The Long And Winding Blog About Drunks, Enablers, and Related Subjects

Today, I'm discussing drunks. I'm not talking about people who go out for St. Patty's and take a taxi home. You all are fine. What I am discussing here are the drunks who selfishly rant and do whatever the fuck they want because drunk, violent men are scary and unpredictable.

Here's a news flash: alcohol and drugs rot your brain. Not figuratively, literally. There are even names for conditions distinct to alcohol and drug use. An alcohol-induced one like Wernicke-Korsakoff psychosis, which is caused by the lack of B vitamins in your brain. You see, booze strips them from your noggin. What results is an often fatal senile dementia that is like a super-angry Alzheimer's. Your shrunken brain cannot grow again once you have it; the disease is only arrested by quitting your bottle-a-day habit and getting injections of the low B's.

Now, i'm pretty sure that my housemate has said dementia because of the particular path the disease follows. First, a person becomes super-organized to compensate for lost short-term memory, and then they usually become a violent bastard, then uncooridated, then helpless, angry and drooling, then they die wearing a diaper. The guy who taught me a lot about high-tech roofing has this disease and now he's in a full-care facility with 80 year olds at 49. It's a sad existence and he was one of those drunk dudes who actually ate; now he has no choice since food is delivered in a tube.

Now, back to the housemate. He has seen the coworker on a roof as HM does sheet metal and they need to hire roofers for curb installations, drain systems, Air conditioner, and so on. This guy has seen a man deteriorate due to booze and HM enjoys making fun of former coworker because HM is a bully. When HM's brain wasn't so fried (he was just in the OCD stage) I told him that it could happen to him with the obvious distinction being that former co-worker was a far nicer man when he had a brain.

So where am I going with this? About half an hour ago I asked HM if he'd seen my pliers. I thought it was a reasonable question since he had them last time I saw them. I was kind about it because I know he's a fuckwit, but he lost it; I mean his walnut-sized brain exploded. He went batshit insane over me asking if he'd seen a pair of $20 pliers and zoomed around the house screaming insults and stomping and trashing the tool room. And I left. I have a far greater sense of self-worth than I used to. I left because he has attacked me and then invented stories to justify the things he doesn't remember. (I always leave because calling the cops is useless in this town, the 10% of you who are from this town know exactly what I mean.) He seems unaware that his noggin is rotting as of yet and it's only been recently that the rage fits have been happening.

  Here's the deal kids. The blabber about alcoholism being a selfish disease doesn't mean that you or anyone else has to put up with a ranting, dangerous, pitiful punk. You are not obligated to save the life of someone who is killing himself, and certainly not if the person is a threat to you. There are only so many interventions you can do, and if the narcissistic bum doesn't shape up you must get out of every negative situation. Most drunkards are little boys that chose to never grow up and if you keep reinforcing their negative behaviours you'll be changing the dude's nappie 'til he needs an actual nappie, which you'll be changing too.

I've always found it amusing when drunks use "but I was drunk" as some type of Get Out Of Jail Free card. If I assaulted someone while under the influence of burritos, could I blame pinto beans? (Hey man, gas can make you hella bitchy.) Of course not, and if anyone uses the booze excuse he or she is a bonafide retard of the voluntary kind. If you are a drunk person, own and atone. And stop being a drunken fool. There are many people I know that have gotten clean and been amazing super-duper folks. Unfortunately, there have been many others who have either died, been rendered senile, or wound up with toxic psychosis ( One dude I know has been hopping around like a frog since 1995)  from bad Meth or PCP.

While some people get it, others don't. And being an addict is no excuse for being a complete bastard. If drink or drugs make you into a fuckwit, stop before you die or everyone leaves you to rot. And enablers : please stop permitting these yoyos to continue their life-ending actions . If you don't call the cops, leave, or do something else to ensure you're own safety, you need your head examined. So whether you're drunk or drunked upon, love yourself in a productive way.

You can do this.