Central Office

910-678-8002 310 Green St., Suite 201, Box 14 Fayetteville, NC 28301 Office hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays Website: fayaa.org

October 2017

The Newsletter of the Bladen, Cumberland and Robeson Central Office

The Common Bond

Upcoming

Events

Oct. 31 Halloween, check

with local groups

for any special

events.

***

Nov. 3 Area 51 Fall

Committee meet-

ings in Raleigh.

***

Nov. 4-5 Area 51 Fall As-

sembly and Elec-

tions. North Raleigh

Hilton, 3415 Wake

Forest Road (Exit

10 on I-440. Hotel

reservation infor-

mation at aanorth-

carolina.org. Open

to all AA members.

***

Nov. 6 Principles Group

will host a speaker

at 6:30 and potluck

dinner at 7:30 at

Highland Presbyteri-

an Church. Details

in District 51 on

page 6.

Continued on page 2 Continued on page 3

The strange mental twist My first exposure to the

peculiar, or strange, mental

twist was about 6 months

after coming into Alcoholics

Anonymous, the year doesn’t

matter.

It was August and it was

hot. I had been working in a

warehouse housing about

$8 million worth of chemical

gear for the 25th Infantry Di-

vision in Pearl Harbor, Ha-

waii.

In a metal building which

just baked us, we accom-

plished a lot of Quality As-

surance work that day and I

was superbly pleased and

Page 2

Make contact with the Central Office

Common Bond editor: commobond2011@gmail.com

Fayaa.org webmaster: webmaster@fayaa.org

Central Office: bcrcentraloffice@embarqmail.com

also info@fayaa.org. Hotline: 910-678-8733 Mail: 310

Green St., Suite 201, Mailbox 14, Fayetteville, NC

28301

Upcoming

events

Page 2 COMMON BOND

Nov. 15 BCR-Central

Office Council

meeting at 6:30

p.m. at board

meeting room at

office, 310 Green

St. Fayetteville.

***

Nov. 19 District 51

board meeting at 2

p.m. Site in Robe-

son County to be

decided. See story

at left.

***

Nov. 22-26 Thanksgiving

Day weekend.

Check with local

groups for alca-

thons and special

activities.

***

Dec. 24-Jan.1 Check with local

groups for Christ-

mastime and New

Year’s events.

District 51: Appeal made

to aid Florida AA groups The District 51 DCM Kate made a

plea Sunday for groups to aid Florida

AA groups hurt by Hurricane Irma.

Many groups lost all their books and

literature in the storm.

The board is discussing cutting back

on its prudent reserve because of a

lack of funds for other needs. The cur-

rent reserve is $2,500 and was set

when the district had more money.

Currently, the district can’t fund the

DCM attending Area 51 meetings or

workshops.

An exact amount has not been set.

In other business, Lloyd K., of

Spring Into Action, was elected to the

vacant assistant DCM post.

The board’s next meeting has been

tentatively set for Nov. 19 at Mohr

Plaza at Martin Luther King and

Field streets in Lumberton. If that site

Continued on page 6

Central Office Board Chairman Dave. C. Vice chairman Jim B. Treasurer Carey D. At-Large members Bladen Vacant Cumberland Carl S. Robeson Vacant Office manager/ secretary Linda C.

Council Agnostics & Others Vacant Central Group Jackie M. Sandalwood Sean L. Back to Basics Dan. A Bare Bones Michael B. ODAT Jerry T. Fort Bragg Michael Freedom in Growth Laureen O. Keep It Simple Corey B. New Freedom Spencer G. Principles Group Charles K. Pine Run Craig Seekers of Sobriety Donna L. Spring Into Action Anne S. There is a Solution Stephen B. Village Group Sylvia E. Walking the Same Path Alexis L.

Services Hotline Audrey C. Webmaster Jim H. Common Bond editor Dave C.

Page 3 The Newsletter of the Bladen, Cumberland and Robeson Central Office

Strange mental twist Continued from page 1

proud of myself. While travelling

from the warehouse area of Pearl

Harbor Naval Base to Schofield

Barracks, where I lived. I was driv-

ing on “automatic pilot,” consider-

ing my work, what next, reporting

my progress and other mundane

duties I thought “boy I’m thirsty.” I

decided to buy a soft drink, while

on auto

pilot, the

car

parked it-

self in a

bar park-

ing lot.

I was

shocked

and be-

fuddled at

the same

time. I guessed that something

strange had happened, but I wasn’t

sure what it was. So I turned

around and retraced my drive back

to the point on the highway I last

remembered, retracing my path

back to the bar. I passed two

“shoppettes” and a gas station. I

had to change lanes from right to

left and then into a left turn lane, a

U-turn and a half block back to a

right turn into the bar’s parking

lot.

I paused there for a few

minutes then left and went home,

never having achieved my goal of

acquiring a soda! I called my spon-

sor, Clancy U., related my day to

him, in the

vernacular of

all good

sponsors, he

responded to

me, “you

wanted to

drink you

damn fool get

your ass over

here and

don’t stop an-

ywhere along the way.”

So I did what I was told and we

had a discussion about the

“peculiar form of insanity” as he

called it. He forced me to go with

him to his home group and he de-

manded that the topic be chapter

two, More About Alcoholism. I

learned a lot that evening and the

Continued on page 4

4 COMMON BOND

Page 4 The Newsletter of the Bladen, Cumberland and Robeson Central Office

Strange mental twist Continued from page 3 younger ones in the meeting took

me out for coffee, my sponsor went

home.

I began to see, after reading

chapter three and asking myself

what Bill and the first one hundred

were specifically trying to warn me

about. The chapter three certainly

didn’t tell how to avoid this scary

experience in the future. It did give

me a hint which I found a few years

later.

I had another experience simi-

lar to the one above when my mid-

dle child had to have an ear opera-

tion early one morning about a year

later. My wife and I had to get my

daughter to hospital at about 4

a.m., and we were released, with

the child after the successful opera-

tion, all of us woozy and sleepy. I

decided to get her a treat for being;

oh so brave and grown up. When

we got to the shoppette on post in

mid morning, I went in and thought

“ice cream just the thing,” I saun-

tered to the ice cream case, then

thought “maybe cookies,: then

thought of something else; just

wandering and browsing trying to

make up my mind concerning the

child’s reward, finally deciding to

get ice cream after about 40

minutes. My wife asked, “what kept

you, I thought I’d have to come in

and get you.”

I was pretty sure this was the

“strange mental twist” of chapter

two in the Big Book. I went to my

sponsor’s later that day and I told

him about my behavior and he

merely nodded simple non verbal

encouragers and let me rattle on.

He finally asked me when I had run

down what I thought was going on

and he I said “a different version of

the strange mental twist.” He

smiled approvingly, agreed with me

and gave me an assignment.

Page 4 COMMON BOND

Continued on page 5

Page 5 The Newsletter of the Bladen, Cumberland and Robeson Central Office

Strange mental twist Continued from page 4

He said. “Go home and figure

what caused this episode and the

other one you had and what you

can do about them.” He continued,

“come up with a plan to see these

periods of peculiar and unexplaina-

ble behav-

ior before

they catch

you una-

ware.”

He also

told me to

pray for

inspira-

tion and

insight concerning chapter two

each time I sat and meditated upon

the problem of the strange mental

twist.

I had a third episode about a year

later when I was reassigned from

Hawaii to Chicago, I was torn from

the safety of my home group. I

didn’t like the “Something Similar”

meeting I went to nor another I

tried, so I decided to give AA a

miss since I’d be leaving Chicago in

about a year when I retired from

the U.S. Army. I didn’t like losing

the comfort and security of my

friends in AA and the womb of my

first home group. I was sad, feeling

sorry for myself. We call this iso-

lating in AA.

Riding down an Interstate, I

noticed two things each morning,

first was that a bar had a full park-

ing lot every morning and the

thought came to me for several

days “gee that’s gotta be one hell of

a bar, I gotta go there.

A few days later I noticed a very

large sign with a clear glass curli-

cue that said ― Cocktails. A bit

confused I hit an exit and went

back to see exactly what this sign

said in full. It gave the name of the

bar and the word ‘bar’ below with

the curlicue filigree clear light in-

serted over the word bar. The sign

was not on as it was roughly 8 a.m.

I went on to work and hit a meeting

at noon on Pulaski Avenue.

In the final installment I’ll re-

late to you what I’ve learned about

interrupting and overcoming the

strange/peculiar mental twist.

― Carl Anonym

6 COMMON BOND

Financial Report for August 2017

A.A. BIRTHDAYS

Balance sheet

Assets

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash - Unrestricted $1,859.71

Total General Fund 2,818.73

Founders’ Day 1,540.98

Prudent Reserve 2,500.00

Total Assets $4,359.71

Liabilities

Current Liabilities

Employee Tax Payable $83.20

Sales Tax Payable 119.91

Total Current Liabilities 203.11

Total Liabilities $203.11

Equity

Beginning net equity $4,824.78

Current Year Earnings -668.18

Total Equity 4,824.78

Total Liabilities and Equity $4,359.71

Revenue

Book & Material Sales $897.90

Contributions 910.66

Other revenue -1.07

Total Revenue 1,807.19

Less Cost of Sales 583.65

Gross Profit $1,223.54

Other Income and Expense

Bank Service Charges -6.00

Hotline Telephone -48.43

Office Expenses -41.20

Payroll Tax Expense -17.74

Rent -240.83

Telephone/Internet -125.14

Wages and Salaries -232.00

Total -711.34

Income Net Income $512.20

Contributions July/Aug Total*

Agnostics & Others 0.00 0.00

Bare Bones 490.00 490.00

Central Group 0.00 0.00

Freedom In Growth 0.00 0.00

Fort Bragg 0.00 0.00

Keep It Simple 0.00 0.00

Principles Group 0.00 0.00

Spring Into Action 250.00 250.00

SOS Group 0.00 0.00

Sandalwood Group 0.00 0.00

ODAT 415.66 415.66

Walking The Same Path 0.00 0.00

Village Group 0.00 0.00

Faithful Fivers/ Ind. 10.00 10.00

Founders’ Day donations 0.00 0.00

Totals $1,165.66 $1,165.66 *From July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018

Oct. 1

Kelly C. – 10

Mike S. – 10

Oct. 2

Al S. – 29

Beth D - 34

Matthew C. – 6

Oct. 3

Lisa L. – 6

Oct. 4

Zack O. – 8

Oct. 5

Alfonso P. – 5

Oct. 7

Jared D. – 10

Cameron B. – 10

Oct. 8

Sandra M. – 10

Oct. 9

Robert I – 8

Oct. 15

Maura M. – 5

Oct. 16

Milton S. – 11

Sue R. – 41

Chad T. – 13

Oct. 18

Don Z. – 33

Patrick W. – 14

Pete P. – 9

Fagan M. – 10

Oct. 19

Elisha – 10

Mike P – 32

Oct. 20

Jay O. – 12

Oct. 21

Stanley E. – 17

Oct. 22

Kasey R. – 9

Oct. 24

Todd W. – 10

David B. – 9

Oct. 25

Joe H. – 11

Oct. 26

Kelly M. – 9

Mike R. – 13

Oct. 27

Lauren O. – 1

Oct. 28

Frazier S. – 13

Oct. 30

Ernest S. – 10

Nov. 1

Mike K. – 8

Nov. 2 Harvey G. – 32

Tom L. – 30 Aninty Y. – 5

Nov. 4 Alfonso P. – 36

Nov. 5 Ron S. – 37 Ray V. – 31

Mike E. – 18 Nov. 6

Jeff W. – 29 Nov. 7

Jed T. – 13 Edward E. – 6

Nov. 8 Wanda P. – 23

Nov. 10 Crystal – 12

Nov. 11 Joseph M. – 50

Carl S. - 31 Wade S. – 18

Nov. 12 Esther S. – 20

Scott T. – 8

Audrey – 6 Nov. 14

Johnny B. – 9 Nov. 15

Andrew K. – 9 Nov. 16

Kathy E. – 37 Charles J. – 9

Nov. 18 Dan – 19 Nov. 19

Julie S. – 32 Audrey C. – 19 Debora B. – 10 Jordan W. – 5

Nov. 21 Mike L. – 26 Gary M. – 13

Melissa L. – 10 Nov. 23

Bryan L. – 26 Bill L. – 24

Nov. 24 Jeff W. – 27

Nov. 25 Bryan L. – 25

Nov. 26 Johnny F. – 12 Daniela D. – 9 Trisha F. – 1

Nov. 29 Gary H. – 7

Send your birthdays

to the Central Office

or to the editor at

commonbond2011@

gmail.com.

District 51

Pembroke at the home of Walk-

ing the Same Path.

In group news, the Principals

Group will have a speaker and

potluck supper on Nov. 6 at

Highland Presbyterian Church

on Hay Street in Fayetteville.

Lanee B., will speak at 6:30

p.m., with dinner at 7:30 p.m.

Side dishes are requested.

Those attending should enter

the church from the Hay Street

entrance under the covered porti-

co, take a right at the hallway

and down the stairs to the base-

ment.

Central Group is planning an

anniversary celebration for Janu-

ary.

Continued from page 2