Day 114 – “Joy that banishes all reason (by Oliver Madla)”

Saturday, 17 March 2007
Day 114 / 37 (59) – “Joy that banishes all reason (by Oliver Madla)”

There is a joy that banishes all reason,
An ecstasy so vast it has no shore,
A craving that devours all decision,
A lust for nothingness that lusts for more.
There are angels in pursuit of pain
Who take Satanic pride in degradation,
Who'll drag you down the hill and back again
Hosanna-ing your sweet humiliation.
Just like a fire fanned by a hot, dry wind,
Or like a flood that sweeps away all will,
This wall of pleasure leaves no one behind,
No sign of life where all one loves lies still.
So does the soul in anguish hate the joy
That soothes the hate that does the soul destroy.

Day 113 – “Remembering my Big Fancy House”

Friday, 16 March 2007
Day 113 / 36 (59) – “Remembering my Big Fancy House”

Originally posted 37 days ago, right before I lapsed again, here is “My Big Fancy House!”


My mind is a house - A big fancy house, with a huge wall surrounding it and electric fencing keeping the burglars out. I feel safe in my house because no matter who tries and get in – my fence will protect me.

One day I look outside the window and I see my old friend heroin standing there. I remember the good times we used to have together even though we didn’t part on good terms. He was a user and abuser throughout our friendship and in the end he didn’t care about me one bit. Even so, we still had good times together.

Maybe he has changed, I tell myself. Maybe things could be like they used to be, before it all turned bad. Maybe I should give him another chance! Or maybe he hasn’t. Maybe he is still the same old devil he has always been. I close the window! My house is still safe, I am still safe!

Perhaps I don’t even see him standing across the road. I don’t want to know him, talk to him, see him anymore. That part of my life is over and I wouldn’t recognize him if he stood next to me. But he is there still there looking for ways to get in.

The storms that hang over my head, darken my house as the power goes off again. It has happened a lot lately. It is too dark in the house for me to see anything. I keep bumping into tables and boxes. I don’t see him climbing over the wall – I won’t see him until he is inside the house, standing next to me - greeting me, like he never left!


Two of the people I met through the blogs, have family members who are also heroin addicts and they recently relapsed. A relapse by a fellow recovering addict places everything in such a clear perspective for you. This hallmark moment of easy heroin recovery is crushed when reality reminds you – nothing about this is easy!

At times like these you want to ask them: “Why…? Why would you take again? Why after fighting for so long would you ever consider the thought?” And when you hear the news you want to be angry or hurt, you want to fight with them, blame them… But it isn’t their fault. They were watching the gate. They thought the fence was protecting them. But Heroin is the one that wants to get in… Heroin is the one that will find a way in!

Day 112 – “Remembering a beautiful mind…”

Thursday, 15 March 2007
Day 112 / 35 (59) – “Remembering a beautiful mind…”


Originally posted on Day 68 on 30 January 2007… here is remembering ‘A beautiful mind’…


Addiction, as typically defined, is a reliance on a substance or behavior that the individual has little power to resist. It is further described as a “brain disease” and a “chronic relapsing disease” in that there are visible alterations in the brains of addicted individuals and these effects are long-lasting within their neurological patterns.

My name is Christiaan, some of you know me as Tristan (TB) and I am an addict.

Sometimes I struggle to come to terms with it. There is a part of me that believes this is all a bad dream and when I pinch myself I will wake up with little memory of this traumatic nightmare. There is a part of me that believes when I wake up tomorrow I will be cured. That longing will no longer be inside of me and I master the act of stopping and stopping and stopping.

There are people out there that perhaps seem a bit perplexed by the idea of addiction. How it is that a person cannot stop at one or two or three when they so easily accomplish the supposedly insignificant task themselves? I ask myself the very same question sometimes, testing myself, testing fate (if you want) to see if I have learned to stop and to stop and to stop.

I find comfort in the fact that I am asking these questions and querying these situations. As I am reminded everyday by the people that keep me sane, that keep me positive, that keep me well – I am trying to be better. I am examining my life, admitting to my problems and trying to change them. I guess you can call that recovery – so at best I’m a recovering addict.

One is too many and a thousand is never enough. These are the words that addicts live by, because for them there is no stopping at two, there is no stopping until nothing is left: No money, no family, and no life! And for addicts there will always be that longing that need to start something, just once and just once and… just once!

Day 111 – “Call him my brother!”

Wednesday, 14 March 2007
Day 111 / 34 (59) – “Call him my brother!”

I’m very fortunate that boredom rarely features on my day to day activities. Between reading my favourite blogs everyday and my own blog entries I keep busy. I do computer programming in my free time and I have my favourite TV programs that I watch every night and if I should miss it I make sure the VCR is recording.

So, overall I’m keeping myself fairly busy. Of course I’m still trying to do some of the things I haven’t done in a very long time – like cooking. My brother and I are working on a project together at the moment. I can’t give any details yet, but I promise to post the result on the blog once it is done.

My brother and I are getting along famously. I remember how worried I was about our friendship on Day 1. I guess he started off very sympathetic towards me. I mean, his older brother was going through something, which fair enough he caused himself, but nevertheless struggling to get rid off. He was always there for me. I could count on him to talk to, to listen – even though it was the last thing I wanted to do at that time.

As time went by his attitude changed. I was in this cycle of taking, getting caught, saying I’m sorry and I’ll never do it again, to taking again. Night after night he stayed in a house where you could cut the tension with a knife. He stayed among the fights and the crying and the worry - he clearly also had enough.

He said that until I got clean, really clean, things were not going to be the same between us. I couldn’t blame him. To him it must have looked as if I really didn’t want to stop. As if I wasn’t trying at all. But I was. It is still something I can’t explain to anybody. How you can say, mean and be determined to become clean, get your life in order, never take heroin again – and the first craving sends you directly to the dealer without even blinking.

In the beginning I used to say a lot that I’m sorry, because it wasn’t me. It was a drug addict saying those things, doing those things. To a drug addict there isn’t things like a brother or a mother or a father, or a son or a daughter… there is only a person to steal from, to lie to, to forget… there is only heroin.

Since my brother and I are close again I guess he too has seen that my intentions this time is true. My word still means nothing and I can’t blame anybody for that besides myself. All I can do is show them in my actions that I am changing!

Day 110 – “Kicking the Habbit”

Tuesday, 13 March 2007
Day 110 / 33 (59) – “Kicking the Habbit”

I was watching a future Prison Break Episode (Episode 10) today. One of the characters asks another: “Do you think there is a part of you that enjoys this? Being on the run and the danger and the fear and the rush and all that? It feels to me like chasing a high!”

Saying I’m an addict on this blog sometimes, I tend to classify myself as heroin addict alone. I look at other drugs and although I’ve been addicted to most of them before, after heroin they all seem like childsplay. I look at alcohol and it doesn’t seem like a problem taking a sip, drinking one. I mean, I’m a heroin addict right!?

Looking back on my life I’ve been addicted many times in my life. I’ve been addicted to gambling, to drinking, to taking drugs, hell probably even sex. I’ve been addicted to people to places, to so many things.

I’ve been addicted to the rush, to the thrill – to the high! The mission of planning, getting and organizing sometimes surpassed the feeling of the drugs themselves. I guess I still find myself addicted to that part. It is scary looking at it like that. Could staying away from drugs actually be the easy part? I know what to avoid and who to avoid to make sure my path stays clear from drugs. But around me at this very moment are all these other things that can eventually put me back at Square one – without even coming close to drugs.

Somebody pointed out to me today that the best way to get over a bad habit is to get addicted to a good one. And I don’t think that there is better proof than I am today. I got addicted to this blogging thing a long time ago. This good blogging habbit helped me to quit the bad heroin habbit and for that I am grateful.

If there is a part of me that enjoys it - the run, the danger, the fear, the rush and the high then I guess my problems are only beginning, aren’t they?

Day 109 – “Decidedly Brilliant”

Monday, 12 March 2007
Day 109 / 32 (59) – “Decidedly Brilliant”

It feels like ages since I’ve made a blog entry. I wish I could say the week went well, but I honestly don’t know how it went. Last week was just an emotional rollercoaster. One day I feel okay and the next so depressed I just want to lie in my bed, forget and be forgotten. The whole weekend I was in bed, sore, irritated, grumpy and still depressed. I would love to know what is going on!

Friday night I went to the Polokwane Show again and this time around it turned out much better. ‘Chris Chameleon’ was there and I saw him perform live for the first time. What a character! What a voice! I was shouting and screaming at the top of my voice. Definitely glad I went to see that. I met a friend there and we walked around and checked all the different stalls. As we were walking I bumped into one person I knew after another. Some meetings were only a nod by aquiantances – but definitely an improvement from the solo performance on Wednesday.

Everybody at my office decided that we were going to wear pink shirts and jeans on Friday in memory of Sheldean. Even my mom got into her jeans, or ‘squeezed’ into them, as she refers to it. It looked like our new office wear. What amazed me more was getting to the showgrounds. People were standing together against what happened to this little girl, against crime in general and you could see it in a wave of pink and blue spread across the crowd. It was like everybody got this memo before dressing to go to the show.

I’ve thought long and hard yesterday about what was happening to me. Why I was feeling this way. And I don’t really have the answers yet, but I know I’m not spending another week like this. I used to be a very optimistic, happy-clappy chap – now… I don’t know what I am. So, I’m thinking positive this week and see if it will change my frame of mind.

One thing is for sure heroin will not solve it. I’m happy to report that the thought of taking hasn’t even occurred to me. Its not an option. Doesn’t matter how I feel, how bad the pain still gets – as long as NO is the answer to the question – I’m doing brilliantly!

Day 108 – “Poll/Discussion 6”

Sunday, 11 March 2007
Day 108 / 31 (59) – “Poll/Discussion 6”

In preparation for a future blog entry I am asking the following question to get your input for the next two weeks.

Do you have any experiences with Rehab or a treatment called ‘Ibogaine’ you would like to share? Did you go to Rehab and did it help you or do you think it is a waste of time? Same goes for ‘Ibogaine’!

You can comment or send me an e-mail at tristanbailey@mailbox.co.za
Remember if you would like this blog e-mailed to you daily please conact me and I'll add you to the mailing list.

Day 107 – “Heroin (a Poem by Mandy)”

Saturday, 10 March 2007
Day 107 / 30 (59) – “Heroin (a Poem by Mandy)”

Heroin, Heroin, with all of its glory
let me tell you about my story
Heroin, Heroin, with all of its fame
its the one I take the blame

Heroin, Heroin, feels good in my veins
and it relieves all of my pains
When I first starting shootin' it, it turned me on
now I regret it when its gone

Its only been hours since I ran out
my once soothed nerves begin to shout
I start to yawn and I sneeze
I beg my dealer" I need some PLEASE!"

I need a fix before the Jones
begins to run throughout my bones
I sweat and shiver
and my stomach begins to quiver

I puke and shit
hours after my last hit
As time goes by I get sicker and I curse
"these withdrawal symptoms only get worse!"

I thought shooting H was slick
but now I am very sick
As I wait for my dealers beep
I try to get some sleep

I pray and hope
that he will arrive with some dope
I can't wait to stick the needle in my arm
Why must I do so much harm?

These withdrawal symptoms are driving me crazy
my mind is getting hazy
Until my dealer answers my call
he tells me to meet him at the mall

I literally get on my hands and knees for this punk
he's the man who deals out my junk
I buy just enough to last a day
this should make me feel okay

I just want to feel well after this deal
who cares if I haven't any money left for a meal
I take out my needle and I boot
I start to feel it as I shoot

Within seconds I feel well
I say to myself "Oh what the hell"
the rush feels good and the Jones went away
only to return the very next day

Around and around this monkey I am chasing
my body not knowing what its facing
If I keep going at this rate
the needle will control my fate

But whenever I try to stop
the craving takes a hold of me and I flop
Its like my only lover is my dope
without it there is no hope

I become self centered caring only of me
I have no friends nor family
whenever I nod out
I can't hear the people that care shout

I keep on telling myself "I need to end this madness
this heroin business brings nothing but sadness"
I avoid all of my connections
and fight my urge for injections

If I don't stop all of this abuse
I will wind up living like a recluse
I need to kick this fucking monkey
and end my life as a junkie

To remain clean
is to avoid the heroin scene

Day 106 – “Maybe we should just be friends!”

Friday, 9 March 2007
Day 106 / 29 (59) – “Maybe we should just be friends!”

I haven’t quite been in the best of moods this week. I’ve been feeling sore and depressed and irritated the whole week. This morning when I woke up it hit me like a brick… I’m starting to get the flu. That familiar virus feeling spreading through your body is unmistakable. My immune system is pretty much non-existent still as it tries and recover from all the stuff I was injecting!

At least I think I know where the problem lies, or all of it except the depression. I’m drinking a handful filled with vitamin pills to help boost my system in the hope it will work. I already feel better just knowing where the problem lies. And after we pretty much rearranged the whole house I found my pain pills in a box at the office. Don’t ask me how it got there, but I’m just glad I found them.

It is Friday and the weekend is here. I’m watching ‘Chris Chameleon’ tonight at the Polokwane Show. I’ve missed two of his concerts in Polokwane already and this was my chance to get to see him live. I’m a big fan off all different kinds of music and like to see the artists perform live. One of my favorite types of music is house music.

Every song I hear I long for the clubs. I’m trying to get my brother or at least some of my friends to go with me to the local club. I guess I could go alone and I’m sure my parents would only slightly mind, but for everybody’s peace of mind I’d rather go with some supervision.

Anyway, you’ll all be glad to know besides the lurking flue and mounting depression I’m feeling very well with no desire to involve heroin in my life again. I’m going out of the house and hopefully will be meeting new people along the way. As for missing relationships, I guess most relationships starts with friends anyway. So, I’ll focus on making some new friends for now and strengthen the ties with my existing friends.

I just hope heroin hasn’t destroyed that part of me!

Day 105 – “Travelling to nowhere!”

Thursday, 8 March 2007
Day 105 / 28 (59) – “Travelling to nowhere!”

The Polokwane show started yesterday. I went primarily for the live performances they had there. However, I was all alone! I wasn’t alone because I chose not to have anybody with me, even though I guess at times I would make myself believe that. No, I was alone because out of all the people I knew, all the acquaintances I had only a handful of them remained. And searching between them I probably wouldn’t find anybody to share this moment with.

This whole week has been one depressing thought after another. It’s not just the thought of being alone in my sexual or relationship life, its being alone in my friendship life. I saw somebody last night that reminded me so much of my ex. I sent an SMS to say that I missed my EX and got a reply back that the feeling was mutual. That was a bit unexpected. Just too bad the relationship never worked out and now the distance between us makes it impossible.

I took a break form the usual blog routine. Actually a break from anything routine in my life – except going to work. I just needed… I don’t know... a holiday! Since this whole addiction started, before my parents knew, before I even knew I had a problem - I haven’t had a day off. It has been working and recovering or trying at least for long over a year. And with all the stuff at work I can’t really take a break now so it will continue like this for a few more weeks.

Let’s say by some miracle I do get off, where would I honestly go with the huge debt free salary I get to deposit into my bank account every month? And yes, friends that is my attempt at sarcasm. And staying at home is really no holiday either. As much as I love my family I’ve been locked away with them for way too long.

And if I ignored the bunch of debtors on my tail and spent money on a holiday I’m sure I’d leave my family behind worrying if I was okay. Was I contacting one of the dealer’s brothers or uncles or nephews spread across the country for my next fix?

I guess then its good that I can’t take off from work. This way I don’t have to face any of those difficult decisions and everybody can rest easily, well, almost everybody!

Day 104 – “Digging up the Money Tree”

Wednesday, 7 March 2007
Day 104 / 27 (59) – “Digging up the Money Tree”

I’m afraid I have to report that I don’t feel much better today. I don’t know what is going on. If this is because of the alcohol this past weekend, I guess I brought it on myself, but it is slightly unexpected. Feels like a train hit me last night again – a big one. I’m irritated, sore, depressed… arggggg….

And to put the icing on the cake I lost a whole bottle of pain pills. Last I remember the pills were in my room and when I checked on Monday the whole bottle was gone. I’ve turned my room and most of the house upside down searching for it – with no luck.

It is not overlay expensive pills but it is hard to come by. Its natural pain pills because I can’t really take anything else. At the rate I sometimes have to take them I’ll get addicted to that as well. It specifically targets the leg and muscle pain I’ve been having – which is my worst symptoms. Of course, feeling like this everyday is still a reminder of my foolishness to take heroin again.

As I was looking for the pills yesterday I found it quite scary. Here I was looking for a box of pills that cost me around the same as a hit of heroin used to cost. And to think there was a time I spent that amount 2-3 times a day – EVERY SINGLE DAY. I can’t begin to imagine the amount of money I have spent on drugs on in my lifetime.

Of course, I am still paying most of it off. My salary every month goes directly to the parents and I get a few rands every week to spend when I go out. That is probably one of the hardest things. I was used to spending money anytime, anywhere. Now, I have to ask for an allowance again. Even though my whole salary goes to them, they still pay a huge portion of it out of their own bank account every month. So, I’m really grateful.

Somebody asked me yesterday how much debt I have. To be honest with you, I haven’t checked in a while and I’m not really up for it. It will be too depressing. At least now I have this misguided perception that I’m actually making financial progress. I wouldn’t want to burst that bubble.

Day 103 – “Unlikely love”

Tuesday, 6 March 2007
Day 103 / 26 (59) – “Unlikely love”

Yesterday was quite a good day at work even for a Monday. I am really enjoying it there. We are getting busy but strangely we seem to get more work done than at the other building. I think maybe it is because we have a new boss that checks up on us. I must say as much I enjoyed my job at the previous building, I can’t wait to get to work in the mornings now. I’m very fortunate in that way I guess. Many people dread going to their job every day.

The day went pretty well until I got home. I sat on the couch thinking how wonderful it would have been if I had somebody here to share this day with. To just sit here, stare at the ceiling or each other and talk about the events of our day together. I miss that, in a friend and in a love.

But as you’ll get to know aswell, I’m very impatient. Always want things to happen today. And in the same way I guess I wanted my life back yesterday already. This whole weekend was filled with people in love and on the verge of getting ingaged, getting married, having children. The whole time I’m thinking JUST SLOW DOWN… I still have to find somebody. All these unlikely people that find love, that settle down, doing it long before I can ever dream of it.

I felt quite sorry for myself last night and decided to sleep it off and see how I feel this morning. I woke up this morning still thinking about all of it, but perhaps just with a bit more clarity. I’ve been sitting at home for the past, I don’t know how long. And its my own fault. If it wasn’t for the lapses things could have been different already. I can only go out now, meet new people again and experience things (non drug related). I should give myself some time, even though I’m impatient to get on with my life. And who knows… If I’m really lucky I’ll find somebody to just sit with, stare at the each other and talk about our day.

Day 102 – “What they did wrong?”

Monday, 5 March 2007
Day 102 / 25 (59) – “What they did wrong?”

We had lunch yesterday with my brother’s soon to be inlaws. It was quite an interesting and eventful day. It was the first time I’ve actually spent a whole afternoon with all of them and I would welcome them to the family any day. The subject of my heroin addiction came up, as it is common knowledge in most of our families. Since one of their family members had the problem, their dad as somebody who technically speaks from experience had a chat with me.

He said two things to me. One which I’ve come to know as truth since starting my recovery and something completely new to me that maybe I’ve never thought of before.

The one thing he said to me was that this choice lay with me. No matter what I did, what happened, who tried to do what for me. In the end the decision to take or not to take lay in my hands and mine alone. If I really wanted to – no force on earth would stop me to get it. He saw it in his family – I knew it to be true in mine.

But the second part of the conversation caught me off guard. I knew my parents probably blamed me many times for the pain and destruction I caused the whole family. None of them started using heroin but all of them were thrown into this whirlpool of affects due to heroin abuse. What I never considered was that maybe at a time my parents thought it is all THEIR fault?

Could they really have been asking themselves all this time what they did wrong? Where they slipped up? I guess all parents want the best for their children and this life wasn’t exactly the best for me. I haven’t been the most model of kids after high school. I shocked them year after year with yet another truth that probably made them wonder what they did wrong?

My parents haven’t read the blog yet. I’m hoping they’ll start soon and whenever or wherever they start to read it, they’ll get to this day eventually. I want them to read this entry and remember...

Not the bad things I’ve done, thinking that they could or should have done something differently, because nothing they did or said could have changed the course of these events. I’m hoping it all happened for a reason, and so it would have found a way to happen, anyway. I want them to remember what a strong boy they raised. Able to make his own mistakes and more importantly learn from them. Able to count his losses and rise up from them more determined, more positive – and stronger. That is the boy they raised – and in my eyes there is nothing wrong with that.

Day 101 – “101 ways”

Sunday, 4 March 2007
Day 101 / 24 (59) – “101 ways”

A hundred and one. They always have these books on a 101 ways to understand your wife or a 101 ways to make love or a 101 ways to have fun. Donald Trump published a book on a 101 ways to make a success and I’m sure if Oprah Winfrey published one her research on a 101 ways to lose weight – would come in very handy. The point is, a 101 is normally associated with… well… Dalmatians and improvement in some way or form.

So, accordingly I thought of ways to improve my own life. I’ve spend the last 100 days trying to overcome one of the most difficult things every thrown my way. I know that I’m nowhere close to be okay yet but I think I can safely work on ways to improve my life a bit.

I don’t have a 101 things yet, but I have a few and I think I’ll spend the next 101 days working on them a bit. Firstly, I’m definitely going out more. To the mall, to the movies, to the clubs to the snake park if I have to… but I desperately need to get out of this house a bit more. Secondly, I would love to write more as it is something I deeply love. These two items have led to my other blog containing a bit more stories about my daily life in my hometown. If you like this blog I hope you’ll check in there aswell. Thirdly I want to catch up with some of my friends again. I still have so many friendships that were hurt during my heroin use and a lot of them need a lot of work.

And lastly the thing I want to do most this year is learn how to cook. I make a mess of eggs at the moment so it is not going to be an easy lesson. I’ve also found it so interesting. To me it is just like writing or like taking photos (which I like as well). Every dish is the creation of a story told by every bite. I’m sure a lot of moms forced to do tedious cooking every night will disagree with that statement. Even so, I want to learn how to do that – without poising my family.

There a lot more stuff to work on and in another 101 days I hope to report back that I’ve started on most on them. In the mean time we’ll continue with the 101 ways to stop taking heroin.

Day 100 – “Hundred!”

Saturday, 3 March 2007
Day 100 / 23 (59) – “Hundred!”

I remember it like it was yesterday. I had this overwhelming drive to get better, but the control of heroin was unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. One moment I was so sincere, genuine in my intentions to stop, to break the habit, to relief the pain I was inflicting on my precious family and on own life – the next I was craving so bad that none of it mattered. I didn’t know who I was anymore, my identity was lost. I was heroin’s pawn.

A 100 days later I am free. I can say that and I can mean it. Perhaps not free from addiction as that is a struggle I have had all my life. Perhaps not free from heroin – as it will always lurk in the shadows looking over my shoulder. But free to make my own choices again. Free to decide for myself to regress or grow, to be known as a junky or to be in recovery.

A 100 days ago I decided exactly that. To recover! I remember thinking how useless it all was. You hoped that this time would be the time, but deep down inside I knew I was powerless towards heroin. I wanted heroin badly and decided to write, I didn’t care who listened, who read, who liked it or rejected it. I was ready to explode and need to get it out there.

Something happened. People read it and supported me. They didn’t know me. In fact from the few lines I wrote those few days all that they could know about me was that I was a heroin addict. A quality that usually sends people packing. But they stayed and they read. What started off as a few comforting words from bloggers that happened upon my site ended up as a massive support system from people that read the blog religiously.

No matter how hard it was that day, how many tears were spilled or disastrous secrets revealed I could always count on them to listen. No matter how much I wanted to take heroin or how bad I felt for taking it again – they were there supporting me. These people that hardly knew me.

I hope very much that people will continue to read these daily entries for the next 100 days. It isn’t always the most suspense ridden story but it is always an honest portrayal of my heroin use and recovery. Whether you just happened upon this blog now or have been following from Day 1 – to you all I say thank you for listening to – MY HEROIN RECOVERY!

Day 99/21 – “Poll/Discussion 5 Closed”

Friday, 2 March 2007
Day 99/21 – “Poll/Discussion 5 Closed”

Thanx to HiddenTruth’s post on FeedReader I have decided to add all my favourite blogs on there and know that I won’t miss an entry now. I don’t always get time to comment on everybody’s blogs but believe me I am reading!

The question I asked last Sunday was:
Which piece or pieces I wrote told you or informed you the most of the problem of heroin addiction and what heroin addicts go through?

Thank you very much to all that participated. Lets face it, not every post is a masterpiece but I’d like to think I have my moments sometimes when the thoughts I have that day comes across perfectly.

Some days when I read the entry I did for that particular day, I get chills because it is so real to me. I hope that when you read them they are real to you to!

Followed below is the list of entries I think is worth remembering.

Day 1 - "I remember"
Day 7 - "A week clean"
Day 9 - "Making History"
Day 15 - "Can I cry?"
Day 16 - "I am Sixteen"

Day 18 - "Testing Day"
Day 19 - "I had a dream"
Day 25 - "Dr. Jeykell and his friend (Part 1)"
Day 26 - "Dr. Jeykell and his friend (Part 2)"
Day 45 - "He knew"

Day 46 - "The Wall at the Mall"
Day 50 - "Give me a FIFTY!"
Day 54 - "Bargaining with the Devil"
Day 58 - "3 Feet Under (by TiN)"
Day 68 - "A beautiful mind"

Day 77 - "A big fancy house"
Day 89 - "The Postbox (Part 1)"
Day 90 - "The Postbox (Part 2)"
Day 91 - "The Postbox (Part 3)"
Day 95 - "Where are you now?"
Day 96 - "A Blog about Heroin"

Day 98/20 – “The Tiger (William Blake)”

Thursday, 1 March 2007
Day 98/20 – “The Tiger (William Blake)”

Since it is a new month and I'm almost on Day 100 of my recovery I decided to change the look of the blog slightly. I hope you like it... more changes to come this weekend! Saturdays I normally do a post on a poem or a story I read that touched me or that I just find great reading. These posts are usually drug related. Since the weekend posts have moved to today and tomorrow I share with you a poem today that I have loved since my days at school...

THE TIGER
TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

- William Blake

Day 97/19 – “Leap”

Wednesday, 28 February 2007 - Day 97/19 – “Leap”

Geetings bloggers. What a week! As I mentioned on Sunday the big company move is finally over. Much of this week has been pent settling into the new space and it is still very chaotic. The city had power problems on Monday and we basically sat at our desks staring at each other – and this on the first day of work. Asif that wasn’t enough the power interruptions caused problems on a few of the company computers which set us back even more.

I must say, I have been very excited about work this week. In my true ‘like to try new things’ nature I am ecstatic about the changes and eager to go to work. Even though we are working harder now, my stress levels have lowered considerably compared to the preceding few weeks.

Due to the ‘backlog’ of blogs nobody could have commented yet on my blog entry for Tuesday, but I am very curious to see the response on the issue. And if you think with this entry I am finally back to normal posting – you are wrong!

Saturday’s blog entry which is usually a poem or story written by somebody else and Sunday’s blog entry which is usually a recap on the week or a poll or question, moves to Thursday and Friday this week. This is to make way for Saturday’s post on Day 100.

As I’m sure you know by now I regard the first number on the top of each entry (“Day 97”) as the most important. It refers to the time in my life I could finally get it together and make a change – something I hope so many others will get to do as well. No matter how many times I fail in the future (and I don’t plan on making it many) everyday leading up to that failure is still an accomplishment I cannot overlook.

More of that on Saturday. I am still doing very well. As I said my stress levels are much lower, I’m sleeping again and even my leg pain has disappeared considerably. My parents are very happy and confident that I’m not hanging on the edge of taking again. Even my brother and I have spent some time together again. And news like that is always good to report.

Oh ye… this is as good a time as any to ask this. If you like this blog please vote for it on the right of the page!

Day 96/18 – “A blog about Heroin”

Tuesday, 27 February 2007 – Day 96/18 – “A blog about Heroin”

“What bothers me horribly - is that you can ONLY write about heroin. Are you not supposed to tell us what you do to get your mind OFF this drug addiction? I get the impression you worship this whole thing (heroin). It is ALL you can think about. Have you ever thought about doing something with your life?”

I got this e-mail this morning and I wasn’t quite sure how to respond at first. This is possibly because I can’t really argue with the fact that the blog mainly contains stories about heroin, the more I thought about it, the more I knew I would have to make an entry about it.

Scattered through the many days I have told my story, are stories about how I met someone I find attractive or how I long to find that special someone in my life. There are stories of parties of movies and braais with my parents, brother or friends. There are stories of my accomplishments or my gratitude to the people I met online. There are stories of my accident, of my fights of my work and of my play. There are even poems or stories written by other people that really touched me.

There are stories of my life now, of my life a few months ago and dreams of how I would like my life to be in the future. They are stories of a guy that got involved with heroin, how he struggled to keep his head above water and finally succeeded in doing so with help from his family and friends. They are stories of how he goes through everyday hoping he’ll remain strong and he surprises himself occasionally by the way he handles the obstacles in his path.

They are my stories – but they will forever remain the stories of a ‘Recovering Heroin Addict’. And I tell them day by day not to remind myself of heroin (because nothing will ever make me forget), I do so in the hope that the addicts out there reading this will find some inspiration and motivation in my progress and that everybody else out there will never have to start a blog called ‘My Heroin Recovery’!

Day 95/17 – “Where are you now?”

Monday, 26 February 2007 – Day 95/17 – “Where are you now?”


To my friend… before any of us were addicted!


Where are you now, my friend?
Why don’t you see me sitting here crying? Would your new friend even allow you to care? Look at me! Look at me! Please… I need to make you understand!

Where are you now my friend?
Someone is lying here next to me. Their green eyes remind me so much of you. They are hazed eyes, clouded eyes staring back at me. Hazed, yet not confused at all. The world seems so clear to him and so confusing to me in an apparent balancing effect. He has the flawed perspective of a perfect world and the theoretical equation to achieve it. Today he has all the answers and yet he has lost everything.

What are you feeling now, my friend?
Someone is lying here next to me. His experiences lies new to me now, to me forever. I feel closer to him now than anybody ever before, but nobody has ever been more of a stranger than he is to me now.

What are you hearing now, my friend?
Someone is lying here next to me, listening. But he can’t hear my pleads. He is listening to the calling of something much louder and stronger than I can ever be. Shall I try harder, shall I scream on the top of my lungs or shall I prepare myself for the inevitable “I told you so!”

Will I ever see you again or will this stranger be my new company? Will we ever be friends again or have you replaced me with hurriedly hurting heroin.

Where are you now, my friend?

Day 94/16 – “The move is over!”

Sunday, 25 February 2007 – Day 94/16 – “The move is over!”

Well, the weekend is almost over and I’ve been working nonstop. Thursday we started moving our office building and yesterday afternoon finally finished. Today, I’ve got what seems like a million of papers to sort out and filing to catch up on. Even so, I’m quite excited as to what tomorrow will bring.

For those of you that missed the story. We heard about six weeks ago, that our company will be moving to a new premises and we will get a new boss. We had approximately 6 weeks to move everything in a building where the company has been for almost 25 years.

Fast forward six weeks and the move is finally over. But the rest is only beginning. Two different companies now have to work together as one. This will make for interesting blogging I’m sure! With my recovery it is going very well. The last time I took was just over two weeks and I’m still getting withdraw symptoms. So, take my word for it – never start taking heroin.

The very first time I saw a friend of mine, or anybody for that matter, inject heroin, I wrote a poem about it. It is so weird reading it and knowing that, how I felt then is probably how everybody around me feels now. I’ll post that tomorrow (Monday).

The next week will go a bit different than usual. To make way for a special post next Saturday (Hint: Check the day Counter) the weekend posts (Poem and Poll) will move up to Thursday and Friday. Thanks again for all the support and I hope you’ll continue reading!

Day 93/16 – “Five Letter Word (Part 2)"

Saturday, 24 February 2007 – Day 93/16 – “Five Letter Word (Part 2)”

Continues from Part 1…

I couldn’t believe it. He was clean for 3 months, 3 whole months and now he was worse off than I was. He told me, and I figure this is true for a lot of people, that he hates the withdrawal. He can’t stand the pain and he will rather keep on taking than ever feeling it again.

Despite that, he decided to quit again. He took the last time the weekend and then stopped. He got sick the next day, as he predicted he would. He looked like I imagined I looked every time I tried to stop. Like a sadistic killer was pulling every part of your body from your bones, bit by bit and explaining to you how he was doing it. A torture that goes on forever. Only… he got worse and worse as the week progressed showing more symptoms than just withdrawal.

The following day he was admitted to hospital and a few days later he passed away. A few months later the autopsy report stated he died from ‘blood poisoning’. I guess this happens when you inject something into your veins that doesn’t belong there. We all knew it, we all know it – but this really puts it into perspective.

This story of his life, his death makes me so sad. He was about to quit. And whether he would have succeeded or whether heroin would have been the victor – we’ll never know. His story makes me sad not only because of his death, but because of his addiction. This wasn’t the first drug he used and it wouldn’t have been the last. This is true of so many our friends and even of myself. That is the scary thing, that is the sad thing. He honestly only got rid of his addiction, of drugs, of heroin – through DEATH!

The Schedule!

Our company move is finally over!
Because of the move the blog is a few days behind. To catch up I'll be making double posts from Monday to Wednesday.

Also, the posts for next weekend will move to Thursday and Friday to make way for a special post next week Saturday (HINT: Check the day counter).

Is it beginning to sound like a DSTV Guide over here???

Day 92/15 – “Five Letter Word (Part 1)”

Friday, 23 February 2007 – Day 92/15 – “Five Letter Word (Part 1)”

He was the clean one! Almost like he was better than the rest of us. He did something we were all trying so hard to do – he got clean from heroin!

This past Monday, 5 Months ago, my friend mentioned in the post ‘He knew’ passed away. From the time he got sick to the time he died was 8 days. It happened so quick that most of his friends didn’t even know he was in hospital. They all just got the message that he passed away.

It was in the beginning of the year and his grandmother passed away. I remember how heart broken he was at the funeral. I don’t know if he took heroin that day. With that overwhelming flood of emotions I can’t see how he could do without it.

Shortly after the funeral he decided to stop. He booked himself into a medical centre and got the right treatment and medicine. They had him locked up for two weeks. Of course, heroin doesn’t let go willingly and I heard he tried to smuggle some heroin in. Whether he succeeded, I don’t know but he got out a few weeks later completely clean.

Three months passed and he was visiting a friend one night, one who was also trying to quit heroin. I presume that the two addicts together lead to the inevitable and they used heroin just one more time. The next day they used again and again the day after that.

I don’t know about other people, but for the people in my heroin circle it was always true. You could use for 2 consecutive days and you’d probably feel bad the 3rd day, but if you used the 3rd day as well – you were back at square one. The days, weeks, months or years you were clean meant nothing.

I didn’t see him much during that period, so I never really knew much of his drug habits. It was only on occasion that I saw him drive away from the dealer just as I was approaching but we never really talked. Heroin slowly drives you into your own little world where there is place for only heroin and yourself.

I can’t remember how we got together that day but we were at this house and we took heroin. We ended up talking a lot about what happened the past few months. He told me how much he was using every day and I was shocked. I thought that the 2-3 baggies of heroin I sometimes used a day was bad. He was now taking much more than that!

Part 2 continues...

Day 91/14 – “The Postbox (Part 3)”

Thursday, 22 February 2007 – Day 91/14 – “The Postbox (Part 3)”


After weeks of preparation and days of pre-moving we are now busy with the big office move. Will tell more about this tomorrow. Also, yesterday was 90 days in the recovery and today is 2 weeks clean AGAIN. Now, here is the conclusion to ‘The Postbox’…


I phoned my friend and told him my dad was outside and he should wait before picking anything up or dropping anything off. The shocking news echoed in my head: “Too late… Your dad saw me!” Apparently he parked a few meters from the house, walked over to the postbox, reached in and my dad saw him. He ran back to the car while my dad was calling him and he drove off!” I froze. No matter how we spun this story. No matter how hard we were going to try and lie – this was going to be trouble.

I used heroin just the day before as well. If they checked my arms for track marks they would surely find them. Seeing my friend at the postbox screamed suspicion – they were going to check my arms for sure. And so they did. My dad came into the house and wanted to know what my friend was doing there. I denied everything of course. In my drugged and delusional mind they had no other choice but to believe me, right?

Here they thought they had me locked up safe and sound away from the poison that was slowly killing me. All hell was loose in the house and one of the mayor ways I sneaked the drugs into the house – was reluctantly revealed. Nobody ever thought I would go that far – including me! It is absolutely amazing how resourceful a drug addict can be. No matter what they tried, how many walls they tried to put up – there was always a way to get around it.

My dad always said that if I really wanted to stop, I would tell them the ways I did it – before they caught me. I would come clean and help them, help me! I struggled for months to get rid of heroin and every time it came back like it never left, making it even harder to stop. I was beginning to give up hope – give in to the critics who say that it only ends in death.

Then came the day I started this recovery, the one you are all currently part of. I revealed all the methods I used, places I scored, ways I got money. I was honest for a change. I told all before they ‘caught me out’. That was the day I knew everything was going to be okay. No matter what it took, how hard it was going to be – I was going to stop taking heroin!

Day 90/13 – “The Postbox (Part 2)”

Wednesday, 21 February 2007 – Day 90/13 – “The Postbox (Part 2)”


Continues from Part 1…


Some of the dealers stayed across from me, but they weren’t always available. There was a time we had to get the heroin from the runner about 4 km’s from my house. That made quickly running across the street and scoring impossible. But I had help. My fellow heroin addict friend and I took drugs together a lot. Each one of us wanted to get better, wanted to be rid of the clutches of the addiction – but neither of us could ever get that far. So, we always helped each other because we both knew better than anybody else what the other one was going through! The pain; the craving; the desperation!

We had a plan. I would sneak out of the house. Put money in the postbox. He would come and pickup the money, get the drugs and drop them off. This routine he skillfully completed on a regular basis, sometimes 2 or 3 times on one day. Very often I got the baggie of heroin, other times he prepared it beforehand and I just got the needle – ready for injection.

It was a Saturday and the same events were set in motion. I sneaked out and put the money in the postbox. My parents usually work in the garden on Saturdays which made the possibility of being caught out so much greater. I phoned my friend. Sometimes I didn’t have my phone and used the landline or on odd occasion I sent a SMS over the internet – but we found some way of communicating. He always took his time, or maybe I was just being an impatient drug addict, I don’t know. The mere 20, 30, 40 minutes it took him felt like days. Days and days of relentless pain while anticipating the arrival of the drugs.

My mother came into the house. She heard a noise outside. My heart skipped a beat. I looked out the window and saw my dad outside. My mom said she could have sworn she heard an animal, probably kittens, outside somewhere. I can’t remember exactly where they found them… but I know it was close to the postbox.


... Concludes tomorrow

Day 89/12 – “The Postbox (Part 1)”

Tuesday, 20 February 2007 – Day 89/12 – “The Postbox (Part 1)”

I haven’t been there in three months. I haven’t been consciously avoiding it… but I have been avoiding going there. Not so much because I’m afraid of memories or passive instigation but because I don’t want anybody to question my presence there. It was one of the mayor ways I got the drugs into the house. This is the three part story about The Postbox…

It was quite a while that passed since I told my parents about my Heroin Addiction. We were all hopeful that this problem would soon be gone. I saw the doctor. Got the medicine. I was going to get clean! I still had access to my accounts at that point and could basically come and go as I pleased. My parents thought I was doing great but in the meantime I never stopped taking. Slowly as they learned I wasn’t as honest as I pretended to be – the walls closed in and I was confined to the house and my room.

This was the same room I would spend countless hours lying on the bed too sore to move, too depressed to stand up, to ashamed to show my face. This was the room I would stand and arrange for the next drop off. This was the room I would shoot up heroin.

By this time my parents were watching me closely. They couldn’t really tell if I was using just by looking at me – because I was on so much medicine. This is an art they perfected since then. They soon learned that even though I looked fine – I could still be using. But they could never understand how I seemingly stopped for so long and then just started again.

What they didn’t know at the time. What they couldn’t know. Was that I never stopped. I was sneaking the drugs in!


Part 2 and 3 continues the rest of the week…

Day 88/11 – “Pandora’s Box”

Monday, 19 February 2007 - Day 88/11 – “Pandora’s Box”

Pandora’s Box. Many know this Greek myth and it has many interpretations. As I know the myth of Pandora, she was given many different traits or gifts from the various gods. The gift or trait she got from Zeus was insatiable curiosity and mischievousness. It doesn’t matter what version of the myth you know, one thing is always the same, it was her avid curiosity that led her to open the box and release misery and evil on mankind destroying paradise.

Her name means ‘all gifted’ as she was given many different gifts and traits by the gods. In much the same way I was given a good life and my curiosity led me to open that box a long time ago releasing evil and misery into my own life.

I imagine we had the same hunger for experimenting, for trying new things, knowing more or knowing better. I imagine she left that box open letting evil spread for a long time before realizing what she had done, much the same as I did. She closed the box but the evil she led out could not be put back in.

She did one thing right – she closed the box before “hope” could escape. So, in much the same way I trust I did the same. Even with all this misfortune in my life I’d like to think that this box – this very same box that led me to destroy the lives of the people I loved – contained hope as well! Hope that I can be strong. Hope that I can fight. Hope that all can be paradise again!

Day 87/10 – “Poll/Discussion 5”

Sunday, 18 February 2007 - Day 87/10 – “Poll/Discussion 5”

The question for the past two weeks were:
What is your favorite drug movie? Doesn’t have to be a movie about heroin, it could be a movie about any legal, illegal, real or fictitious drugs.

The usual movies made their appearance along with my most favorite off all drug movies: “Requiem for a Dream”. It is a story about four lives, four addicts, four failures. The four people have such aspirations for themselves and their lives but they succumb to their addictions. The movie sees them spiral out of control and you see the ugly hell in which addicts reside in. Absolutely brilliant point of view, camera angles, effects and portray of drug addiction. It is shocking and an eye opener for addicts and non-addicts alike.

Of course you don’t mention drug movies, especially heroin drug movies without mentioning ‘Trainspotting’. A wild story about a heroin addict’s habit and how he tries to break it and give up heroin. It is very ‘unclean’ in it is portray of the drug habits of the lower class.

Other drug movies include: “Midnight Express”, “BasketBall Diaries”, “Pulp Fiction”, “The Beach”, “Blow”, “Human Traffic” and “Go”.

It is the three big ones for me about heroin: “Requiem for a Dream”, “Trainspotting” and “Basketball Diaries” that lie here waiting for me to watch them. I don’t crave heroin and I can’t imagine every going back to that lifestyle – but I remember those movies well enough to know how dangerous they are to me still.

Heroin wasn’t all bad. I know I’m not suppose to be talking about the good times I had with heroin. It is in bad taste anyway, since a lot of people are still hurting because of those ‘good times’. But there is a pleasure in it – after all that is why people keep doing it. And watching a movie like ‘Trainspotting’ even with all that ‘bad’ in your face – you still might, for a brief moment, think its not so bad. Its not so addictive or destcructive. But believe me – you will be wrong!

OK, so this week’s question will be for those that follow the blog and want to put in some effort answering. I have gone through 87 days today, that is 88 pieces telling my story of recovery. Which piece or pieces told you or informed you the most of the problem of heroin addiction and what heroin addicts go through?

Day 86/9 – “A Poem by Veronica”

Saturday, 17 February 2007 – Day 86/9 – “A Poem by Veronica”

After a while you learn
The subtle difference between
Holding a hand and chaining a soul
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't always mean security.

And you begin to learn
That kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes ahead
With the grace of a woman or man
Not the grief of a child

And you learn
To build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is
Too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way
Of falling down in mid flight

After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much
So you plant your own garden
And decorate your own soul
Instead of waiting
For someone to bring you flowers

And you learn
That you really can endure
That you are really strong
And you really do have worth
And you learn and you learn
With every good bye you learn.

Veronica A. Shoffstall