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QotD

posted by [personal profile] eftychia at 05:25am on 2005-09-13 under

From the television show The West Wing, in the episode "Take Out the Trash Day":

Karen Larsen (played by Liza Weil): Is that why you drank and took drugs?

Leo McGarry (played by John Spencer): I drank and took drugs 'cause I'm a drug addict and an alcoholic.

Karen Larsen: How long did it take you to get cured?

Leo McGarry: I'm not cured. You don't get cured. I haven't had a drink, or a pill, in six and a half years. Which isn't to say I won't have one tomorrow.

Karen Larsen: What would happen if you did?

Leo McGarry: I don't know. But probably a nightmare the likes of which both our fathers experienced, and me too.

Karen Larsen: And ... So after six and a half years you're still not allowed to have a drink?

Leo McGarry: The problem is that I don't want a drink. I want ten drinks.

Karen Larsen: Are things that bad?

Leo McGarry: No.

Karen Larsen: Then why?

Leo McGarry: 'Cause I'm an alcoholic.

Karen Larsen: I don't understand.

Leo McGarry: I know. It's okay, hardly anyone does. It's very hard to understand.

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There are 10 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 

(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] andartha.livejournal.com at 11:24am on 2005-09-13
Good you posted this. It makes you want to figure it out, so it's a small step towards understanding. : )
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] vvalkyri.livejournal.com at 01:41pm on 2005-09-13
What's interesting is that there's research with kudzu extract, of all things, that seems to dull the interest in the 2nd through 10th drinks.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] andartha.livejournal.com at 01:48pm on 2005-09-13
Interesting. Thanks for the info!
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] dglenn.livejournal.com at 06:25am on 2005-09-25
*nod* There's actually another quote from a different episode that I wanted to use, but I haven't caught that one while able to take notes, and wasn't able to find it quoted online.

I'm only just starting to realize how little -- despite what I learned from The West Wing and things I'd read before -- I understand about what alcoholism is like for the alcoholic. How differently alcohol effects different people.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] andartha.livejournal.com at 05:21pm on 2005-09-25
The ugly thing about alcoholism is, it not only affects the one suffering from this disease, but his whole family too. You get nasty stuff like "co-dependency" and suchlike.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] cchan8.livejournal.com at 05:35pm on 2005-09-13
Alcoholism is cunning, baffling, and powerful.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] dglenn.livejournal.com at 06:29am on 2005-09-25
And I'm still discovering how powerful and how baffling.

Earlier I heard an alcoholic refer to "Earth people" to describe non-alcoholics and how alien we are (when we talk about wanting one drink) to alcoholics. Or at least some alcoholics -- others in the room were nodding like they saw things the same way as the speaker. (I'm not used to being labelled as the one from this planet.) There's a lot that I thought I was starting to understand that I now see how far I am from really getting.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] also-huey.livejournal.com at 06:21pm on 2005-09-13
I was at the bar last friday, for a Work Function. It was a pleasant work function: they gave us a couple free drinks for winning a big contract, and I was able to successfully flirt with an attractive and non-drinking person to get THEIR free drink tickets, and my rotten day was made better by four stiff gin & tonics in quick succession.

Then, I'm making my way through the bar, saying my goodbyes, and a guy at the bar getting another round says "Hey Huey! Whaddya want?"

I said "I want to drive home without dying", and he laughed. Four is my magic number. As an old friend of mine says "Four is the most important number in mathematics, as is most often used in the phrase I'll have four beers."

My mother is still convinced that I'm an alcoholic. I realize that "I can stop anytime that I want" sounds like denial, and besides, I really can't. I didn't want to stop after four. ...but if my alternative is sleeping in my truck or dying in a firey ball of wreckage, I do.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] dptwisted.livejournal.com at 09:41pm on 2005-09-13
I just saw that episode recently and was amazed at how accurate a description that was.

Of course, soon after Aaron Sorkin got fired for doing too many drugs...
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Wow.

posted by (anonymous) at 06:19pm on 2005-09-18
Damned good script writing -- I've heard that about West Wing. (I've never actually watched the show, but I appreciate writers who can get their point across so well -- and a very important point, too.)

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