LOM on The Hive is trying very hard to be civil. So far he is doing a pretty good job. His alter egos, however, are having a very difficult time. He is either shouting or being snarky.
That's ok. LOM is struggling in many ways - none of which needs to be discussed here and NO we do not get to post this blog onto The Hive.
I forgot to call Maureen on her sobriety birthday. I had sent a cyber card but I forgot to call her and I found out her computer is down so she is feeling really sad - she did not get one call on her sober birthday. I am a bad sponsor.
I got a call from my doctor and apparently my liver is out of wack from the meds I have to take for my RA. So I have to miss my sponsor's monthly meeting Wed night so I can go to an appointment in Stockton and have more blood work done. I guess I should be worried - the meds I take are pretty strong and I have never had a Kaiser doctor call me at work and tell me to stop taking meds, come in to see him right away and get blood work right NOW. BUT, I know nothing about medicine and for all I know it is nothing. I refuse to get worked up over something I know nothing about and besides, right now I am so exhausted after three days of being back on graveyard I don't care if I have liver monster disease.
What is Liver Monster Disease?
Someone asked me about Rick and the Viet Nam Vet story. It is an interesting one.
Rick is one of those drifter types. He is from Modesto and kind of famous in the 12 step community. He is sexy and handsome in that biker-MASK-bad-boy way. Of course, he doesn't have a job or a place to live, let alone a bike, but that's besides the point.
I got caught up with him because I was brand new to the area, did not know anything about him, was very lonely and so believed the line of bs he slung my way. I thought he was 20 years sober and I thought he was a Viet Nam Veteran. It turned out he was neither but by that time I have fallen in love, thought we were going to ride into the sunset together as the perfect 12 step couple and had invested 30 grand into a 'trucking company' the two of us were going to run. Three weeks after buying the big rig, he had his new wife (a newcomer with about 30 days sober) call me to thank me for buying their ticket to a new life.
Lovely.
Meanwhile, his checks bounced and I was stuck with a whopping bill - so my cousin (a big shot attorney in town) took on the task of wrestling both the truck and what money Rick did have from him. He also promised me that if I ever EVER did anything that stupid again he would beat me up. That was probably not very professional but Italians are like that when it comes to family members.
Here's the funny part - ok, not funny exactly but interesting - because of the money thing I had to do a full scale investigation into his background. I discovered his family in Modesto had completely disowned him, he did not have some big, badass brother doing time in Q, and that he had never set foot in Vietnam. He had been a Marine for about three weeks before he had been summarily shown the door and told that even if we were being invaded by giant insects from Outer Space, he would never be allowed to be in the military. I found this out because I became friends with a man named JG Burkett who wrote a book called Stolen Valor and put me in touch with an entire network of people who expose phony veterans.
That is why, whenever LOM attacks JH by claiming to be a military veteran I wondered if he was telling the truth. According to a dear, dear friend in the recovery community he is not only lying about being a veteran, he has used that scam on people he has met at various treatment centers in order to get a place to stay.
SO - all this means that he is deeply in need of prayer. I will not print any of this on The Hive because I do not have any proof and would hate to vilify someone and be wrong. Especially when it comes to serving our country.
BUT - if you are out and about in Modesto and see a white haired man wearing a leather jacket who looks like a biker without a harley and claims to have been a marine at Khe San? RUN LIKE HELL....and watch your wallet!
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