The Super Bowl Sunday party has become the new American tradition. But unlike other parties more and more bosses are hosting parties and expecting their employees to show up. This means the average alcoholic cannot just skip out on the party.

It’s easy to say “Just don’t drink” but that is only half the battle. It is important to minimize the opportunities that liquor is pushed on you. Peer pressure can be tougher than any football player. You also don’t want to have to explain to every single person who offers you a beer that you are a recovering alcoholic. That process would get old fast. You are there to make an appearance and to enjoy the game. Let’s look at some tips that can accomplish those goals while minimizing your temptations and peer pressure.

• Don’t show up early. While the host might appreciate the help most Super Bowl parties are not well organized. The pre-party usually involves the tapping of the keg and storytelling around that same keg. So show up just as the game starts. The crowd will be settling in and even the host will be concentrating on the game.

• Bring a non-alcoholic beverage with you. Always bring 2 Liter type bottles of soda and not cans. This way you are forced to pour your drink into a cup. A host of a party will look around the room and anyone not in possession of a cup will be offered beer or booze. This keeps the host from offering your beer a million times.

• When you want refills get up and pour them yourself. This way the crowd doesn’t know you are just drinking Sprite. It will keep the drunks some harassing you and saying “No beer for you?”

• Be a helper to the host. If during the game the host needs assistance setting out food or grabbing chairs be sure to lend a hand. This keeps you busy and makes you feel like you are a contributor to the party.

• Do not eat before you arrive. If the party is going to have food you should fill your plate up during half time. So while others are refilling their drinks you have your hands filled with a plate of food. A host will not push booze on you if he sees you are eating. IF THERE IS NO FOOD then either bring yourself food to eat at half time or offer to make a run to get food. Running to the store will put you out of the house when the half time drinking hits its peak.

• Leave the party if one teams blows out the other in the second half. If one team runs away with the score in the second half then the party will move away from the television and back to the bar or the keg. This is when drinking games usually break out. It’s best to tell the host that you have another “best friend’s party you have to stop in at”. Leaving early to go to another party is not considered bad party manners.

• If the game is close leave when the game is over. A good football game will keep the crowd’s attention towards the television which is good for you. The minute the game clock stops the party crowd will look for ways to keep the party going. It’s a great point in the night to break away and go home without looking like you don’t care.

• If at any time the party becomes wild (or insane) and the game is no longer the focus of the gathering then just walk out the door. You do not have to say “goodbye” to the host. The next day you can always tell the host you were feeling sick at your stomach and had to leave quickly. They will understand that. Slipping out prevents the crazies from attacking you with pressure to do what they are doing. At one party I was at this included charging doors in the house and trying to break them off the hinges. That’s a fine example of insane behavior.

Lastly just be sure to enjoy yourself. The best part about a Super Bowl party is the conversations. The reason people gather is to enjoy each other’s company. So in order to be a good guest all you need to do is have a few conversations. Good luck out there and let’s hope the game is a fun one.

Save some cheese dip for me,

Paul Udouj

Guest Writer

http://www.myspace.com/pauludouj

Sobriety…just like the picture says…Who wants it more?

This is what I have done for my recovery in the past week in  a nutshell….

I have chaired three AA meetings and attended another 5.

Still take the four + phone calls a day from my sponsee’s

I have hit my knee’s and read 86,87,88 of the Big Book kof Alcoholics Anonymous and read a meditation

Helped a girl on crystal meth get to treatment, and I helped her mom understand alcoholism and addiction, not your typical 12 step call but hey it helped anyway…

Tonight I am doing a 4th and 5th Step with a client at Serenity Park in LIttle Rock, Arkansas.

This is what I have been doing for my recovery and yes there will be more posts over the year filled with information about the steps and some more crazy war stories to entertain…..

Today and yesterday I hit my knees and read 86, 87, 88 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, and I read a meditation.  I went to 2 AA Meetings here in Little Rock. I chaired Lambda and attended the 12 noon Meeting at the Wolfe Street Center www.wolfestreet.org . Also yesterday I met with my sponsor Edwin and by the way I call my sponsor everyday. Also I took 4 seperate phone calls from my various sponsee’s. www.aa.org

Well here we go with another round of Crazy War Stories, yes, here they are those crazy yet funny stories that are unfortunately true…thank the DEA www.dea.gov for immunity.

First of all I am a white guy, actually I am as white as white bread of a guy as you can get. However, being a really great actor and more importantly con man or better yet a real dope fiend, I am blessed with manipulative powers beyond the scope of human understanding. They are the sort of powers that only the greatest men of the world are instilled with such as the former President Bill Clinton , Billionaire Donald Trump  http://www.trump.com/main.htm , and yes Ezzel the Crackhead. In my case though I was in the same classification as Ezzel but I could have been the Bill Clinton or Donald Trump if I had only set my mind to it.

You’ve already read my crazy story’s about hanging in Compton, California  http://www.comptoncity.org/ , murder and gang capitol of the world in search of a high that I could never obtain no matter how much I tried.

While hanging out at the Happy Fish Market my original connect Black took me over to my first dealer named simply “T” . T was about 54 years old lived with his mom behind Bunny’s Liquor off the corner of Alondra and Willowbrook Ave. He had old prison tattoo’s, a silver tipped afro just like Don King http://www.donking.com/ , and had a raspy voice that was very distinct. By the way not only did he live with his momma he also lived out in her garage all day long. T was a man who sold black tar heroin by the bag $5 was all he asked for a bag and through Black I became his best customer. I bought 15-20 bags a day and would always be there first thing by 8 in the morning off of Willowbrook Ave in the CPT to meet him like clockwork. This went on for months.

One day T didn’t meet me and his connect the main dude was arrest by LA County Sherriffs the night before and instantly my boy T was out of business. It was very hot at the end of June of 2005 in Southern California and the murder rate was at it’s peak that summer in Compton. Instantly he went from selling premium solid sleepy eyed black tar go ahead and nod out heroin to some other melted cut up bad excuse for truly bunk product.

One day months earlier I met a guy named Bobby. Bobby was a dapper mild mannered double dope fiend because like so many he dually battled addiction to heroin and crack. Bobby looked exactly like Superfly just like the Curtis Mayfield movie. Long black hair, skinny, slim, and dressed to perfection. He basically lived on the streets, except he stayed in a hotel room in Compton down on Long Beach Blvd. This was a very shady area.

Bobby and I became very friendly. So friendly that when I moved out of my safe, nice, and beautiful house in Los Feliz in Hollywood to the hotel room in Compton with Bobby. Now here is the best part of the story.

Upon my sudden move to Compton to a hotel room I was faced with a dilemma or an unpleasant decision that I was on the streets more importantly on the streets as a white boy in Compton. So what did I do I told everybody that Bobby aka Superfly and I were brothers. When asked about how he is black and I was white we would nonchalantly say that we really don’t know but we had the same mother? Who would have guessed that everybody bought it. If I ever needed Bobby I went up to any fiend or aspiring fiend in Compton and said where’s Bobby? When they said they didn’t know. I looked them in the eye dead serious and said, ” Look, he’s my brother and I need to find him, now!” It always worked and they always believed it.

Was I a good con man? The answer is yes but eventually nothing worked for me. All the lies caught up and it appeared that I was eventually alone. Alone with myself and the Creator. I thought I was alone but I wasn’t, because God was right there with me every step of the way and saved me from the miserable existence I write about in this blog to become a productive member of society, a good son to my parents, and most importantly someone very capable of carrying the message of Alcoholics Anonymous www.aa.org to those in need. So as we say in A, if you don’t get help here please get help somewhere.