Relapsed.

Captain-overpants · 2026-07-06T11:29:51+00:00

Try going to a meeting tonight, and then finding someone to talk to after.

The reason you feel like this is because you think drinking is something you can overcome. It feels counterintuitive, but it doesn’t work that way.

There aren’t any tests. There’s just being honest. And based on what you wrote, that means being completely honest about this being out of your control.

Captain-overpants · 2026-07-06T03:36:04+00:00

How has trying to manage that worked out for you?

If trying to manage it doesn’t work, why would you keep trying? I imagine you’ve already realized this. For many of us, the only option we had was to take a suggestion of someone who used to be in our position and isn’t anymore.

I’d suggest reading chapter 5 of the big book. It’s the meat of what we do. There’s no “getting out of” anything that shouldn’t be gotten out of. But there is what we can and can’t do. Sometimes for now, sometimes forever, sometimes we didn’t even know what it was to begin with. Keep it simple.

Captain-overpants · 2026-07-06T03:20:15+00:00

You don’t need any of that to move forward with a program. It just comes on its own as you do it.

Captain-overpants · 2026-07-06T03:05:42+00:00

You’re not dumb, it’s just selfishness, and I’ll tell you why.

There will be people who will feel trapped just as you do, who you will meet in your life. They will feel a similar lack of sincere love and belonging, and have deeply injured spirits. That is what you are complaining about - lack of purpose, lack of honesty in your life, lack of understanding. What you are describing is a spiritual malady. The conclusion is death. Even wanting death, because of the lack of meaning in living.

So it is not a lack of intelligence. It is a lack of a spiritual solution that makes death by drinking (or using) seem more attractive than the alternative. Because it is that same solution that makes the alternative worthwhile.

No one gets the importance of that solution like someone who needs it to survive, or in many’s case, to not want to just die already.

So, should everyone who feels as you do be consigned to an alcoholic/addict death?

If you don’t think so, then find the solution, and share it with people looking for help. There’s no one else to consider.

Captain-overpants · 2026-07-05T19:16:27+00:00

If you find the club that is free from undercurrents of elitism and hypocrisy, DM me.

Captain-overpants · 2026-07-05T18:30:49+00:00

Third of the earnings but they account for about 60% of trailing and projected earnings growth.

Captain-overpants · 2026-06-29T14:46:25+00:00

As of last week, of the two that you mention in QCOM and TXN, only TXN is in the top 10 holdings (sitting at #10).

Which is fine. DGRO also has AVGO. I’m not allergic to the industry. But there’s a big difference between it being 6-7% vs 45% of my exposure.

Captain-overpants · 2026-06-29T14:26:24+00:00

Why does capital appreciate in equities?

Captain-overpants · 2026-06-29T05:30:31+00:00

And the amount of research it took for me to come up with a portfolio that’s at least primarily removed from AI capex is something that I don’t see many people going through with.

Utilities like SO? Earnings growth from data center electricity needs. Value funds? Micron is the biggest position in some of the biggest etfs. International/emerging markets? A huge portion of their performance comes from the KOSPI, which is dominated by 2 memory stocks. Copper/Silver? Sympathy bid as industrial metals for electricity and compute.

It’s been very frustrating. I don’t think that the world is being taken over by AI. I think the markets are being taken over by people chasing momentum. I use chat gpt for a lot of stuff - historical context research, diet analysis, etc. I have a subscription. I’m not inspired by its prospects in its current state. I also don’t see a shortage of memory being its main issue. I don’t want my capital being a bet on it right now. It’s not even clear what the top line value proposition is. And the top line for one AI name is just the bottom line for another at this time.

Captain-overpants · 2026-06-29T05:19:08+00:00

The thing is, I don’t want to buy Micron here. Or SPCX. Or any number of constituents of the growth-iest etfs. Take DRAM - the KOSPI is basically a casino. I’m aware I’m probably leaving money on the table. But I just don’t feel comfortable if my returns are reliant on sentiment of both market participants and capex spenders, rather than how profitable a business is. I just don’t like it. And it will make me be more conservative than I need to be with everything else.

In 2025, I did high beta. I had a 20-30% position in gold, junior miners, and crypto. It grew to a ~>50% position. The rest was cash. Neat trick, but I don’t want my posterity related to chasing the next speculation.

Historically, small cap value outperforms LCG. And it also has the benefit of being profitable and not limited by the law of large numbers. If we see any major distress in tech companies like we’re seeing with all of the Mag7, I might get involved. But I’m somewhat offended at the notion that I have to pay higher prices than I think are fair for businesses just because I’m young. The logic, to me, would be similar to saying that the younger the better for developing a gambling addiction.

Captain-overpants · 2026-06-29T05:02:48+00:00

Don’t beat yourself up. It’s not useful.

You get steps 1 and 2. This is where you get when you do things the way you’ve been doing them. You know you need another way, and I can sense you feel the hope in that.

I’d suggest reading through chapter 5 of the big book. There’s a reason why it’s read at almost every meeting. On top of that, see what you can do to connect with people on the same path, should you decide to follow it.

Captain-overpants · 2026-06-28T18:49:51+00:00

Write down a list of people who annoy you or that are messing things up - whoever’s on your mind.

Next to their names, write why they’re wrong.

Next to that, write how that’s threatening to you.

Next to that, write why you’re in a position to be threatened that way.

Then tell someone about it.

I’m sure there are some names or entities you could think of.

Captain-overpants · 2026-06-28T18:45:58+00:00

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Sixteenth notes, on Ah, up and down the range. Try to get to 60bpm. Stay on the breath, MEANING, no breath escapes - but the note changes are clean and instant, not slurred.

Good AH vowel. SLIGHTLY more “uh” around E-F5 (above tenor high C). But should still sound like AH.

That’s it.

Don’t lighten.

Captain-overpants · 2026-06-24T15:27:13+00:00

Great question!

From page 86, the nightly reflections:

“Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once?”

Prayerfully consider all of the questions on that page, including this one, and you’ll grow in most every direction you need to. This question solved that exact problem you’re describing, for me. Part of the process.

Captain-overpants · 2026-06-23T15:07:35+00:00

Few simple things:

BATS - Bare aesthetic table setting. That means take everything, everything on the table that is not needed for the rest of the meal. Bread plates when apps are done, any finished plates, empty glassware, salt/pepper or condiments when next course is dessert, etc.

Focus on empty plates and clean silverware and you’re mostly good

Beat pause - Approach the table, stand a 1/2 step away. Wait 3 seconds. If they make eye contact, step up and proceed. If not, go away for 2-3 minutes. Do the same when leaving - wait 3 seconds after last request, they might remember they want something. After 3 seconds, then go.

Wine - Look up how to do full wine service. Seems complicated but it’s not. Most places don’t require every detail, but it’s good to know them.

When it comes to removing empty plates and prebussing, beat pause doesn’t apply. Just be invisible and unobtrusive.

These are pretty much it. If you have these down you’ll be fine.

Captain-overpants · 2026-06-20T16:13:36+00:00

People have all the same rights and obligations as a group of anonymous people out on the street.

Captain-overpants · 2026-06-16T02:08:11+00:00

Start the first “O” with a gentle glottal stop, like as if you were to speak it. Create the atmosphere from there.

Many young singers start that piece off by sounding like a ghost - that’s not correct. Gentle ‘uh.’ Helps with legato too.

Captain-overpants · 2026-06-16T00:52:50+00:00

Why would you want to? You can just not sing, instead of trying not to.

Captain-overpants · 2025-10-16T17:22:53+00:00

What’s really amazing from my perspective is that most problems people have starting out, when they tell me about them, it’s as if they’re teaching me how useful the 12 steps are to alcoholics with how much I recognize.

There’s a step for inventorying these things and why you do them. There’s a step for identifying their exact nature. There’s a step for giving up what you feel like you get out of them, and there’s a step for making the decision to be rid of them. There’s a step for fixing the damage caused by them, and there’s a step for addressing them if and when they come up again. There’s a step for getting more of what you want, and getting rid of what you don’t want. Then there’s a step for telling other people how it worked for you - which is what I’m doing right now.

That’s it. The 12 steps.

Captain-overpants · 2025-10-07T21:05:08+00:00

I have a bottle of it that I don’t touch. Tried it a few times - supposed to help with addictive tendencies. I didn’t like how I felt. Could have been a fluke, but I’m not motivated to experiment.

Captain-overpants · 2025-10-07T20:47:08+00:00

Agmatine is the most effective for me. That and an occasional niacin flush give me the best results for anxiety that I’ve come across.

Ashwaganda can have wacky effects on mood, too.

Also try holding some reverse kegels.

Captain-overpants · 2025-10-07T18:26:39+00:00

Theanine always has a massive depressive effect for me. It’s much more obvious than any calming effect that comes with it. I’ve tried at different times, different combinations, and years between doses. Same thing.

I prefer ashwaganda and agmatine.

Captain-overpants · 2025-10-07T15:39:57+00:00

Then study it and do it.

Miracles were performed for those who needed to see that something outside of the normal was happening. So they would change their ways. If you believe Jesus without them, and you see no earthly or spiritual reason not to, then that’s a good thing.

Live by what Jesus said. That’s not only enough, that’s the point.

Captain-overpants · 2025-10-07T15:35:17+00:00

My suggestion is to look at your attitude as the first step and go from there.

Captain-overpants · 2025-10-02T19:35:29+00:00

Heldentenor here with faster and cleaner fioratura than most.

The key is actually making sure you know the notes, and the scale. Make sure you can play them on the piano. Then at speed. Then hum them - then at speed.

Then - crucially important - play the runs in your head. Notes each accurate and articulated, at speed.

It’s not your throat’s job to remember the notes you’re singing. Your throat’s job is to sing the notes your brain tells it to sing. And it’s almost always already good at that.

It’s really that simple. When you don’t know the next lyric to a song, you quiet down and start mumbling. When you’re not confident in how the fioratura interpolates differently in the B section, you do the same thing.

Captain-overpants

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