Mom's AA Chico
2555 Zanella way "F"

This Website is a place for all of our friends to express their opinions...Share your experience, strength and hope with us... and a place to store all those documents that we read at meetings... WITH BIG LETTERS !
www.aabutte-glenn.org/ a really good website for up to date info about AA in Chico and the surrounding areas... Visit them and be grateful for their excellent service...
If you are having trouble with alcohol, and need to speak to someone immediately, call:
Chico, Gridley, Orland or Willows (530) 342-5756
Forbestown, Oroville, Paradise (530) 879-9400

Mom's has meetings every day of the year... noon and night ... rain, sleet, snow, heatwave, earthquake... they still have a meeting... AND it actually works... amazing... If you want an accurate schedule, go over there at noon or in the evening... 5:30 & 8:00 PM... they are always there...
Sign the guestbook or send me pictures, stories, sounds, movies... I'll post them here... [email protected]
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favorite quote of an AA member:

Let us also remember to guard that erring member, the tongue and if we must use it, let us use it with kindness & consideration & tolerance.

Dr. Bob's Farewell speech...
Response to guestbook note:
I see that a visitor has moved from the Bay Area to get away from the hustle and bustle... The Idea was that by moving to Chico it would help get closer to God. That sounds exactly like MY story... I had just gotten fired at my San Jose job for ...drinking on the job... and then got evicted... tried to rent a new place to stay but... EVERYTHING had become astronomically expensive... even a "monks quarters" near San Jose State was out of reach... So, I got on a greyhound bus, with some clothes and my acoustic guitar... It felt so good to be in Chico... I lived there in 1973 and 1974 and then moved back in 1998... I had been dreaming of returning to Chico ever since I got divorced in 1985... So, I am of the opinion that a move to Chico is a GREAT IDEA and could help a person get closer to God... It worked for ME, it took a HUGE quantity of meetings but... so what! 500 meetings a year sure is better than the alternative... As it all turned out, Chico WAS the best place for me at the time... I sold my stock and took a one year vacation to focus on my health. The cost of living in Chico allowed me to have the freedom to focus on AA. I did not have a car so there were no bills for gas, I lived outdoors in Bidwell Park for the entire summer, so there were no bills for rent... If you ever have the chance, go visit picnic area 37 at the redwood grove. My Home... I ate at the Jesus center and rode a bicycle all over town. That caused health because of good balanced food and exercise... Quite a change from working 6 days a week at a stressful job and drinking Safeway brandy and whiskey every day...

Printable AA documents in REALLY BIG TYPE for those of us that can't see too good...feel free to print these and take them to a meeting...
What is AA ?... A Vision for You... HOW IT WORKS... MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM...
PRAYER OF A HUMBLE SAINT... gregvan singing the prayer (just a little bit... the mp3 files take a long time to download)
MEETING FORMAT... THE TWELVE TRADITIONS... THE PROMISES... The Touch of The Master's Hand...
My opinions... What I share at meetings...
New Share by gregvan 3/13/2006 MY "SHARE"... WHAT I SAY AT MEETINGS...* A WORD ABOUT GOD... * REMEMBER, BE HERE NOW... Memories of the Sunday meetings in Bidwell Park 9:00 AM (One Mile)* **** a few new words are at the bottom of this page... Just my random thoughts... Typed as an online share...
Our "safe HAVEN"...

This photo taken by Jeff... This particular hall was condemmed by the city of Chico. We will miss the old girl... The new hall is at... 2555 Zanella way "F"...or if you can't find that one try... Chico Central, 3012 Esplanade

A woman was asked by a co-worker, "What is it like to be a recovering alcoholic?" The co-worker replied, "It is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then he cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc., and then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see." This was passed on to me from another pumpkin. Now, it is your turn to pass it to a pumpkin. I liked this enough to send it to all the pumpkins in my patch.
This is a drawing that I did for John Mc. and he emailed it to me a year later. It has a history... Including getting milk spilled on it while it was on his refrigerator...that adds character to the drawing AND reminds me to accept the things I cannot change...It is impossible to unspill milk... Gee, maybe in the future I could use ink that doesn't run when it gets wet...

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.
The courage to change the things I can.
And the wisdom to Know the difference.
MY MEDALLION

I always carry my medallion,
A simple reminder to me
Of the fact that I'm in recovery
No matter where I may be.

This little chip is not magic
Nor is it a good luck charm.
It isn't supposed to protect me
From every possible harm.

It's not meant for comparison,
Or for all the world to see,
It's simply an understanding
Between my Higher Power and me.

Whenever I doubt the cost
I paid for recovery,
I look at my medallion
To remember what used to be.

It reminds me to be thankful
For my blessings day by day,
And to practice the principles
In all I do and say.

It's also a daily reminder
Of the peace and comfort I share
With all who work the Program
And show they really care.

So I carry my medallion
To remind no one but me
That the Promises will unfold
If I let God work for me.

submitted by Roger... THANKX
newspaper article about an FDA approved alcohol drug that is injected once a month to prevent craving... I have no personal experience with using a drug to fight alcohol addiction but it might be good for someone else... I depend on the "Group Of Drunks" for my sobriety...

I moved to Eureka after getting sober and went to College... Graduated in 2005... Yep, I never did THAT back when I was drinking... I couldn't seem to maintain focus on any goal for four years... Well, now that I'm sober, I can...

EUREKA, CALIFORNIA INFORMATION for Al-Anon, Alateen A group for friends and families of alcoholics... This is a lovely website that has useful information about meetings in Eureka. Since so many people from Chico come to visit here, this link may help you plan your trip... It is a fine source of meeting schedules... This organization uses the same halls as AA. I recognize the addresses because when I first moved here, I tried to visit all the halls... Actually, that was FUN...

click here... for some pictures of a day at the beach... At the North Jetty of Eureka...

A bar in Eureka. The name made me laugh... I went there for a college class once... I was taking a cultural anthropology class and we needed to do a field research project. Our group decided to do a "Behind the Music" presentation of a local bluegrass band... that's culture... We went to a practice and a performance and made movies, sound recordings and a powerpoint slideshow... It was very odd but the show was at the AA Lounge on a Sunday Morning... I felt a little "goofy" going there but did it anyway... We gave a fine presentation to the class and got a really good view of what goes on behind the scenens with a working band... THE SLEWFOOT STRING BAND...

If you ever visit Eureka, CA be sure to grab a "nooner" at the AA hall on the corner of Chester and Harrison. Across from the Safeway store at the corner of Harris and Harrison. This is my new hall and a very good place to be... It is in the Church called Immanuel Lutheran at 3230 Harrison St... Near the Fairgrounds...

Typical flowers out back of the hall...

Our AA Hall in Eureka

The plants love all the rain we have here...

I found this address on the official AA website... In my humble opinion, it's a wonderful site... http://www.aa.org

HUMBOLDT COUNTY INTERGROUP
P O BOX 7102
EUREKA CA 95502-7102
707 442-0711

old version of this site, April 2006

what I look like now that I'm sober...
It is truly a miracle that I survived this long
I credit AA with allowing me to live to be 52. I was getting into many near fatal experiences and now I don't... Yes, The program worked for me.
An online share for June 2, 2006: Hi, my name is greg and I'm an alcoholic. In my humble opinion, the building of this website has helped me with my sobriety. I started it at the request of a member in Mom's AA, Chico because he said that he needed an AA "chat room". since I knew HOW to build a chat room I built one for him. As it turned out, it was a total failure because no one ever visited and it is pointless to go to a chat room by yourself... Oh, well... I did learn that there is more to building a chat room than the computer programming. There are marketing skills required... Since that feature didn't work, I deleted it... It was a good thing to do the service of building a chat room for a fellow member... It was good for ME and after all was said and done, the service turned out to be more beneficial to the SERVER than the SERVEE. Wow, what a concept. Before I joined AA I would never have believed that this concept was even possible. Then this website evolved into a place to store all those documents that we read at the meetings. Our copies were old and worn and often missing at the meetings. I could walk over to the college and get another copy printed when needed. I found a member that had all the documents stored on a floppy disk. Many thanks to the member that did all the typing... Members also submitted their favorite sayings and poems... I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to use my web skills for a useful purpose.

Share for June 3, 2006: Hello, my name is still greg and I'm still an alcoholic... Today, I woke up and did not have a hangover. Gee, that's a miracle. Near the end of my drinking years, I found that my hangovers would last for two days. The effect of the drug would last for a few hours but the after effect was horrible. I found that in order to avoid the hangovers I had to drink every day. I would visit the liquor store on the corner and get an "Airplane bottle" of Jose Cuervo and drink it while I waited for the bus to take me to work... Just recently, I had to go into a store to get change to use the telephone. I remembered later that behind the counter, there was an entire shelf of "Airplane Bottles" of various types of booze... I had not even really seen them. I was interested in getting change for the telephone and that required me to be focused on talking to the man behind the counter. The reason I needed to use the phone was to call a tow truck because my old vehicle was experiencing trouble. I was upset. In years past, this would have been a perfect excuse to drink. Before AA I often found relief to stress in the bottle... Of course, the problems did not magically "go away" by drinking. I often found the opposite to be true... the problems got worse because of the drinking. This concept was taught to me at Mom's. I NEVER would have figured it out on my own. Thanks to my Group Of Drunks, I was able to learn ideas that were foreign to me.

anyway, back to the story...

I saw the clerk that could provide change for the telephone, and ignored all the unimportant stuff. This little store has a wide variety of things that do not interest me and generally I ignore them. For example, they sell bait. Unless I'm going fishing, I can walk right past a bait stand without noticing it. They also sell charcoal briquettes and lighter fluid... If I'm in the mood to have a BAR-B-Q then I notice the supplies... On another day, I will notice them only enough to avoid stepping on them and accidentally tripping...

I've noticed that WHAT I'M INTERESTED IN DEFINES WHAT I SEE. I just bought a digital camera and one of the advantages is that PICTURES ARE FREE. If I take a photo, it costs me the same as if I do not take a photo. Therefore, on days like the one I had yesterday, when My friend and I went to the AA Church and took pictures... I was snapping wildly. I too about a hundred pictures... The best three are displayed on this website and the rest are stored on our computer for later use... What happened is that I ENTERED AN ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS because I was LOOKING INTENTLY at the world and noticing what was there. I was very interested in the flowers and the building and so I SAW MORE DETAIL IN REALITY. I noticed many things that normally I would just ignore. Just like the fact that I will not even see the bait display at the little store on the corner unless I'm going fishing and have an INTEREST in bait... My increased interest in finding good things to photograph at our AA hall caused me to see with a "New Pair of Glasses". It's a GOOD EFFECT.

Tolerance of sharing about outside issues: I found that the members I met at Mom's AA had a tolerant view of discussing outside issues. That was helpful to me because I, like so many baby boomers, have addiction problems with many other drugs than alcohol. Actually, when I was in high school alcohol was considered totally UN-HIP and something that was popular with our parents generation. We did not use the drug alcohol because it was unfashionable. However, when I left home and attended Chico State in 1973, I was introduced to keggers. They were a lot of fun but they mostly attended by people that I would not want to associate with. I preferred the company of hippies and the fraternity and sorority members seemed to be of a different culture. A culture that I didn't want anything to do with. As time passed on I started to use alcohol as well as the 8 other drugs that I liked. The only one that I had severe trouble with was alcohol and so I joined this group. As a side benefit to my membership in AA, I also got help with the basic trouble of drug addiction. Some groups forbid talking about outside issues. In my humble opinion, this is counter productive. For example: When I smoke grass, I really feel like drinking an Irish Coffee. After all, 3 drugs has got to be better than 1... I tried for a long time to hang on to my other addictions while shunning alcohol but that actually didn't work for me. Having discussions about the wide range of addiction problems has been helpful to the members of Mom's AA. I now watch for addictions of many varieties and take appropriate action when needed. For example: I like the drug called "Thera-flu" that is sold at the drugstore. I use it when I feel sick but keep in mind that it has abuse potential for me... I simply have substituted a healthy habit, computer art and website design, for the unhealthy addiction to alcohol. I noticed that the alcohol addiction was threatening my life, but the computer may actually increase my lifespan. How ? Well, i just found out by reading the Google news that using a lot of anti-inflammatory (ibuprofen) drugs may increase my risk of heart attack. A small amount of daily aspirin may be beneficial. I'll be reading more about this as time goes by because often reports like these are propaganda written by people that want to sell me stuff... This particular study might be funded by the Bayer corp... I am extremely skeptical about free advice... I'm still severely addicted to tobacco... I get anxious whenever I don't smoke... A classic sign of addiction... I started smoking tobacco as a cheap marijuana extender. Sort of like hamburger-helper. A half and half joint is almost as strong as a pure grass joint. Sadly, it leads to addiction to tobacco...

Go Figure, the legal drugs turned out to be severely dangerous. Yes, the laws seem to be backwards but once a person realizes that laws are just the opinions of the U.S. Congress... it all makes sense... They pass laws that benefit the people that contribute money to their campaigns, not what is morally right. Defense contractors donate, we get war... ENRON contributes, we get energy deregulation leading to bankruptcy, Bankers contribute, we get Savings and Loan deregulation leading to bankruptcy... Hey, those idiots in the US Congress often make stupid laws... It's not their fault, they are just doing what they are PAID to do. It is a pleasant image to see so many of them going to jail...
Maybe, you are of a totally different opinion... sign the guestbook and rant away... for a larger message use my email... please include something in the subject line to give me a hint that your message is not spam but the insightful words of a person... [email protected]
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Link to my main website... http://gregvanderlaan.com

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