Nutball Scrawl Wall!

Don of the Dial

Summer is nearly here and it's hot or freezing, depending upon the day.

Anyway, on a search for Rubbermaid kitchen knock-offs that don't cost $7.99 for a 50 cent piece of plastic, I ventured into a local 99 cent store for the first time. I didn't find the knock off I wanted, but I found some delicious soft drinks at rock bottom prices.

Best find was Shasta Pineapple soda in a three liter plus size jug for 99 cents. Tasted great!

Just as good was the Shasta Tiki Punch soda. Same size, same price. So totally tasty, I couldn't believe there was not any fruit juice in it.

Their Diet Cola isn't bad, either. They also have a Strawberry flavor, which I did not try.

Also available - Hansen's Sangria Soda. Demm good stuff. I have never seen this in the 'white' markets, even Trader Joe's. Obviously meant for the Latino market, these smaller bottles were selling at 2 for 99 cents. Cheap enough to get the kids hooked, then ready for the real stuff. Ahhhhhhh...... Idea

THAT"S why it's not in other stores....PC-ness. Egad, what a cool thing to protest to get on the news! Seduction of the innocent.

AND.....a favorite of mine...Arizona Iced teas in the big, tall can - only two for 99 cents and in Lemon, Peach and Raspberry flavors.
These usually sell for like a buck minimum and usually $1.29 or more in the market. I guess the 99 cent stores have so much buying power that they can extract good deals on proven big sellers like these. They were flying off the shelves.

The one BAD soda I got was Barrillo's Tamarind soda. This is a very popular fruit flavor among our Latin friends (who have some very tasty, odd ball fruit sodas south of the border) and I have had several brands of Tamarind soda before. But Barillo's was BAD...really BAD!!

I actually took it back when I realized I still had the receipt. The weasels at the 99 cent store didn't want to take it back - no perishable items are allowed to be returned...and since when is a bottle of soda a 'perishable item'? The soda tatsted like the plastic jug it was contained in. I tried small doses three times and it was BAD each time, like it had been cooked in the plastic, like the taste of the smell of a plastic swimming pool that you buy from Taiwan.

Finally, after the squat, ugly manager-ette told me they wouldn't take it back and I told her they would, the less ugly manager came over and gave me the party line about returns, but agreed to exchange it, so I grabbed 2 more Sangria sodas and the Arizona I.Teas and walked away happy. I chugged one in the motor-machine as I watched the 'poor' people in their fancy SUVs loading up on stuff.

SIDEBAR - It seems like this 99 cent store carries a lot of brands that I used to see in old magazines from the 30s and 40s, but I never see in the markets I shop in.

My guess is that these are old line products that do very little advertising any longer and are marketed in other or less affluent regions of the USA.

I bought a plastic bottle of Rinso dishwashing liquid. I remember that brand, but I don't recall seeing it in years.

AND....taking a big chance....I bought a can of..no..not SPAM, but TREET made by Armour aka Armour Starr. I used to see ads for TREET all the time in magazines, but I have never seen it til now.

SPAM is dicey enough as there is only one way to eat it and have it taste good. Ya gotta fry it up. SPAM is an art form food.

TREET is the poor person's version of SPAM. The can was 99 cents, same size and less than half the price of SPAM. TREET is made of 'boned' chicken, pork and beef. Brrrrrr.....

But, I bought it and waited like a week before I got the guts to try it. It was a bitch to cheap food, cheap lid. I sliced several slices with a dull knife and tossed them into the skillet. Result - inferior SPAM. A very smooooth piece of product is TREET, which boasts of it's "Virginia Ham" flavor. Whatever. It won't kill ya and it likely keeps folks with limited shekels in the meat eating business.

I'll not buy it again, but I may finish off the chunk that is still there in the Fridgedaire.

Anyway...gooood sodas at the 99 cent store. Be patriotic (or idiotic) and try the STARS AND STRIPES COLA for only 99 cents for a huge 3 liter jug. If it is lousy, freeze it and then toss it at some ungrateful Iraqi's head. (Actually, frozen 12 ounce cans work better.)

Let me know how it is if you survive.

DOTD

UPDATE - Chunk o' TREET still sits in the icebox.

kenfeyl · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 2:07 pm Post subject:

Don, I totally agree with you. The 99 cent store is great and I completely agree with your tastes! Kiwi Strawberry is actually my favorite, but the others you mentioned are good too. I agree that Tamarind tastes awful, as do the others of that same brand (apparently, they're all wine takeoffs).

Crimson · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 2:07 pm Post subject:

Great Review on the 99 Cents store, Don

I've never bought any of those "stranged name" sodas there, but I always buy my spices and things like ziplock bags. The price is right, and much cheaper than the big grocery stores.

Hmmmm....wonder if any of those drinks could be improved with Tequila?

Crimson · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 2:10 pm Post subject:

Tiki punch?...

Your best description:

squat ugly manager-ette

Crimson · Posted: Fri May 23, 2003 10:47 pm Post subject:

With re: the 5 day holiday....I actually enjoy hanging around town..while everyone else leaves for crowded campsites, motels, vegas and other tourist traps..it leaves the Valley in a calm, relaxed and almost pristine condition.

Traffic is bearable, shopping trips are speedy and the hush of the silence...is so relaxing.

Cheryl · 101 Freeway NIMBY Joined: 26 Aug 2002 Posts: 1330

Those 99 cent stores are great. All kinds of deals. I only drink diet sodas, but I do like the Arizona Tea in the can. I like the taste of diet colas better, but I will try the Sangria flavor, Hansens is pretty good.

I usually go in to buy a few cleaning items and occasionally some food items.

There's a new oneng at Huntington and Alhambra Ave. that I'll have to check out, it used to be a Ralph's I believe, anyway, it looks like it'll be pretty big.

Don of the Dial · Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 6:24 am Post subject: Trader Joe's everywhere!

TWO new Trader Joe's in Pasadena!

One between Hudson and Lake at Del Mar(?). top of the parking structure and look out for cars coming around the way too tight corners.

Another TJd in the Hastings Ranch area near Sierra Madre.

When they gonnaanother South Pasadena store or at least a store in San Marino to drain off the excess fat in South Pass?

BTW ~ the new TJ at Lake is the first TJ I have ever seen that is not cramped for space, though the meat/cheese trough is still too tight and shoulder to shoulder with oinkers.

OK...back to the wonders of the 99 cent store.

How about their clones? Any good?

Wasn't "Big Lots" (crummy name replacing a name forgotten already) a 99 cent type of outfit?

Crimson · Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 6:41 am Post subject:

Big Lots replaced Pic N Save...another jewel of a place...but you had to dig for treasures.

I found a great Yahoo (didn't know they existed) heavy duty, water resistant keyboard there for $ 9.99 a few years back. I needed a spare for my laptop, and it's great. Plus, it's pretty...burgundy colored.

From what I understand, Pic N Save and now Big Lots buys inventories from stores going out of business. Maybe the mom and pop drugstores and hardware, variety stores that Wal-Mart forces to close across the country?

The prices are exceptional, but the stock is understandably hit or miss.

99 cent store clones? Most are good, but I find that they don't always stick to the 99 cents maximum price. Depending on the proprietor....MOST items are 99 cents, but not all.

Don of the Dial · Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 10:00 am Post subject:

Hmmmmm..."Pic n Save" ..what a cheesy name. BIG LOTS makes no sense.

I wonder if they 'profile' their merchandise? Certain things going to certain stores?

Anyway, gotta do a beverage run today. God, I hate that store. A zoo and it is likely worse on a Saturday before a holiday weekend.

There's an Elton John Gay Goods store next to it. Maybe I will see what they have in there.

Crimson · Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 10:51 am Post subject:

Don,
You're so superb at your reviews, I think we need you to have a "Shopper's Guide" in addition to your Restaurant Reviews.

I just love your descriptions...of everything (and everyone)

Learning to not have a mouthful of coffee when I log on, now.

Anne

Crimson · Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 10:53 am Post subject:

Oh, and EVERY TJ that I've ever been in has been cramped, and the parking lot even worse.

Cheryl · 101 Freeway NIMBY Joined: 26 Aug 2002 Posts: 1330

I love Trader Joes, I always buy more than I expect to. Great frozen pies, last time I got a great deal on the frozen apple pies, I don't remember the brand name, but it was one of those really large ones, that usually sell for around 6.00 in the market, I got each for $l.99, and the Mud Pie, oh my god! I absolutely love it, my favorite, it's reasonably priced, and the quality can't be beaten.

Then there's vitamins, lots of decent fat and sodium reduced foods, I need that to counter the Mud Pie.

Crimson · Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 11:44 am Post subject:

My Trader Joe preferences:

Orange Wheat Bread

Frozen Shrimp and Salmon

Frozen Baby Green Beans and some of their other vegetables

Spinach and Swiss Cheese Quiche

They have reasonable prices on pet food and my cat loves their Cat Scratch Pads (the cardboard ones that you sprinkle catnip on) They're only $ 3.99 at TJ's but about $ 7.99 at Petsmart for the same thing.

Hmmm...Cheryl, I haven't tried the pies. I will next time, though. thanks for the idea.

Don of the Dial · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2003 7:05 pm Post subject: TERROR AT THE 99 CENT STORE

I stopped in there today for the first time in about 10 - 14 days.

Lots of the choice Hansen's stuff was totally gone and the big Arizona Ice Tea is now only available in lemon, no peach or raspberry. (boo hoo)

So I bought less and there was still plenty of good beverages for my meager 7 dollar purchase.

TERROR!

Every time I have been to that place, the same Pasadena well known eccentric has been there. He must shop there several times a day.

I know the guy from when I used to work on Colorado Blvd. Pleasant, but odd, quirky and very eccentric...and older and more eccentric now by a decade.

I keep thinking he recognizes me and I really dont want to get into a convo with him in the store or on the street.

I may have to find a new 99 cent beverage depot.

The guy used to be n actor in the fifties nd the Star-News even did an article about him once. He calls himself Bishop Basil Tellou and he wears sunglasses and a deerstalker cap like Sherlock Holmes, along with a cape of some sort and sports a goatee. He is always correcting humself within a sentence to clarify *exactly* what he meant and then he thanks you for listening to him....several times. And when you think the convo is over just because he is walking away, he turns around and comes back to clarify something else.

He isn't homeless, just very odd. He makes sense, but it doesn't matter.

Odd fellow. Pushing 70 y/o easily.

Anyone ever see him?

Haha!

How about Hollywood Bum? I have been seeing this guy for years. He is a very handsome dude who might have been a model or an actor. He has got to be in his fifties or beyond by now. He always wears a suit and a tie and it is almost clean sometimes, but usually just dirtier and shinier when you see him again. Combed back hair, clean shaven, except when he has not shaved. I guess he is an alkie.

Cheryl - How about "Mrs. Hide My Face and Talk to Myself and I Stink, Too"? Ever see her? She looks like wraith and she smells and she always has a book or a piece of cloth or her hand in front of her face. Sometimes she sits down at some outdoor cafe and orders a coffee or something. Also not homeless. The story goes that she was a doctor up at Huntington Hospital and some patient of hers died and she cracked up. I have heard that several times, but it sounds like a story.

OK...bums, beverages and B.O.

Crimson · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2003 7:42 pm Post subject:

Ha ha ha at those descriptions of the "unwashed, odorful and not homeless"

It's kinda sad, sometimes...many of the eccentric, mumbling to themselves and socially inept are often former distinguished, intelligent people who've totally "lost it"

Don, shoppers note:

If you see something at the 99 Cents store that you really use a lot of or need, buy as much as you can store or want. Like, Big Lots...it may not be there when you return again.

Cheryl · 101 Freeway NIMBY Joined: 26 Aug 2002 Posts: 1330

I have seen the guy in the cape and deerskin caps I believe, in passing, he caught my eye because he stood out, I usually try to avoid the obvious nut cases, because I attract them like bees to honey, perhaps the loonies instincively consider me one of their own

I don't recall the woman with the the odor who talks to herself, but I may have seen her. I do see an old woman who literally drags around her poor old poodle, down Huntington dr., just about every day, she always has the same dress on.

Don, I think the new 99 cent store isnow, on Huntington dr. and Alhanmbra RD. it's huge, I can't wait to visit that one.

Crimson · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2003 8:36 pm Post subject:

Oh, that upsets me more than seeing the homeless people.

Seeing a poor dog on a short leash, or attached to some guy's shopping cart walking around in extreme heat. And usually a larger dog, who looks too thin.

Cheryl · 101 Freeway NIMBY Joined: 26 Aug 2002 Posts: 1330

Yes, that bothers me too. I've seen this woman all year, walking the dog, she seems to care about the dog, just very sad looking, both of them.

Don of the Dial · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 1:17 am Post subject: the folkswho live on the street

Some times you talk to these people amd they are rational, but they all have a story.

I had a close friend who wound up on the street due to alcoholism.
A really terrific guy who had some unknown demon chasing him and he turned alcoholic.

When I met him he had been sober for 6 - 7 years, holding a job, renting a nice apt, had a car nicer than mine, etc.

Then something happened and he began to drink again. He hid it for as long as possible, but it got worse and worse and worse.

He went thru numerouis rehabs and starightened out and as long as he was not on his own, he was in fine shape, but turn him loose and within days or weeks he was drinking again.

At one point, he was in some Pasadena facility where they turned all their people loose at 8 am or so and they had to be back at 6 pm or they would be locked out. And you had to be sober to stay there.

Sometimes on weekends, I'd drive by the park near the Green Hotel and he would be reading a book or sleeping on the lawn, just killing time and we'd go grab some food and take a drive in the country.

Then he got tossed out of there for coming back drunk one day and he was out on the street, sleeping in the park or in alleys at night getting that greasy homelss vagrant look on him. I'd see him walking down Fair Oaks and there was really nothing to do. He admitted you can rarely sober ad runk up for good. He was too smart for his own good.

One day, he showed up where I worked and asked if he could stay at my place for a day or two. He was sober and had been robbed of the few things he had, plus had gotten beaten up by the tracks a few nights before.

I let him stay at my place and told him if he got likkered up, he'd be out the door and no b/s. And I meant it.

He took a long hot shower and shave while his stuff was in the washer and then we just sat around watching a movie and talking about his life on the street, It was a rough go for him, but he wasnt ready to stop the boozing.Hhe only stayed the night and when I woke up in the morning he had already gone.

Some time later, I got a call from him and he was sober and staying with his ex-AA sponsors way out in Randsberg, that ghost town about 3 hours north of here.

I drove up there because he was planning on leaving the country and going home to Canada. It was good to see him 'clean and sober' and he left for Canada that night.

He wasn't back up there long before he was drinking again. He got arrested for DUI and spent some time in jail, lost hisapt andthat was the last I heard from him. The few times I called, he sounded like he had been drinking.

I have not talked to him in close to two plus years. When I called the last time, the phone had been shut off.

I really should call, but I hate to make the call and have to hear from his aged parents that he is dead or in an institution or something. I keep putting it off because of that.

Maybe I will call the sponsors and just call the parents up there. Gotta be done.

Point is, this was a really nice guy, normal, friendly, etc, but he used alcohol to kill the pain and it ruined his life. the guy was only in his 30s. Guess he'd be about in his way early 40s now, if that.

Sad story.

So there's a 'street person' for you. Just a guy who bottomed out big time and had no will to get it together.

Cheryl · 101 Freeway NIMBY Joined: 26 Aug 2002 Posts: 1330

How sad. Alcohol seems to be really hard to beat. When you know the person and watch the deterioration it's really, forgive the unintended pun, sobering. I have an uncle, who thankfully lives in the southwest, whom I've never seen sober, my earliest memory is of Uncle Walt saying "Cheryl Lynn! Go and get your Uncle Walt a beer!" I actually loved the guy, I haven't had to deal with the nasty side of his alcoholism, I thought he was all fun. My mother had it with him when I was about 6, we went on a family fishing trip, he was drunk as usual, he announced to my other uncle it was time for Cheryl Lynn to learn how to swim, he picked me up and threw me into the lake, I flailed about awhile, according to my other uncle's recollection, he finally "went and fetched me out" when he needed another beer, and I wasn't there(I was probably floating in the lake by then) well, by the time he "fetched" me, who knows how long I was without oxygen, I was nearly unconscious, my mother was livid(where, my I ask, was she?!?) anyway, we didn't see Uncle Walt for many years after that incident, when we did, he was drinking more heavily, and now deeply inbedded in the family black sheep role. I did know how to swim, like a fish, so no harm would come. He's a very intelligent man, could've done so much more with his life, were it not for the alcohol. Well, that's my family experience.

I hope your friend is sober, and doing ok. I'm glad you're prepared, it is, sadly, almost impossible to overcome the addiction.

Don of the Dial · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 12:20 pm Post subject:

My friend hid his alcoholism as best he could and for quite a while after he began driniking again.

Finally, he just showed up drunk where I worked. Dressed in a suit, but all dishelved. He had driven drunk and parked bout a block from where I worked and ittook him 2 hours to findthe place., Drunk.

He stayed and i thought if I kept him there he would get sober for the rest of the day, but, nope, he still wanted to drink.

I drove him back to his place in the Wilshire district cuz he said he wanted to have a drink with me which we had never done cuz I knew he was an alkie, but atthis point, it didnt matter any more.

So we get to his place nd he pops into the likker store on the corner and gets 2 six packs of beer and 2 fifths of vodka.

We take the elevator up to his place on the 7 th floor or whatever and he starts in on the beer and vodka. In less than an hour or so, he had finished one bottle of vodka and one six pack while i just nursed a beer along.

He was a very animated and cheerful drunk, playing songs we liked and popping in videos in the vcr with films we dug. (I now knew why all his videos were in the wrong boxes).

As it got close to 11 pm or something, I told him I had to go cuz I had to work tomorrow and he said, 'ok..but drop me off at the hospital first cuz if I stay here I wont live thru the night'. the booze was talking.

So he gathers his stuff in a backpack and we go to the elevator and dammed if the thing isnt out of order now with a sign that says 'sorry..elevator will be fixed in the morning.'

It was seven flights dwon and there was no way I could take him down that many stairs by meself. The stairs were small stairs(steps).

So, we go back to his place and I call the paramedics who wont come out for just a guy who is drunk. So now I have to find a phone book to call an ambulance and there is no phone book, so I call the fire dept and they come out after telling me they will bring him down but they wonttake him to the hospital. I will have to do that.

So I leave my friend up in his place sitting on the couch and I wqalk down the seven flights of stairs and wait for the FD. They show up and have to walk up 7 flights of stairs and get my friend and bring him back down. he hads fallen asleep on the couch.

They get him down there and he is all like ' where am I? How did I get down here? What are all these flashing lights?'

So we get to my car and he is alert enough now to remember why we are out there and we climb into the car and he is giving me directions to the hospital which were more ccurate then the directions he ver gave to anywhere when he was sober.

We get there nd the hospital is closed for emergencies t that gate, so he directs me to the other hospital or gate or whatever and we get there and they greet him by name! he had been there the night before and befoe that, too, i guess.

So, we go in there and they admit him and he is very adamnant about not being seperated from his backpack of stuff. So i tell him i will take it for him and he can get it tomorrow and that turns out to be OK by him.

So we part company and by now it is 1 am in the morning or so.

I get home and I am pissed off and sad at the same time. Pissed off because I dont like b/s drama like that.

About 2.30 or 3 am, I am still up and I get a call from him from the hospital. he wants me to call his AA sponsor for him and his address book is in his back pack, so i have to go back down to my car and get it and call people at 3 am in the morning...and they are not there or not answering....I am sure they had been thru this crap before.

And while I am going thru his stuff, I find he has a loaded gun in there. Loaded and ready to go.

Guns dont spook me, so I unload it and put the piece back in there and keep the ammo.

Soon, he calls back again(!!!) and wants me to come back to the hospital in LA and drive him down to some rehab centerthat will take him and it's in Long Beach. I declined to play any more and told him to just spend the night in the hospital and we can go there in the morning after we have some sleep.

Next morning, I get a c all from him and he tells me that someone else drove him down there, so I dont have to and he thanks me for all the stuff from the night before and apologizes.

One of his other friends stopped by and picked up his stuff the next day. And that was that ...for the time being.

It was all a real eye-er for me cuz i realized that that is what people with alkies in their lives, but close like family or hubbies of wivers or whetever, go thru day after day. I just do not have the patience for that. I dont like farce and drama, especially when I get involved in it in the middle.

And this was a farce, because it was not a one time situation for him. This was par for the course for him. he was in maybe 5 rehabs in the time i knew him...alll 'good' places, but, like I said, he was too smart for himself and for them and he fooled them time after time.

It was also an eyer because I learned to spot the signs of alcoholism in other people, the small signs that are a tipp off that a person is a heavy duty drinker and has to have it.

Ii had another friend who never wanted to go on long day trips anywhere. Ifinally figured out that the reason was they didnt want to be seperated from booze for too long and didnt want me to know.

I remember talking to a friend of mine on the phone and she seemed to be getting drunk as we spoke, just slurrring her words and repeating the same story and finally she just passed out with the phone in her hand! i just had to hang up.

Booze is wickedstuff if it gets the best of a person.

I would never get involved with a druggie or an alkie. Their problems can easily take over your life.

My good buddy from above also finally got arrested in McArthur park as he tried to score some crack coke when the booze was no longer enough to keep him blasted and high. Too bad for him that the seller was a cop or a cop saw them or whatever went down. According to my friend, the cop gave him a break and destroyed the excess crack that would have sent him to prison. he wound up in county jail for a couple of weeks, which he said was a complete nightmare and 24 hour a day racial war between the latinos, blacks and whites. But even the fear of jail wasnt enough to keep him sober.

Ah, well.....I aint calling up to Canada today. Too grim outside for bad news.

Crimson · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 12:49 pm Post subject:

Don,

There's not much I can say about that candid story about your friend, and the sad/angry feelings that you must have about him. Thanks for posting it.

The fact that the Emergency Room Staff knew him by name says it all. Fortunately, I've not been in a position to where I have had to be the close relative, friend nor spouse to someone like that. But I have seen the impact on loved ones. I don't have the patience to deal with that firsthand either, and I won't. Not after help has been offered and refused again and again. You went above and beyond with your friend, and yes...if it was a one time incident it would be one thing. Sadly, this seems like his way of life. And it's really unfortunate that none of the rehab places (so far) have been enough to have him convince himself to get straight. And I'm not criticizing the rehabs. No one can help him, but him first.

If he was drinking a bottle of Vodka, plus beer in an hour...have to wonder what type of condition his liver was in. If being in a drunken state with impaired judgement driving or some other unsafe circumstance doesn't harm him first, I would think his health would shut-down at some point.

Again, the sad part...from what I've noticed the people who become inflicted with this dependency are often smart, fun people...just not strong enough to fight it.

And omg, at the GUN. They don't scare me either, but I'm not used to handling one. I'll leave that to you men, who know what they're doing.

And btw, I wondered if you had lived in Canada a while back?...saw you type "eh" a couple times.

Don of the Dial · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 1:23 pm Post subject:

My story about my friend is likely not unique and likely anyone who has an alkie friend or relative (like Cheryl did/does) has their pile of 'colorful' stories.

Nope...my buddy was too smart for his own good. Only the last place he stayed at in rehab caught on to him and started breaking him down from his self-exaulted position in his own eyes. i forgot what the problem was and why he decided to cut the crap, but it didnt take for long.

many a time, when he was sober, he told methat drunks just don;t get it and there is little or nothing you can do to help them sober up.

A drunk has to reach a 'fear factor' point where he knows he cannot drop any deeper or he will lose his family or job or whatever he values the most. The they start to get their act together sometimes.

My friend was told by doctors that his liver was in jeopardy, but that is very easy to forget when you are binging...and it is always binging wit that type of alkie. One or two drinks is never ever enough. They drink til they are oblivious or unconcious.

The gun was a symbol of his inability to control his own life. He owned several guns and worked at a gun shop. he needed the guns to make him feel powerful and in control of something. I own a gun, one gun which I bought after the riots. I have not used it for a couple years now and i have ammo left from target practice which is actually fun to do. it may be a guy thing, but it makes a loud noise and it hits a target and it is not easy to hit those little bullseyes. it takes a lot of skill which is why it is always a joke when someone on TV whines that a cop should have shot someone in the arm or leg as the guy was charging at him. Ridiculous. If you even hit your target in a heartpounding situation
like that, you are lucky.

I never knew for sure which stories my friend told me were true or lies.

One time, he called me from the hospital and said he 'took a bullett' from some guy in a passing car on Hollywood Blvd. Possible, but when there was nothing on the news about it and some other part of his story didnt make sense, i figured it was b/s.
He called acouple days later and felt ashamed for lying and told me it was b/s and what had really happened was he was drunk at home and was playing with his guns and managed to shoot off two rounds that lodged in the walls and grazed his hand as he shot. He may have ben trying to kill himself, but there was no proof.

And said he pulled his gun on some guy in a supermarket once who was hassling him. BS or not, I dunno.

His pepper spray story was more believable as he was near MacArthur Park driving on Wilshire and stopped at a light when some bum or someone appraoced his car and he warned them to keep away and when they didn't, he pepper sprayed the guy and left him rolling in the street.

Othe than that type of crap, he was a very low key, enthusiastic guy...liked films, history, rock climbing, all normal type stuff, though he was a bit obsessed with death and would visit cemetaries looking for old movie star graves and stuff. i wnet along once and we saw some classic film star graves. It was OK. Just weird to be sight-seeing in a cemetary or driving past George Reeves house where he git killed and stuff like that.

BTW - I am not Canadian. Sometimes that "eh" is really an "ehh", like in "ehh..who cares?" And sometimes it is an ""eh" or (A). like in "Eh, some spicy babe, huh?"

OK...need to get out side while there is still light.

ttyl

don

Cheryl · 101 Freeway NIMBY Joined: 26 Aug 2002 Posts: 1330

This is so true:
>>One or two drinks is never ever enough. They drink til they are oblivious or unconcious. <<

I haven't asked about my Uncle Walt, I think it upsets my mother, even after he almost killed me she gave him money, not sure how much, she didn't have alot to give, but give she did. She did refuse to take him in while us kids were living at home. I think other family members did, I have a cousin who said he stayed at his house one night, and kept shouting all night, nobody was able to sleep, he just kept having a shouting match with some fictitious character, other times he just sat there, according to my cousin, "drooling" so he must've been in pretty bad shape. One thing I will say, Uncle Walt drank all day, smoked and probably didn't eat, yet, he's outlived many others in the family, who lived much healthier lives.

As you point out Don, what is frustrating is learning to accept that there's nothing much you can do, it's human nature I think, to want to do something, I'll help him get on his feet, try to get him into rehab, and usually it doesn't do any good.

Another problem is that alcohol is such a big part of everyday life, I mean, you go to a ballgame, have a few beers, you go to the beach, bring the ice chest, after work there's happy hour, have wine with dinner, it's not like illegal drugs, at least they are no so prevelant and available, even cigarettes are becoming somewhat taboo, but alcohol? Despite every public announcements, the costs of driving drunk, and those nasty hangovers, drinking is still as popular as ever. It is much harder, I think, for alcoholics, because their drug of choice is right under their nose, very available, just too easy.

Don of the Dial · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 10:01 pm Post subject:

Cheryl-

Alcohol is only a big a part of anyone's life as they let it. Even though it is all around me, I don't feel compelled to drink it.

Many times I have gone for weeks or months w/o anything to drink. Beer and wine and booze stays in my cabinet or fridge for months. I have that Shaw's $1.99 wine from TJoe's in there now and it has been there for weeks.

OTOH, last week or the week before, I was at a happy hour with 2 dollar margaritas and I had 4 or 5, just cuz I felt like it and they were not super potent and they were cheap.

Some people plan their activities around the fact if alcohol will be present. A lot of people dont care one way or another.

I like it when i have it, but if I go somewhere and they are not serving alcohol, whether a restaurant or private function, well, no big deal.

I guess it depends if you come from or hang in a booze culture or not.

I would never let kids stay with an alkie/drunk.