This is a good party game. The list comes from The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. It is not as preachy as the old test with questions like “Do you ever drink alone?” and “Do you ever think about drinking in the morning?” Is it just me or is that like asking “Do you ever […]
Monthly Archives: December 2014
There was a recent Wall Street Journal article about the new approach to treating alcoholism with drugs. Naltrexone: Kills the buzz some get from drinking; Acamprosate: Reduces irritability and other withdrawal symptoms; Disulfiram: Creates unpleasant symptoms after drinking, and so on. Who comes up with the names for drugs? Disulfiram presumably makes you feel a lot worse than a […]
Carry Nation or Lizzie Borden? The new face and voice of sobriety? I don’t think so – not yet… …didn’t happen. I was invited to speak on Sunday at an open AA meeting in Jacksonville, by a lovely woman I have come to know through the blog. The night I was to make the eight […]
When last we spoke, I was battling a tangled string of cheap Christmas lights in the top of a tree. Sober. I would like to report that Christmas came in spite of my clumsy, fruitless attempts to dazzle. Lauren and Jon Jon and Kallie arrived without incident, the rain stopped (although the ‘crick did rise) and they […]
Christmas Eve Eve… My children are coming to Georgia for Christmas. I’m so excited I didn’t sleep last night. I was so exhausted on the dangerous, mountain road to Helen (I had to go there to pick up a chicken pot pie – don’t ask…) I had to slap myself and roll down the windows […]
Appropriate – the dried vines, the unused grapes… I went to a wine tasting yesterday. Glutton for punishment you ask? Remember the movie Sideways where the lead character is so distraught and desperate to get drunk, he downs the spit-bowl on the counter at a snooty winery? That’s what you picture, right? I didn’t cause a […]
I have to be honest with you. I am impatient. For an impatient person at Christmas, Hiawassee Georgia is probably not the best place to be. I was at a traffic roundabout yesterday – a circle around a historic building (tricked out with wreaths and candles at every window). This roundabout has a traffic light […]
If this were a river of wine, laying down with my mouth under the wine-fall might just be ENOUGH… I got an interesting comment yesterday, from CAZ. She answered the question HOW COME YOU’RE NOT DRINKING? with: Because I can’t find a large enough glass. To a non-alcoholic, this answer might sound cheeky or […]
I was back on the Podcast at Since Right Now yesterday. We talked about Alcoholism and Isolation and a few other things ex-boozers like to talk about. Have you ever been on the radio and heard your voice for the first time the way others hear It? I have this sort of Lady Bountiful, slightly nasal, lyrical delivery […]
Someone wrote to me and asked why I post so many photos of cemeteries. Hello – this blog is called Waking Up the Ghost… When I was in high school I was a thespian (oh get your mind out of the gutter – it doesn’t mean I kissed girls…). My drama teacher Mr. Lee, would […]