I know that's right. We all fuckin love Ruth!

Possibly overrepresented on a couple Frank Zappa albums..

Your sweet ass has about the same integrity as all the other bullshit I see (and sometimes even read) every motherfuckin day on this Internet we find one another on.. Source verified as original by way of alcohol.

Nice fuckin job, eh..

I fucking love the goddamn Silver Surfer.. And Satch...

Pretty sure that's John Coffey.

Happy Birthday! Hope you have the best damn birthday ever!

G'mornin! I will not drink with you today.

I'm late today, but I didn't and won't drink with you today!

Welcome back, CG! Hope you had a beautiful time, man!

Groundhog Day, again!? I'm in! I quit counting days, but it's been a while here! I will not drink with you this day (again)!!!

Evening, y'all! So far so good, I'm not drinking with you this day!

Thanks, FT.

I'll edit the post and add a link at the bottom.

Finally fuckin Friday!

I will not drink with you today!!

There's a great episode of the Timesuck podcast (episode 165: Simo Hayha: White Death)

I'm not going to link to it, because I'm not sure of the thread rules, but it's a seriously well done and researched podcast on the life of this sniper.

(Edit: 22 MAR 2024 10:47 EST)

Here's a link to "Timesuck episode 165: Simo Hayha: White Death" (I'll use a YouTube link, probably more widely accessible)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLyJ8d6Jq_E

G'mornin, y'all! I will not drink with you'ns today!

That made me giggle.

Thanks, Z!

Gray matter, brain, mind, The Boys In The Basement, etc.. The part of us that soaks everything up, mentally.. just something to focus on. The more immersed in something I get, the less I tend to crave getting shit-hammered to try to shut my thoughts down. (And, honestly, alcohol tends to do the opposite of that, anyways.. I would drink to "forget" but the effect was almost always to focus intensely on all the shittiest parts of whatever it was that I was trying to forget in the first place..) Just something I found funny for a moment.

G'mornin! I will stay sober with this wonderful bunch of sweet-assed sober people this day! Mid-week humpday blues, maybe.. But, I'm gonna dig in and get the old gray sponge occupied this morning.

Twosday! I will be not drinking with you guys'n gals this damn day.

Hope y'all have as good a time or better than we did! And definitely wish ya better luck if you're fishing! That's pretty much the only kinda camping we do, no facilities, no worries. But, now the workweek is back and it's time to break the donuts.

Holy shit! I didn't even realize it was Saint Patty's!! That's gotta be a good sign for my sobriety!!! Went camping/catfishing/dryland fishing Friday and just got back. The whole haul for the weekend was a big ol filthy carp I caught yesterday morning (28"er) but still had a fuckin ball! Can't fucking believe I didn't even know it was Saint Patty's Day!! About time to start spring cleaning for us, too.. Fuck, I dread it...

Tried the vape thing years ago and it didn't make a dent in it for me.. but, I know others that got off cigarettes by using them. Never hurts you give it a shot.

Right. Can't blame ya, there. I'm choochin two packs a day, creature of habit. But, I'm not a spring chicken anymore, not entirely out of shape or anything, still active and all, but I'm feeling the out of breath thing these days and I'd like to ditch em just for health and stamina reasons. I kinda like to smoke, though... Keeps my hands engaged.

Finally Friday. I will not drink with you this day.

Honestly, no fuckin way could I have given up my smokes during my first month... I don't know how your will power is, but for me, no damn way. Although, after 28 days sober, I fucked that up, too. Just for a night, but either way.. If you can handle both, then take care of your sweet assed lungs, but I don't think I'm ready to give up my cigarettes, yet. Maybe this year, maybe not.. Good luck with it. Glad to hear you turned a craving into a triumph!

Glad I bring that full-circle for ya, Z!!! Happy Pi Day!

Great Thursday/Pi Day/My Fair Lady's Birthday! Her friends threw her a little birthday bonfire with hot dogs and cake and fire twirling! It was such a beautiful evening! I got her a wrist-rocket, fist full of big ol ball bearings and a Reese's Peanut Butter Bunny and she fuckin loves it!! She's mid 40's-ish.. but, this was her first birthday party.!!.. I wasn't aware of that, or I would've probably gone out bigger for it, but I honestly think that it's even better that it was just friends and loved ones showing her she's special today. Came out just perfect. Took the long way home, stopped and admired the crisp clear night sky and now we're home. Beautiful fucking birthday. And we stayed sober. Well, maybe she was a wee tad tipsy, but not drink for certain. Alcohol isn't her demon, anyways.. Hope everyone's Pi Day was just as perfect, if not even better!

Congratulations! Two weeks is a great accomplishment!

Happy Pi Day!! Happy birthday to My Girl (Love Ya!) and Einstein!

I will not drink with you today.

Running late this morning... I will not drink with you today!

G'mornin! Spring is awakening and I will not drink with you this damn day!

Moanday morning..

I will not drink you today.

Yes. Not the trippy ones, the most delicious ones:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morchella

It's looking good outside this Sunday. It's the time of the year for mushroom hunting. Dryland Fishing as I like to call it around here. Morel season is right at hand. Think we're gonna go check a couple spots today.

I will not drink with you today!

G'mornin! I've got a day behind me this morning.

I will not drink with you today.

Well, there most certainly Was a cracked version as of year before last.. Guy I kinda knew was doing aftertreatment deletes on the DD Platform engines, OneBox. You'd hear from him on the phone, get a laptop in the mail with all the software needed to get the job done, and that included the DDDL Professional.. CAT, Cummins Insite, JPRO and other shit on there. Even the operating system was cracked on the thing, I got to see one of the laptops. Everything was done remotely. Or so I've heard.. Fucker's probably still gone, he was pulling time last I heard.. Last time I was in a big pickle I did hit The Pirate Bay and a couple other torrent sites, but nothing found for DDDL, nothing I'd consider safe enough to fuck with, anyways. But, I'm beyond the limits of Standard already, so we're trying to cut a deal on the Professional. In the end dollars are the only way to fix trucks these days. If ever a motherfucker runs for office with the intent of ending this fucking nightmare, I'm hitting the fuckin booth. And I'm a damn apolitical fuckin combat vet. My Dad and some of his farming buddies fought with vigor against those John Deere motherfuckers, so it was nice to see they made a tiny chip in the green armor. But, this shit truly needs to change. Very soon only the massive corporations will have access to the tools necessary to do a mechanic's job. And that's fucking shameful to know that I'm pretty fucking castrated at the job I've spent my whole life learning and doing. Filthy motherfuckers.

I'm proud of making it that far. It gave me proof that I Can make it, and enough hope to believe that I Will make it, eventually.

It wasn't intentional, until it was. Didn't start the day with any intention to drink. But I sure as fuck ended it with a buzz. Internally, I have no distinction between that and a lie, but I get what you're saying.

Stay stronger than I am, Z. And thank you. I hope rest finds you, and finds you happily sober.

Tools? What's the psychological equivalent of the BFH? I could use a whole-assed toolbox of em in every increment that's humanly possible..

But, seriously:

Drinking became a viable option when it got late enough that I knew without a doubt that it was going to be a sleepless night, a long night with The Boys In The Basement sinking their teeth into the flesh of my mind all fucking night long. (I know that's cryptic, but I don't have a better way of describing what goes on in my nugget sometimes..)

I keep some booze on hand, have it well within reach of my bed. I do this on purpose, so that's it's always clear to me that I'm quitting for a purpose, on purpose. And last night I found out something new about that crazy method.. It kept me from driving probably fifteen miles or so to get alcohol. Would I have cracked one before I got home? Fuck yeah, I would've. Would I have driven to the fuckin woods, or to the river and poured it in me until I just passed the fuck out? Probably.. But I didn't. I know it doesn't make it any better that it could've been worse.. I just had a couple fingers, then a couple more, told My Girl that I had to stop the discussion because it's late, and I've been drinking.. We wrapped ourselves around one another and crashed the fuck out. And I slept.

If fuckin up were an Olympic sport I'd probably have more gold than Mr. T... I'm not letting it fuck me up. I'm on day zero, again. I'll go at it from here.

Do you have any suggestions for sober tools that you think I need to hear?

And.. Thank you for giving a fuck, honestly. It means a lot to me.

Day fuckin 0.

I fucked up.

Didn't go complete blackout, but had probably the equal of four shots to kill my brain and get some sleep last night.

Relationship shit that doesn't need to be put out here. It ended well enough.

Fuck.

I have no intention of starting that shit again, though. I'm an overall better person sober and I want that for myself as well as for My Girl, my family, my friends..

I will not drink with you today (though I guess I straight fuckin lied about that one yesterday morning)