation?

Has there been a time when you refused to resign? What did that mean for you?

THE LEAST RACIST

I’ve adopted the “5 Hot” rating system for Racism. Like when you go for Thai food, and order the Shrimp Pad Thai, and you like it a little hotter than medium hot, so you go with “4 Hot”. Your date, she doesn’t like it that hot, so she has the Chicken Krapow “2 Hot”. I like my Yum Nua a little hotter than 4, so I go with “5 Hot “ on the Yum Nua.
Trump scores himself a "1 Hot". Says he is the "least Racist " person in the world. He looks hotter than that to me. At least a "3 Hot".
Me? I give myself a "2 Hot". I generally avoid rating my friends.

"WE KNOW A THING OR TWO BECAUSE WE'VE SEEN A THING OR TWO"

Here where I work they are instituting a safety program that is out of this world. They have taken away my pointy scissors and replaced my utility knives with the kind with retractable blades. I have to wear gloves if I use anything that cuts, including the round nosed scissors. 

I asked if I had to have a glove for the hand that holds the knife. They said “Which hand will touch the blade?” 

I said “Neither”.  Duh.

Do they not know I spent 6 hours a day for 25 years with knives of all sorts-- shave the hair off your arms sharp-- in my hands? Have they nothing better to do than bother people like me?

I'm trying to be compliant. I've come a long ways.
Four years ago, before the big saftety push, my micromanaging little boss came to me and said "I'd like you to get some steel-toed shoes. Bring me the receipt and we will reimburse you."

How did I react? By pointing out that was the dumbest thing I ever heard. That’s just how I rolled I guess, turning down free shoes.

But he won...I went to Red Wing, full of resentment, and bought a two hundred fifty five dollar pair of steel toes.

Tossed the receipt on his desk like it was an old lunch sack from Jack In The Box.

Ended up I LIKE those shoes. I wear them all the time, all five pounds each of them.  I've never had any two hundred fifty dollar a pair shoes before.

And I resolved to try to be more compliant, more open minded, and less of a hammerhead to my boss.

So when the new boss came to me 3 months ago and said I needed to go get safety glasses, on the company dime, I tried being more compliant.

I tried surrender.

I said "OK".

He looked so relived.

Then you know what I said?

"Boss, I've had these shoes for almost five years. Do you think I can get a new pair?"

So now I have safety glasses, a new pair of shoes, and safety scissors.
Whats next? A rubber knife?

PAMPHLETS ARE FOR SUCKERS

"Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it."

Ray Bradbury.

MINIMUM PAYMENTS ARE FOR SUCKERS

When I stopped doing the dope I had been in banking time out for a few years. I could take $30,000 to a bank to deposit, and they would say “No Mr. Bulletholes, we don’t want your money in our bank. You are too much trouble.” So I had to go 7 years without a bank account. Cashing checks at the Quick Stop. Pay as you go for everything.
Finally the 7 years was up.
Thanks to Narcotics Anonymous I had finally learned to live life on its own terms. To live within my means. To renew my drivers license before it came due. To pay my rent on time. To maintain car insurance and have proper licensing and registration.

Its a form the Seventh Tradition: "Every group (me) should be fully self supporting, declining outside contributions". That also includes things like keeping a clean house. I'm still working on that. 

I have a drawer full of credit cards now, but if I use one, its paid off within months. Paid off before they can charge me any interest.
Beacause... 
Minimum payments are for suckers.

ELEVEN YEARS CLEAN TODAY!

EXPIRED

 I've had my sisters car since she died in 2015. I discovered yesterday there is a slide out tray under the passenger seat. In that tray were 4 of those peanut butter cheese cracker things. I had one last night. It tasted kinda old but it didn't kill me. I tried another one the next night, and it tasted REALLY old, and it didnt kill me, but I threw them away just the same.

THE HEAT WAS HOT

Oh gosh, I hadn’t posted in a long time. I get a little caught up in my life. Lots of things to write, just not writing much, but I wouldn’t trade all my Narcotics Anonymous involvement these days for all the writing in the world. I've been to some of the most amazing meetings ever this last year.

Its gotten hot down here. Bumping on 100 degrees. Last month I had meant to post the following:

 I just walked in from work. It’s getting pretty darn hot out there already. I turned on the news. There is the weatherman, giving his report.

“It’s a nice mild 84 degrees out there. Low humidity, which makes it quite comfortable. Quite comfortable indeed”
My God in Heaven.

All I can think is “I’m not going to make it this year.