I am so tired of hearing the phrase don't drink and go to meetings!
This will get a real alcoholic KILLED! Trust me, I see them die a lot. I was glad no one said this to me when I walked into my first meeting. Alcohol was my solution, and when that was gone I was miserable and stuck in the problem. Thank you God, that my first meeting was an "A.A. Big Book Study" group. I was told a new way of life (a solution) was to be found in this basic text. AND IT WAS - WAHOO!
The Program of Alcoholics Anonymous is the text book of AA, it is referred to as; the literature (in the prefaces), the Big Book, and the blue book. It is the only Program for a real alcoholic who suffers from a hopeless state of mind and body. The Fellowship "Something Similar" is just that, Fellowship; definition is: companionship, a group of people with common interest.
A newcomer that walks in our door has no idea what A.A. is, I know I didn't. So if you are telling them to just come to meetings and not drink, without giving them a solution, which is the A.A. Program (The Big Book), you are leaving them in the problem, and eventually they will turn to the only solution that worked for them - WHICH WAS TO DRINK, and eventually they will die if they are a real alcoholic.
Now on to BULLSHIT BINGO! (artwork included above) I heard of this last year, and didn't get all the catch phrases down, and yadda, yadda, bunch of excuses, but I made sure to look for it online. Low and behold, Danny S. Recovered Alcoholic at Frunobulax 57 (http://recoveredalcoholic.blogspot.com/) had it in his archives. So if you are a recovered alcoholic, and use the Program you will get this game, if not, it is more likely to piss you off. Which in reality could be a good thing for you.
Do you keep falling asleep in meetings? What about those long and boring using stories?? Get tired of the same old sloganeering, psychobabble and never ending Treatment Center ideas having NOTHING to do with the AA Program detailed in the Big Book? Or how about members who continue to deal with the same problems, same defects, and same painful relationships FOR YEARS?
Here's a way to change all that...
1. Before (or during) your next meeting, prepare yourself by drawing a square. I find that 5" x 5" is a good size. Divide the card into columns - five across and five down. That will give you 25 one-inch blocks.
2. Write one of the following word/phrases in each block:
• Issues
• Inner-child
• Living Amends
• Meaningful Relationship
• Didn't Mean to Use
• I'm Stuck On Step ____
• Couldn't Find A Meeting
• My Sponsor Has Been Out Of Town
• Can't change
• Won't change
• Yeah But
• Oh, The Pain
• But.... Don't you think
• Misunderstood
• Never
• Rational
• Recovery
• Recovering Person
• Searching (as in, "for answers")
• Gonna (sometimes prefaced with, "I'm")
• Been thinking (prefaced with, "I've")
• she/he said,
• "I know what it is I need to do but..."
• Dysfunctional
• I heard
• Rage
• I don't know much about this, but...
3. Check off the appropriate block when you hear one of those words or phrases.
4. When you get five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, stand up and shout "BULLSHIT!"
TESTIMONIALS FROM SATISFIED "AA BULLSHIT BINGO" PLAYERS:
--"I had been in the meeting for only five minutes when I won."
Adam W., Atlanta
--"My attention span at meetings has improved dramatically."
David T., Tampa
--"What a gas! Meetings will never be the same for me after my first win."
Dan J., NY City
--"The atmosphere was tense in the last "Gratitude" meeting as 14 of us waited for the fifth box. "
Ben G., Denver
--"The speaker was stunned as eight of us screamed out "BULLSHIT" for the third time in 20 minutes."
Carnie Joe, Miami
Play "AA Bullshit Bingo" at your next meeting!
