Has it been 10 days already??

I no sooner uttered a promise to myself that I was gonna hit this thing daily that I stopped. Boy, but this school/work combo is kicking my old patootie! Wonder if I can stop working... hmmm... I guess as soon as I get over this habit I have of eating and sleeping on soft cushy things. And, well, there is smoking. I'd give up sleeping on soft cushy things before I give that up.

So's I don't forget my excitement of today, I'll scribble it down now. You're welcome. :o)

I got my internship set up for next semester. I'm so excited! I didn't even call for an interview anywhere other than this place, cos this is where I had my heart set on doing it. It's called The Healing Place and it's over in Richmond. It's a treatment center for men. Here's the link to a short video about the place that's on their website:

http://www.thpva.com/video.htm

I got to sit in on their community meeting this morning where they come clean about things they did wrong to the group. Things like "I fell asleep on the job" or "I didn't get my writing assignment done" or "I got angry at so and so" etc. It was great. They had openings for various positions where they voted (very democratically) on certain candidates and such. Sat in on classes, took a very long tour and then had lunch with my new buddy Richard (he's one of the teachers in the video). They all love that I'm in recovery and treated me like a little sister when they found out that I only have 7 months clean and sober. :o) They want me to come back before my internship starts in January. I'm gonna try working it out so I can help out on Wednesdays. Between that and school, I'll only have time to work fri-sun. Can you say "starving student"? I know I can! Well, there ya go. That's my life in a nut shell. Full time school, meetings, barely working. Fun huh? Better than full time working/full time drinking! I'm less tired now than I was back then.

And, while I'm thankful I got my 5 page paper done for English Comp, reliving 9/11 and how it affected me sucked worse than I thought it would. Hopefully I'll get to tuck that nightmare back into the deep dark recesses for another 7 months. I'm done with reliving that shit for now.

On that happy note, I swear I'll be back again soon.

Yippee! I'm Off!

God, how I love Sundays! I'm off till Thurs night (with school in between). I got my reading done for class on Tues (don't you just hate those cashiers that don't pay attention to you when they're ringing you up? Yeah, well I'm one of those cashiers. mwahahaha Some day I'm gonna blog about what 8 hours of "sign please, hit accept" is like. It's not pretty. Anyway...).

Just finished watching HBO's Black Tar Heroin again. Great documentary (for someone who doesn't have a family member/friend on heroin, that is). Should be required watching for every child. Drugs, obviously, are far too glamorized to kids. They need to see what heroin (and other drugs) really do for you.

Gratitude List:

1. My family - I'm sorry I missed the family get-together in NY today. I don't get home often anymore.

2. Friends in AA - My true friends. Sometimes, when the going gets bumpy, just staying sober cos I'd miss them too much if I didn't is enough to get me over the hump.

3. School - It's great to think that maybe, one day, I just might be able to put the crap I did to good use, to help someone. It makes it not seem like such a huge ugly waste of time (my using, that is).

4. My job - While I do dislike it at times, I do get to sit outside in the beautiful weather and do homework or watch butterflies and bees do what they do so well. Can't hate that!

5. My HP - Without Whom, I would be trudging rather than sauntering thru much better days. If I'd only known it could be like this! (I know, if I'd only known before, I'd still have been a mess cos it wasn't my time yet. I had to do that then to get this now.)

So, on that happy note, I must end this procrastination. I must get some more soda in me and study study study! Hot DAMN, I do soooo love studying! (somewhere in the world, a child heard that and fell off it's chair. hehehe)

So Glad To Be Back At School

Have I mentioned how much I love school today? Except, I did this work for my Substance Abuse Councilling class and forgot it at home on my coffee table! Gah!

My Monday morning meeting was packed to the rafters yesterday. Which was great, of course. The topic was "what would you say to a newcomer and what would you say to someone who has as much time as you do". I said "Just remember what brought you here. Never forget it. Whenever you think of that nice warm, cozy feeling from a couple of drinks or a couple of lines/hits, remember how they left you before you crawled into these rooms." I know that's what keeps me clean and sober and in the rooms.

We had a cookout at the store yesterday. My colon was kind enough to remind me as to why we don't eat burgers, hot dogs or sausages with any regularity. It'll be fruit, veggies and quinoa or brown rice for the next week. I'm trying to embrace my inner colon here. No more dead animals (or animal parts that make up what I ate) for a while.

Til next time...

Second Day of School

::zzzzzzzzzzzzzz::

Oh! I'm up (no I'm not). Ok, for $100 a book per class, someone should carry them for me. It's like carrying a 12 yr old up hill for 5 hours. I'm old. :o)

My teacher for Addiction and Prevention class (and Substance Abuse Counseling right after, tho across campus):

1. Loves to hear himself talk
2. Thinks people in recovery are wrong when they say that only another addict/alcoholic/whatever can help you. Hmmm... (glad I told him I'm in recovery!)
3. Loves to keep you past the time when class is over. Lucky for me, I have to drive across Richmond to get to a class after his.

I do love being in school, tho. There's alot of reading to do, which is great with me. I told my job I'm only working Fri/Sat/Sun cos I want to dedicate Wed to nothing but studying. I'm not going to a meeting either. Just gonna fester in my jammies all day and study (and eat and smoke).

I'm not so sure that the boy (what I call my youngest son) is as into the studying as I am. And, while I have gone to 20 hrs at work a week, I'm using twice as much gas, the boy smokes my cigs and needs to be fed and watered while we're at school. Hmmm... We're gonna have to get in touch with our inner "starving college student" soon. Well, that's one way to lose that extra 20 lbs I can't afford to lose! But, the college cops were giving away free coffee and donuts this morning, so the boy and I got a second bfast while we smoked. Way to promote a stereo type tho. Cops? Donuts and coffee? Nevermind. :o) It's nice to see the boy hangin with his friends at school. And we don't sit together in English Composition class, which is cool.

So, second day/all is still duckey here. I'm gonna hammer into some of my papers that are due next month, so I don't have to worry about it. Then off to a meeting! And maybe a nap sometime before midnight?

School was AWESOME!!!

I just can't tell you how great it felt to be back in college. I've wanted to go back for so long, and now I'm there! And I have this ID that says it's OK for me to take out their books to read til my hearts content. Lordy! That alone was worth the tuition. Tho, book snob that I am, I thought "this is it?" when I saw the quantity they had. Ah well. I'm not taking classes at the Library of Congress. :o)

My class tonite was Intro to Drug Abuse. pffft. If I don't ace this class, I might as well hand in my AA chips.

Off to beddy-bye. Too excited to sleep. ::giggle::

I'm Going To College!

OMG! I got my financial aid award notice in the mail yesterday. School is being paid for! Yippee! Here I was, hating my job and kinda bored. Yet another miracle of sobriety! But, then, my son is also going and I surely hope that doesn't stress me, cos I have to take him to classes. But I'm not gonna think about that now. School starts in a week so I have to do all the paperwork today. Thank God for coffee. Oh, btw, I'm going for substance abuse councilor. Again, yippee!