deleted post from a forum I frequent

Somebody took offense to my calling him on his racist rant and baiting post.

I decided to show him his error, and he took offense to that.

Turns out, after going back and forth a couple of times, he'd go ahead, stalk me, read my blog, and find ammunition for himself against me over there.

Mods took care of the situation, so, I'll chill on this end too.

Contents deleted/put away for now.

Current post on SoberRecovery now; what do you believe is the most important message to pass along to the newcomer in AA

If I had a shot at a newcomer in an A.A. meeting?

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I'd first ask them what brings them to A.A. Do you think you have a drinking problem? If so, why? Maybe you do or maybe you don't. Do you know what an alcoholic is? Do you know what a non-alcoholic is? Maybe search what a variety of sources says about the subject and get your own feel for what these terms really mean.

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If it turns out you're not alky, please run from A.A. as fast as you can!

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Maybe there's no such thing as the term Alcoholic. Maybe we're all wrong. Maybe in time, we'll all laugh at this.

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Don't let anyone hustle you into A.A.

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If you are an alcoholic, what do you want to do about it? Do you want to quit for good and all? If so, maybe give A.A. a try. Do you have reservations about God? Are you open minded about the whole thing. Are you religious? Would a church or other affiliation serve you? Are you not willing to consider a Higher Power? If not, maybe you should run away from A.A. now.

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Are you willing to read the proposals of the A.A. program and decide for yourself all down the line, are you willing to do this right now and for the rest of your life?

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Are you willing to decipher all of the Middle-of-the-Road Treatment Center crap which has infiltrated A.A. and other recovery processes and find out what is true and what is not?

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Do you want to live? Do you want to succeed in life and take full responsibility of your own life from this second on?

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Boy, if that don't run them off, I don't know what else would. That's what I think I would tell them. Maybe I ought to look into a new avocation. I'm into home improvement and grilling right now. I'd better stick to that for a while.

The Horror and Shame of meeting A.A. people on the street...

A.A. dude: How are you doing, McGowdog? I haven't seen you in a loooooong time! :)

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Me: I'm good. And you?

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A.A. fellow : I'm FANTASTIC! Haven't seen you around for a loooooooooong time! :)

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Me: Well go bleep yourself bleephole! Srsly though... so I lie! How bleeping pathetic is that? I have to resort to a lie! I say, "Well bleephole... no srsly, I say, "Well D... ude, I've not seen YOU in MY homegroup meeting on MONDAY ever!"

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This is all to just get him off my back. So why can't I just say, "Oh, well D...ude, I've quit A.A. I just don't go anymore."

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I couldn't muster the words. I didn't have the heart. I'm just chicken-bleep.

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So he says, "So, how are YOU doing? Really?

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BLEEP you bleeping bleephole. I'm doing fine, FANbleepingTASTIC, bleephole! I'M DOING BETTER THAN bleepING YOU BleepDAMNIT!

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BleepoHOLICS ANONYMOUS!

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BLEEP YOU ALL.

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:)

Freedom! My observations of life after... A.A.

Well it hasn't been that long yet.

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I'm still sober.  I still don't want to drink.  I don't have to drum up what I've been doing the last week to impress upon the world my relentless pursuit of perfection of working the A.A. steps.

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I have been asked so politely to come back to the group or invited to holiday things etc., etc.

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These folks were/are in fact, my friends as well.  But minus the commitment, where do I really stand?  We shall see.

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So, what does this new found freedom feel like?  It's nice, to not have to eat sleep and breathe A.A. shit for a while.  I can spend time with the wife.  Spend time with my aging parents.  Spend time with my home, my back yard, my kitchen floor, my new hot water heater that I installed, just like the new kitchen floor, my soon to be back yard improvements, my old car restoration, my T.V.!  That's right!  I've finished off House of Cards, gotten three seasons into Damages, etc.

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Freedom to just live... my life, the way I want to.  I don't have to give a damn about what an alcoholic is or is not or whether that dude or chick has the same beliefs or A.A. knowledge that I do.  They don't give a damn about my meticulous studies of the A.A. doctrine that I've slaved over the last 21 or so years.

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It feels so good to just chill for a while.

I haven't been to an A.A. meeting in two or three weeks and I feel fine.

And I ain't goin' this Monday neither.

Alcoholics Anonymous are the chiropractors of recovery

That's right. We are the quacks of alcohol recovery.

Do "we" take money from Big Pharm and the Medical Industry?

Of course. Do we suggest and avidly search for alternatives to destructive and 2.7 Trillion dollar western medicine advocates?

Just look at what Bill and Bob have done since the mid 30s.

Judge for yourself.

What's all this say about the anti/XAers?

Chew on that for a while.

Doctored

A request for the format of my homegroup

An ex-president sent me an email this morning. That's what his username said anyway.

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Anywho, I sent him some info from my cell phone this morning. I'll repost that info here as well and some content that came from a prior thread here about my home group.

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Hope this info is of value to someone out there in cyberspace.

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_________________________________________

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Greetings McGowdog,

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spoke some years back on SR, was wondering if you're still in AA? Your blog seems to suggest you may not be? I am writing as I was hoping you could spare a little time to explain what your group format was previously. I remember you saying you used the Paul M format as a meeting.

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I'm in the UK and we are interested in seeing if we could get a new format going as the one you guys had sounds like its worth exploring. Be really interested in your views on it.

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Many thanks

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_________________________________

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Thanks for the message. We're still hanging in there. I'm not happy with the vibe of A.A. as a whole and there's a lot of dogma that frustrates me but my little group steers pretty clear of it.

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We have a closed meeting format, there's a chair picker who calls on the person to chair the meeting that following Monday. That chair person brings a topic and calls on people one by one to share.

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After we introduce ourselves as alky, no andas allowed, he/she reads how it works, introduces a topic, reads a bit out of the book pertaining to the topic, relates his/her current experience in it, we meditate on it for two minutes, then he calls on people until discussion is done.

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Then we break into crossfire for the remainder of the meeting.

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Crossfire is anyone can ask anyone else a question about the topic. One minute for the question and 5 minutes for the response. The meeting shares are timed to 5 minutes as well unless we ha e 8+ people then it's four minutes.

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When the meeting is done, we end the meeting with the Lord's Prayer. We say the serenity prayer at the beginning of the meeting, but it's just to start the meeting. The serenity prayer don't mean shit and we treat it as such. It's just a way to start a meeting. The Lord's Prayer means something. It's useful to us. So is God. We don't try to hide God nor run from God in our group. If you want to worship a doorknob, then go find some other group.

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_______________________

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Met Paul M. at a city convention in my town years ago that Paul M. spoke at. He was an awesome dude. He promoted doing multiple 5th steps. The group that started my group did work with him. That was the group from Denver.

Biggest Bitch about A.A. now

What I hate about A.A. now is the promoting.

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Get a sponsor, read the big book, go to meetings, oh yeah, do the steps.

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Rinse and repeat.

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How about this idea? Qualify. Then... find out if they want to quit for good and all. If not, this is their opportunity to try the Sinclair Method ... etc.

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If so, then line out A.A. for them and give the opportunity to head for the door.

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Bam! A perfect 12th Step.

That ain't A.A.

Evidently, I don't have to worry about quitting A.A. after all. The A.A. I've been doing is not the same A.A. y'all have been doing all along. I'm fine with that. I'd be fine just walking away from the A.A. I have been doing as well.

Having a hard time leaving my group

I've been politely asked to come back to a meeting. They told me that I'll continue to be asked in the future. I'm still planning my exit strategy.

11 Years

... today. HFB to me.