My Daily Moral Inventory

Meeting with my sponsor tomorrow night at CC's Coffee, so I suppose tonight I'll just kick back, write a bit, watch some TV, and munch on my trail mix.

Been working on taking my daily moral inventory. Usually at night... right before going to sleep, I lay there and mentally go over the events of the day. What did I do right? What did I do wrong?What should I do about it? I pray on it.

Stressful situations are much easier to deal with when I step back, take a good look, and not immediately react. I'm working on promptly admitting when I'm wrong, as well. Was never good at that. It makes the day so much better (and easier), though, when Step 10 becomes part of your daily routine. It's one of the steps that is never really finished.

Had a good day at work. Just very busy. There are still a lot of Mardi Gras visitors in town. Houses still have their decorations up. Beads are still everywhere. Hanging from trees, power lines, fences... It almost feels like another parade could come rolling down St. Charles at any moment. I like that.

I'll leave you tonight with a picture of the most festive pothole in the world. Saw it the other morning on the way to work.

God Bless!

Now that's what a pothole

should look like!

Back to the Norm

Work went really well. I did alot of lifting, climbing, and carrying so I'm a bit worn out. Gonna do some laundry, eat my sandwich, and get ready for bed....

Kinda sad seeing the Mardi Gras season go. Was walking down St. Charles on my way home and noticed how quiet it was. Just yesterday there were thousands of people crowding the street to see the parades. In less than a month, though, we'll have the St. Patrick's Parade (another little taste of insanity for those who miss it).

I am looking forward to having my homegroup again. It starts back tomorrow night. And we have a business meeting.

Now we can take an inventory of the good things that have come to us through A.A. To begin with, we're sober today. That's the biggest asset on any alcoholic's books. Sobriety to us is like goodwill in business. Everything else depends on that. Most of us have jobs, which we owe to our sobriety. We know we couldn't hold these jobs if we were drinking, so our jobs depend on our sobriety. Most of us have wives or husbands and children, which we either had lost or might have lost, if we hadn't stopped drinking. We have friends in A.A., real friends who are always ready to help us. Do I realize that my job, my family, and my real friends are dependent upon my sobriety?

There's the thought for the day. I really like it. It's a crucial reminder of exactly how much rides on my recovery. I should read that passage every day.

Well. I'm going to check on my clothes and wind down. Have a great night and God Bless!

Happy Mardi Gras!

It may be another Tuesday anywhere else in the world, but here it's Mardi Gras day! Schools are closed, businesses are shut down, and I'm lucky enough to have today off. :)

Parade Cam 2012

Above is a link to the live parade cam. Enjoy!

A Farewell to Meat

Liquor used to be my friend. I used to have a lot of fun drinking. Practically all the fun I had was connected with drinking. But the time came when liquor became my enemy. I don't know just when liquor turned against me and became my enemy, but I know it happened, because I began to get into trouble. And since I realize that liquor is now my enemy, my main business is keeping sober. Making a living or keeping house is no longer my main business. It's secondary to the business of keeping sober. Do I realize that my main business is keeping sober?

Keeping sober above all else may seem a bit selfish to some. I realized a while back, though, that I'm no good to anyone unless I'm in recovery.

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday. The end of the Mardi Gras season. So long, Carnival! A farewell to flesh... or meat. It's traditionally the beginning of fasting for Lent. One last, big blowout before giving stuff up for God. More than that, however, it's a spiritual challenge to ourselves. I gave up meat (except for seafood) one year. No one really understood why I did it. I'm not Catholic. It was just a personal test of will.

Going to try and make Zulu tomorrow morning. Rex rolls at 10. After that we'll see about 200 big trucks honking horns at full blast for the Elk's parade. There's a video below that I made from last year's. Imagine if the vid was 2 hours long... That's exactly what the Elk's parade is like. What's awesome is that we have a Krewe rolling after Elks. It was postponed from Saturday because of the rain.

Well. I have to be up early, so I'm going to go ahead and wind down. Happy Mardi Gras and God bless!

BTW... I've decided to give up astro-engineering for Lent this year. It'll be hard, but I can do it. ;)

Held Hostage By Bacchus

Fitting that for so many years I allowed myself to be a prisoner of alcohol and tonight I was literally a captive of Bacchus (the Roman god of wine and intoxication). I was on my way home and couldn't cross St. Charles or Napoleon because of the Bacchus parade. I always enjoy it, so I wasn't too disappointed about being stuck. Was hoping to see Will Ferrell though. He was king this year.

I've been talking alot about Mardi Gras, but I haven't been taking many pictures. Here's a link to a page on my photography website. It's a very small gallery from last years parades and some pics I took around town.

Mardi Gras 2011

Not the shutterbug I used to be. I used to concentrate more on taking pictures than actually enjoying the moment and connecting with the ones I love. I decided a while back that if something trivial started getting in the way of what was really important, I'd cut waaaay back on it. Facebook, Doctor Who, video games... You get the idea.

Bout to eat a late dinner then go to bed. Have a great night and God bless!

Don't Have a Krewe? Make Your Own!

Another night of parades! I had a blast. I got there by myself and by the beginning of the first one I had a whole group to hang with. A most unlikely bunch too... A really cool couple from Valley, AL (not too far from my old stompin' grounds), a couple of ladies from Edgard, LA, and some sorority girls who ended up being bead hogs. Everyone was nice, though, and not one person was drinking. Spent most of my time with the Valley folks. They winced every time I said "War Eagle". ;)

Best seat in the house!

Didn't have my homegroup tonight. Unfortunately the church is right smack dab in the middle of the parade route. I'll hit the Mustard Seed tomorrow. Can't wait to catch up with my peeps and see how their Mardi Gras went, though. We have a business meeting and a regular meeting next week.

Anyhow... It's another late night and I haven't even eaten dinner yet. Had a hot dog and nachos, but that was hours ago. I'll leave you with some very bad quality Blackberry video of the start of the Muses parade.

Goodnight! God Bless!

Mardi Gras in Recovery

Wow. I am soaked and I am tired. Nothing too long or profound tonight.

Had a great day at work. Put in for my vacation time in June. Left at 7 and went straight to St. Charles and Napoleon to see tonight's parades. Ancient Druids ran first and then I had the distinct pleasure of seeing the inaugural run of the Mystic Krewe of Nyx. It rained off and on, had my umbrella, but still got wet.

Sobriety rocks. I can do stuff like that without drinking and enjoy it perhaps even more. There was a time in my life where I wanted to drink for any occasion. 4th of July? Bring on the Bud. Christmas? Put a little rum in that eggnog. Arbor Day?... Well. You get the idea. I spent my entire first Mardi Gras drinking. I mean the entire time. I was so consumed with myself having fun that I disregarded the fact that I had a beautiful woman, who loved me very much, and she only wanted to enjoy it with me. I have a lot of Mardi Gras...es (What's plural for that?) to make up to her. And Christmases. And 4th of Julys. And vacations. And so, so much more. I can't wait. Given the opportunity of course.

I took a little video with my Blackberry. I'm not falling down at the end of it. Someone threw me a frisbee and I was picking it up. ;)

As always, the picture quality is

atrocious at night.

I'm going to eat a very late dinner and get ready for bed. Until tomorrow... Goodnight and God bless!

Sausage Dogs and the Mustard Seed

It was a very interesting walk to work. They were setting up for the Krewe of Carrollton parade on my street. Got to see the bands practicing in the park, the floats were all lined up, people were getting into costume... Then I stopped on St. Charles and got a hot sausage dog from a carnival stand. Tried to eat it while walking, but it was too full of stuff. Mushrooms, marinara, green peppers, onions and all on a hoagie roll. I guess I was being a bit of a grump in a previous post. I do love Mardi Gras. It would be my luck, though, that there are no parades on my days off. :(

I guess my Blackberry takes better

pics during the day...

Not much else of interest. Worked all day. Came back here. Going to eat some pizza rolls and watch a movie.

Talked to my sponsor a few minutes ago. We're going to meet up Tues. and go to the men's group. Going to the 12 step study tomorrow night and hopefully the Mustard Seed on both days.

Well. I guess that's about it for tonight... Going to enjoy my days off and try to get some things done!

Goodnight, world...