Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The THIRD, Count 'Em, THIRD Carnival of All Substances

And here we are. Has anyone seen this movie? That's Seth Rogen playing pot-head Ben Stone, a do-nothing stoner who hangs out with his stoner friends and goes to clubs or works on a pornographic web site, his fresh idea that's already been done.

But one day he's exceedingly lucky. He meets gorgeous Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) and she's so drunk she has sex with him, and you can guess the rest of the story. Suffice it to say the movie thinks it's Parenthood, but it's not.

I had a nice dinner party recently and 8 of the 9 guest had seen Knocked Up. All opinions ranged from liking to loving it. I have a problem watching people get stoned or be stoned like that, and I also have a problem watching people have sex, so I gave it the minority 2 thumbs down.

It's so cringe to me and why would I volunteer to cringe.

Recovery posts sometimes make you cringe. But from what I understand, most people LOVE it. So without further ado, here's a fantastic, smart bunch of sober bloggers, The 3rd Carnival of All Substances.

We're starting with a fabulous pic of the boring, empty, but amazingly beautiful state of North Dakota. Scout tells us that she couldn't possibly wait to leave N. D. as a kid, but now waxes nostalgic, affectionately remembering that flat-line horizon. Scout, dear, this is just the way it is, sorry. And wasn't that where they filmed Close Encounters? And why do I think of rattle snakes when I think of N.D.?

Scout's completed 11 years, mazal tov (you know what that means, right, not the mazal tov, but the 11 years--we're talking 11 sober years). Congrats Scout.

Bill, over at Addiction Recovery Basics has a great list of irrational core beliefs that royally mess with your self-esteem (personality, life, relationships. . . all kinds of nasty realities). He's my kind of cognitive doc, puts the compulsive into compulsive behavior--for our purposes, using.

Vicarious Rising inspires, as always, with Hope Says Yes When Nobody Asked, a Laotian proverb. I really like the picture and the thought.

Meg at You and Me are Floating on a Tidal Wave, always eloquent, reminds us withMASK that a combination of speed and alcohol makes for a high with more than a little rock and roll. It can bring out the tiger in you, a less than likable tiger, unfortunately. Makes my bruise on the face post pale by comparison.

Denial can't last forever, unfortunately, and over at The Practice of Recovery you'll learn that following a rude awakening, some people take the first step in the 12-step program. This is tough cringe stuff at its best, but don't let it scare you away from AA.

At some point in your life, if you need it, you'll know it.

By including food addictions I'm way overfed with submissions. But check them out. How about starting with Emotional Freedom and weight loss without cravings? If Karen's method doesn't work, remind me to hypnotize you the old fashioned way with a hanging watch on a gold chain.

Next up is JoLynne's post at The Fit Shack, on addiction pyramids. Makes me want to stop eating altogether, seriously.

Isabella Mori, one of our very with it mental heatlth professional bloggers fills us in on Step 3 (and some of you don't even care how many there are, right?). But this is great. She says,
Step 3 reads "made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of G-d as we understood G-d." How can someone who does not believe in G-dgod use this step?
I so love this stuff.

Over at the Philosophy of Change you'll find a before and after post, 12 months of change, very graphic and well-done post. Our philosopher won't tell you how he got straight in this story but if you read a little farther into the website, perhaps you'll find out. I like philosophy as much as the next doc.

And finally, So Sioux Me invites you over to a smoke-free blog, dreaming of the easy beat-your-addiction fix. What's that say, Sioux?

And that's it for now. Thanks all for your submissions. The next Carnival of All Substances will be held on August 10, 2007, with the Old Mighty's help, of course. Tell your friends.

I'm looking for 12-Step in-jokes. What do you say? Oh, and you have to explain why they're funny. Please? People need to know this stuff.

You can enter right here.

therapydoc

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

doc,
First of all, while I would love to have 11 years of clean time, I have to say that was not a BBQ in my honor, but that of a friend. I have 20+ months.
Now, onto the ND cracks. I fear you have done what so many do -- confuse it with it's Southern sibling, SOUTH DAKOTA. There are no rattlesnakes in ND, and no one goes camping there either! lol. ;-) I can go on....
Nobody makes films there -- heck, even Fargo wasn't filmed in ND and it's the capitol city!
It's quite the place. We are truly a different breed of cat.
Thanks for including my post.
Peace,
Scout

Tracee Sioux, Sioux Ink: Soul Purpose Publishing said...

I told you so! Someone sent me this article backing up my hypothesis about drinking and for Chantix to help with other addictive substances.

"The biggest thrill is that this drug, which has already proved safe for people trying to stop smoking, is now a potential drug to fight alcohol dependence," said Selena Bartlett, a neuroscientist with the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco who led the study. Details appear this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Read the whole story here: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/anti-smoking-pill-may-help-curb-drinking/n20070709203809990005

Tracee Sioux
www.sosiouxme.com

therapydoc said...

Fascinating.

Tracee Sioux, Sioux Ink: Soul Purpose Publishing said...

Is it impolite to be so excited about being right? Okay, another person sent me another article about how Chantix, or similar drugs, may be used or at least studied to curb, cure or assist with other substance addiction.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19683029/

"The drug, called varenicline, already is sold to help smokers kick the habit. New but preliminary research suggests it could gain a second use in helping heavy drinkers quit, too."

I can't help but be excited for all the addicts out there who may find "freedom from addiction" to be less painful than I did. Quitting smoking without Chantix can not be compared to quitting drinking without it. The painlessness is priceless.

Tracee Sioux
www.sosiouxme.com

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for including my article.

God no, I wouldn't want to scare anyone away from AA, but you can definitely tell that my first sponsor was a probation officer.

My AA upbringing was of the variety:

If you want what we've got, you'll do what we've done.

Thanks again.

therapydoc said...

Nobody says it better than AA.

isabella mori said...

hey, thanks for including my post!

so you're looking for 12-step jokes? as in "a funny thing happened on the way to my meeting ... ?"

looking forward to what people dig up. what a great idea!

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