Friday, October 20th

[YoungAtHeart]

I was thinking about how much fun I was having planning our party tonight and just letting myself go in my imagination, then reading everyone's responses. Seeing the banter between our members, Mack's new avatar, Gabby's and Mojo's pets, Lush's cherries, etc., made me think of all the fun we have here, even as we struggle with our drinking issues.

There's a lot of serious stuff here on this board and on these threads, but there's a lot of fun and humor here, too. Oh, and did I mention affection, as well?

I think that often, when we are drinking socially, we drink to loosen up, to be more "social". For many of us, at least early in our drinking days, alcohol did just the trick. Many of us moved on to drinking alone, and when we drank "socially" we just got drunk, and we weren't really "social" at all, and we weren't really much fun, nor were we really very playful.

There's a lot of serious stuff about being a grown up, bills to pay, learning how to relate meaningfully to others--heck we talk about that stuff a lot on these threads. But we also play a lot too. We joke, we tease, we get silly, we have fun.

So, today, I am devoting our topic to playfulness. We're having a party tonight. I would like us to think and talk about developing our playful side as adults in sobriety.

I know I still love to wrestle with my daughter. We will tickle and giggle, and she will pretend to be afraid of getting tickled, which is quite ridiculous, because she is bigger than I, and she could take me down and tickle me in a minute!

I love when we tease with each other on here. I love to "play" with ideas, both by myself, and with intellectually stimulating friends.

How do you like to play???

Hugs,
Kathy:l

[Farmeress]

Friday, October 20th

Hello Kathy and Everybody

Just wanted to say thanks Ive got around to registering after to long signing but not registering (whats so difficult about that! I know I know)

why ? I didnt do it before its been allsorts lts good here and even better now

I will probablly not be posting but I wil be popping in

Thanks all of you for being the best

Yes play verses work you lote deserve to party have a good one

Take Care Farmeress :thanks: :thanks:

[Mackeral]

Friday, October 20th

Good Morning All,

Good to see you registered Farmeress...You need an Avatar now me darlin.
Kathy, i love todays topic..Your right....Life can get you down at times...Especially when your in our shoes and fighting urges to drink left, right and centre..And sometimes we dont feel playful....But its great to know we still can be....Like you said we are all going through proberly one of the toughest parts of our lives right now...If you think about it..the fact that we can still laugh and have a joke...Speaks volumes.
I love the banter we all have in here...I'm getting to know each and every one of you a little better each day...Your wit...sometimes dry sense of humour...backgrounds...likes...dislikes...your characters really...I think its facinating.......Also i find it easier to share things here than i would here at home with friends and relatives....Because everyone here has been in my shoes...knows what i have been and am going through.

Todays topic...How do i like to play?..........Well its a pretty obvious one for me to answer......I'm not working and i got 5 kids so every day is play really......From the youngest who has just started walking to the oldest who likes to think she can get the upper hand on me banter wise....The 4 year old who likes to dress up in his superhero outfit and make me the bad guy who he can use his powers on....the 7 yearold who loves nothing more than going to the park and playing football...( think hes gonna turn pro one day)...And the 10 year old who just likes to sit on my knee and play video games with me..
I know i should be working at the minute and i am looking for work.....But sometimes its a blessing.....They're all only going to be this age once...and it dosnt last forever....I'm just enjoying making the most of it at the moment.....I know this is the high point of my life....It isnt going to get any better than this.....I'm a very lucky man..

So Kathy, every day is playday

[vinophile]

Friday, October 20th

I miss being able to play.
Kathy and Mack, your posts reminded me of how much fun playing with the kids when they were little was. Nothing better than the little ones playing superhero. How I miss that!!! I also miss the tickle-torture game. That's when you'd take one child and tickle him while the other child held him down. Do you think I've guaranteed the income of furure psychiatrists????I can hear it now....."she used to hold me down while making my brothers tickle me"......
play time now????I have to seriously think about that as I don't think I have play time... shopping???? no, that doesn't count... have to think about this......
Janet

[mikeupnorth]

Friday, October 20th

Good morning everyone!

Kathy I just realized that you and I share a love of the exclamation point. I knew we were kindred spirits!!

And Farmeress, I'm happy to see you are making yourself at home here in Absville. Welcome! I like the avatar!

Macks I know just what you mean about being able to open up with people here more than with people around you. I feel the same way. Sometimes I feel a little strange about being so open on the internet about my personal life -- but then I think, this is my support group, and they understand me. I have been to hundreds of AA meetings where other people share very private, personal information, break down and cry, etc. And I don't know why that setting doesn't work for me, but it doesn't. This does. If I need a good cry I have people in my life I can do that with too. But I know I can come here and "talk" things over with you guys and you'll understand -- from the perspective of alcoholics who are trying to stay sober. I'm grateful to have that.

And you are right, Kathy, that the playfulness is underrated. There is a lot of friendly banter in these rooms -- especially as people stick around and get to know each other better. I enjoy seeing Macks and Gabby tease each other and fight over who the newcomer will choose to live next to. Just because we stop drinking doesn't mean we have to lose our sense of humor! Sometimes it is our sense of humor that keeps us sane.

Janet your post made me laugh -- Kathy will have to give you her professional opinion on that one. But it did remind me that I used to have nightmares as a child about being trapped in a "tickling machine." I don't think I suffered any long-term problems from that particular dream though. Unless that is the reason I became an alcoholic? Just kidding. And shopping as play? Well I guess that depends on how you shop!

How do I like to play? Hmmm... well I enjoy engaging in word games with people, throwing double entendres around and things like that. I enjoy a bit of friendly teasing now and then. (Example: a friend of mine has a touch of OCD. Have you seen the tv show Monk? He's kind of like that. I enjoy going to his house, and while in the bathroom I rearrange just two items on a shelf and wait until he notices. He always does. We both have a good laugh.) I also like to lighten the mood at work by playing small practical jokes.... oh, the ladies all know when I have visited their workstations. I can hear the shriek from across the office "Mike!" They pretend to be angry but have as much fun with it as I do. When I come back from vacations I usually find my office sabotaged as well. One time it was filled, floor to ceiling, with balloons. It took me an hour to pop them all. I can't imagine how long it took them to blow them all up!

I am looking forward to buying a house soon and moving out of this apartment so I can have a dog in my life again -- partially for the play factor. I miss having a little furry friend to run and play with, to wrestle with or play frisbee with. Those are not things you can do by yourself. Or if you do it looks pretty silly.

Great topic for a Friday! And a Friday with a party! I better stop and get those party poppers (not to be confused with party POOPERS) on the way home from work. See you all later~ Oh, and I'll be unmasking myself at the party too, if I can figure out how to do that!

Mike

[YoungAtHeart]

Friday, October 20th

More playing.....

Oh, I also like to play with SOME techno toys, as well. Not that I am a techie, mind you. But I just got a "smart phone". My old cell phone was misbehaving unmercifully, and it was finally refusing to charge up. That was the last straw! So now I have having a ball entering all my addresses into MS Outlook and Hotsyncing it into the phone. Eventually, I'll learn to use the calendar, too. This is also play. I don't have time right now, but I used to love to play the "Oregon Trail" computer game.

I love to play with my cats. I have one kitty toy that is feathers on the end of a string and the cats really think the darn thing is a bird. They will fly around the room chasing it, toppling plants, flying over furniture, etc. Their freedom and exurberance is a delight. They don't get that it is just some feathers on the end of a string!

I'm also having a lot of fun imagining all of you in the situations that you describe, from Mike in an office filled with balloons to Macks down on the floor with his kids, being downed by a superhero!

Janet, I wouldn't worry about the therapy thing. We parents have to get our aggressions out SOMEHOW!!:H Better tickling than something worse!

Everyone have a great day!

Hugs,
Kathy:l

[InnerStrength]

Friday, October 20th

Good morning all!
great topic Kath
How do I like to play?
Well, I love to play around on these boards - teasing my friends on the boards (all in fun of course) and I love to play around on the "Once upon a time" thread.
I have also been known to tease my other friends by writing "articles" about them in jest - if something funny happens in their lives, for example, I have been known to write elaborate articles about that event...I have always been a teaser - but not the "bad" kind.....
I also like to play with my kitten - with string, rubber balls and little kitten toys- just about anything - she is young so she can be entertained with a box for goodness sakes
And I also like the child-like play of going to an amusement park, bundling up and going skating etc - thats always a great treat!
Looking forward to tonight's party! I am going shopping for a fancy gown as we speak! Will be posting a pic of me decked out to the nines shortly!
Hugs
Jen

[InnerStrength]

Friday, October 20th

TA DA!!!!!!!
Here I am !
And I am blonde too

[lushy]

Friday, October 20th

Beauty Jen. While I cannot attend the party this evening I wanted to say thanks for the post this morning Kathy. I have talked to a few people around here about this, and like Mike I feel funny posting so much about my life on the internet but it just seems okay around here. I work at home alone all day long and I tend to be very much a natural negative thinker so it has been a real blessing to come to this place and tease each other. I am amazed how similar all of our sense of humors seem to be. I have gotten out of many a funk just coming on here and laughing, so to all of you I say thanks. Really.

And Jen, your profile picture is still a man. I would maybe think about changing that before people start talking........Have fun at the party tonight everyone!!!!

[YoungAtHeart]

Friday, October 20th

You are so beautiful, Jen!!

[gabby]

Friday, October 20th

Ha Ha...how am I playful......I could go on and on. Mack....I am so glad you are getting time with your kids while they are little. Even if its only for a bit. Cool that you are gettin a bit of all ages too. I was very lucky and got to be home with my sons all through their young years. (ha....they certainly need more supervision now in their teens then when they were two.....I'll stay on the topic) but like you, Janet and Kath I got to have that time with them when you could do make believe land and all that. But still playful would be just the other day at the grocery store with my youngest, 14 yr old. He was just about 3 feet away from me and it was fun to throw cans of cat food at him real fast while he caught each can and put em in the cart. And them we did it again at the check out stand from the cart to the moving part where the lady checks them out. People kinda watch and laugh and some watch and think we are misbehaving. Oh well. It really makes my son laugh and he says things on the way home like.....that was fun mom. That makes it worth it and I dont care what the other people think. Sometimes even the store people get bugged at us cuz we have made messes before but oh well. Once it was paper towel rolls over the top of the isle cuz we were tryin to make the buggy without seein it. Figured the paper towel couldnt hurt anything if it hit something. But it did. Wasnt to harmful just a carboard guy that was advertising something. They were madder at the kids till they saw it was actually mom that threw it from the next isle. They were still mad but suprised that it wasnt just the kids.
Anyway....that was that time. Big sigh.....could keep goin. Not enough time.

But the biggie.....the one that could give the psychiatrist the payoff like Janet's tickeling is....
the way I would pop out from behind things all the time when they were little and even still.
They do it to me too tho.

Now since I have boys I could get away with this a little more but I was always good for a hide in the closet and pop out and scare ya thing. Of course only cuz I had brothers tormenting me as I grew up...so I guess I had to be a good little sicko and carry on the family spirit. But I to this day will hide and reach out and touch them as they walk by or growl or something. We all do it. But one time about a year ago.....my youngest was with a few of his friends and we were downtown and I saw them coming...so I hid behind a bush. Well....I'm waitin and stuff and right when I think its one of em I JUMP out and go blugggaabluggggaabluggaaa!!!!
And would ya believe.....it wasnt them. It was like this poor hispanic person that I dont even think spoke english! I scared him so bad....he went runnin backwards...and then turned and ran and ran. He looked back a few times to see if I was comin after him I think but he never slowed down. I felt so bad. And the worst part about it is my kids saw......and they were like what were you doing mom????? Who was that man?????
My son was with a few girls that were just looking at me.... Guys.....I was really embarrassed.....but I also was really laughing. I mean.....almost pee-ed myself. Then I told my son I thought it was them and he realized I was up to my tricks. Oh dear. Well.....anyway.....my playful spirit is very alive and well, and a smidgeie demented.
I have to go now.

[TracyA]

Friday, October 20th

I'm galloping to the party as fast as I can. Hopefully, I'm not too underdressed. I hope you don't mind if I bring a guest. :H

When I was a kid, playing pretend was the best. We created long, complex games and characters and plots that would go on for months. It was great, but the bad part is that as an adult, I tend to hide in my imagination sometimes. But I haven't been any good at playing as an adult, especially when my kids starting getting older. I had no hobbies, etc., and pretty much either read or watched TV, and got into video games - a nice numbing addiction.

I'm still learning to have fun, but my favorite things to do are golf and I love horses (wish I had my own). One thing on my 'to do' list for this year was try out a zip line. I missed out when I was in Alaska, but if all goes well, I should get to try it at least twice in the next few months. Check out this one we have locally:

Canopy Tours and zip line tours gliding through the trees of Colorado on extreme adventure at Soaring Canopy Tours of Durango

I also want to try parasailing. I love the feeling of flying, the rush of air. As a kid my favorite toy was our swingset, and I still love playing on them.

Tracy

[vinophile]

Friday, October 20th

Great funny stories Gabby!!!!
How did you all get those pics on the site???????
Now remember....I'm exceptionally technically challenged....I can't ask my kids either...."NO, YOU MAY ABSOLUTELY NOT PUT YOUR PICTURES ON MY SPACE".... but could you help me put my picture on my way out.org
Guaranteeing another trip to the psychiatrist
Janet

[YoungAtHeart]

Friday, October 20th

I have a pic of myself on my computer already. You go to user CP and then go to edit avatar. Down at the bottom of the page, there is a space for "custom avatar" and there is a place for you to either import an avatar from the internet or upload an avatar from your computer. If you have a pic on your computer, you just click browse and find the file, double click on the file, and then click "save changes". Voila!

Good luck!:l

[Guest]

Friday, October 20th

Great pic Kathy! I haven't had much chance to post today as I have been "playing" all day with my boys! They are home from school due to a staff inservice. It was 89 degrees today, so we took advantage of it and spent much of the day outside. I love to play ball with my youngest, stay up late with the older two to watch old movies together and eat popcorn, camp out in a tent pitched on our trampoline (my husband refuses to join us!) and on and on. Day 16 today and getting some of my old zest for life back. I welcome it back with open arms! Have fun at the Soiree.....Gina