6 months of sobriety....HOLY SHIT!

At the beginning of this year I did something that I've done many times, I decided to quit drinking and smoking.  This isn't the first or second time I've attempted this.  I used to do it as a sort of spiritual cleansing that would last at the most 2 weeks, which is less a spiritual cleansing than a detox after months of heavy drinking and bad decision making.  A lot of times this attempt at sobriety would have been an flimsy promise at best.  I recall one time I decided to quit drinking and found my self an hour later in a pizza place sharing a pitcher with one of buddies and mid way through pouring Sam Adams down my throat thinking, "FUCK", and carrying on.  This time was different.  I was serious but didn't quite know how serious I was about this.  This was more than a spiritual cleansing.  It was a personal test of will and discipline.  I wanted to prove that I could do it.  To make it more difficult I added (removed) weed to the mix and that was HARD.  Much harder than alcohol.  If anyone has read any of my older posts you know my stance on marijuana, a stance that hasn't changed.  So anyway I've hit the six-month mark and I gotta say.  Life is boring.  You don't realize how much fun life is when you're drinking until you voluntarily given it up. Plus while it didn't necessarily exclude me from social events it definitely put a bit of a strain on me in the beginning.  I fought with my old self thinking maybe I was only fun when I was drinking or smoking then I realized that was completely ridiculous and came to understand that thinking that way is one of the reasons why I should probably continue because all of those internal struggles are a test of will.  Over time the strain in social situations ended and its now become a habit almost like a game to collect as many days or months off drinking or smoking and when you give in you lose the game.  With that said, I have no idea how long I will be on this not drinking or smoking thing.  I do know I will start smoking before I start drinking again.

Here are some things that I have learned during this process.

1.  My life is much more boring
2.  Giving up something doesn't make you a better person
3.  Removing a de-motivator (like weed) doesn't make you more motivated
4.  Drunk people are only more annoying when you don't know them
5.  Being the DD is not so bad
6.  I get a phantom mini hangover when people that start a story with "I was real fucked up"
7.  Smoking weed is awesome but it can be a monumental waste of time
8.  Drinking is ok but its a detrimentally unhealthy vice
9.  Knowing 7 and 8 makes it hard to consider starting back again

Ive learned a shit ton more but I think those 9 get the point across.  DFTF.

Oh and I almost forgot.  On Sunday a harmless internet trolling of Sinbad on twitter for posting an incredibly boring vine turned into one of the most thrilling internet related experiences of my life that didn't involve porn.  Here is the exchange with me and Sinbad.  Gotta understand this nigga was my childhood.  I was so geeked that he came back at me.

"THE BIG THREE"

Jonny Casanova lives people. 5ivebruhs is back in full effect. Things have been pretty good. I went back to school recently to get my masters and its been great. I gotta say though, going back to school within a year of undergrad gives one an entirely new perspective on things. I very much suggest it. All of the benefits of undergrad with the life experience that you wish you had prior. Makes for some good times. Anyway, here is a true account of the most eventful night of last weekend. I will leave out specifics in order to protect the identities of those involved.

With that said, here are 3 things that I will never stop/turn down once the situation presents itself. We'll call them "THE BIG THREE" for the purposes of the blog.

They are as follows:

1. If someone offers me a beer

2. If someone offers me some of that soul flower (that's weed for the squares out there)

3. If a woman is taking my clothes off

I wrote a blog months ago back when 5ivebruhs was very active entitled "It's from the Earth" about weed, the benefits thereof and why it should be legalized. Well I must say after the weekend bender that I just had, I can say that all of those things that I outlined remain to be true, even number 4, I had the good fortune of knocking that one off the list as well... for those of you who are new or need a refresher, here is an excerpt from that fateful post.

***flash back***

1. It makes food taste better.

2. It makes scary movies scarier and funny movies funnier.

3. It makes music sound AMAZING.

4. (I hear but have never experienced) It makes sex feel better.

5. It makes conversations "seemingly" more important and deep...lol.

6. There isnt an organization called Mothers Against High Driving

7. There is medical marijuana but not medical vodka or tequila

***end of flashback***

Anyway. You caught up? Good. The weekend I just had was full of fun with an extreme apathy for making responsible decisions. I decided to exercise nearly all the rights that Brother Martin Luther King fought for in expert fashion. It was awesome.

I am pretty sure that I experienced all of the most fun things that can happen when you smoke weed all in one 4 day stretch, but I will highlight just one night. It all started when I went to my neighbors house to retrieve my jacket that I left there after a huge party they had the night before. ***cue flashback music***

I walked up the stairs with 1 purpose and suddenly I was hit with 1 of the "THE BIG THREE".

"Hey Colin, you want a beer?
"Of course I do." I answer knowing I'm in for a hell of a night. 1 beer will always turn into 2 and if your me, it may turn into.....more than that...

1 beer turned into 3 then suddenly someone pulled out the bong. At this point I was no longer concerned with having a quiet night at home. I looked around for my jacket, grabbed it, and right as I was turning to head back home, the rotation of the bong had worked its way to me, as if it knew I was leaving. There was no way I was gonna turn it down...2 out of "THE BIG THREE" had gotten me at this point. After inhaling a massive amount of smoke from a device that used to be a bottle of Jose Cuervo Gold, it wasn't but a couple of minutes before I was on Mars chillin'. After receiving texts from some friends about going out, I was a little hesitant about thrusting myself into a social situation given my condition but something told me that everything was gonna be fine. So I left. No goodbyes. You tend to be less concerned with etiquette when you're in that state of mind. One of my friends was performing that night so we went to his show. Me and a couple of school friends get to the bar. As I entered, all of the colors and lights combined with the music and the energy of the bar made it a seemingly religious experience for me. I was on cloud 9 but if only I could get the third of the BIG THREE handled before the end of the night. It was as if I knew it would happen but I didn't know how.

***After about an hour and a half***

"Were leaving, were over it...(unintelligible)" a friend of mine's voice trails off as the DJ cranks the volume in this extremely colorful bar. She grabs my hand and signals me to leave. I wonder how many people I know and hadn't said hello to. I also wondered if anyone knew how inebriated I was. I quickly decided that I didn't really care that much.

"Where are we going?" I yelled, seemingly at the top of my lungs

I couldn't hear where she said we were going I was just hoping it wasn't what I thought I heard. But, Of course it was the bar I swore never to enter again (long story). Anyway we get there and immediately this very attractive girl starts buying me shots of tequila and it wasn't before the last shot was taken that it seems we were downing another. By this time I was in a state of mind that we like to call equilibrium. Where the powers of the 2 forms of intoxication combine in just the right way. It finally dawned on me why she was buying me these shots and after a dazed ride back to her spot, a bottle of water and another hit of the ganga, I'm happy to say that I completed the 3rd of "THE BIG THREE" and number 4 on my "Why weed should be legalized" list.

So overall solid night. I did end up walking back to my house that next morning...I never knew the sun could be that bright.

Hope you enjoyed the story. I wish I could tell more but I'm pretty sure that's all I can remember right now. Oh, and call me a nerd but the movie you need to see while blazed is "The Legend of the Guardians The Owls of Ga'hoole". That jive blew my mind! ---------------->

Glad to be back. Follow us at twitter.com/5ivebruhs and tell your friends...

Peace

Its From The EARTH

This is an article that I have been struggling about writing for awhile but you know...I figure what the hell. My article is about weed. YES WEED. Now if that is too much of a taboo topic for you or you feel some kinda way about people that smoke weed. Read it anyway.

The policies about weed are utterly ridiculous and they should make that shit legal. I have no problem admitting that I smoked weed in the recent past and to be real, if I didnt have this job right now and had no fear of losing it/ getting another, I would continue. Now I'm not a hopeless stoner but geez if they were able to regulate weed like they do alcohol than I would be happier. Before I go on let me share a story with you.

I remember the first time that I smoked weed. I was in my college dorm room my freshmen year with my suite mates. (I was the only black dude and frankly didnt trust those guys to begin with, they later become some of my best friends). One of the guys had a bong and I told him I would try it... I was scared as hell. Why? Because society scared the shit outta me about weed. They made it look like something that only bad people did, or dumb people did, or people that lack vision or future success. I believed everything I saw on those commercials and because of that, I judged a lot of people. Anyway,this time I said that I was going to try it and see what the big deal was about. So...I went into my suite mates room and he had this long glass instrument that I had never seen before. first of all, I was thinking. Damn am I that sheltered. They got special instruments for this shit that people sell? I was tripping. Then after he prepared the bong for me and taught me how to use it, I was on my way to an experience that would change my life forever. That night was glorious...I laughed my ass off like never before, ate 2 big bags of Doritos and I slept like a baby and woke refreshed for my Music Theory pop quiz that I aced. It was a great experience, No one got hurt, we all stayed securely indoors. What about that experience would make me want to stop doing it?

Whats the big deal anyway? What is weed hurting? If you drink, then you should NEVER judge someone that smokes weed and this is why... there is a double standard. People will get drunk for the first time and throw up and not remember anything and then go and do it again later on, only because its legal. They dont even like to drink but its there at the convenient store and grocery stores and because its legal they learn to like it. Im not saying everyone should try weed... im not saying everyone should do it, im not saying that I'LL even do it again **cough** but damn theres nothing wrong with it, its from the earth and people should have the freedom to do it without legal ramifications.

Here are 10 GOOD reasons why they should make weed legal (no particular order)... Some of these you may remember from Pineapple Express but they were some good ass reasons!

1. It makes food taste better.

2. It makes scary movies scarier and funny movies funnier.

3. It makes music sound AMAZING.

4. (I hear but have never experienced) It makes sex feel better.

5. It makes conversations "seemingly" more important and deep...lol.

6. There isnt an organization called Mothers Against High Driving

7. There is medical marijuana but not medical vodka or tequila

8. Your past and current presidents and civic leaders and political advisors most likely did/do it and now they are calling the shots for you... Shit some of them do/did hard drugs and still get re elected/stay on the air. Marion Barry, Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh. If we can keep these people on a serious payroll after that, whats wrong with legalizing weed?

9. Prohibition doesn't solve anything, we already tried that once before remember?

10. The regulation of a legalized marijuana market would not only create jobs, it would take money away from the trafficking of the substance and reduce violence associate with it.



11. "The weed be letting you know [when] evil lurks" ~Smokey