We went to the same strip mall I used to walk to for liquor everyday.
In the early stages of moving back in with my parents, I continued to drink. At this point, I was mainly drinking to escape from the reality that I wasn't "the man" anymore. I was no longer "the man" I thought I was when I had so many things going for me. I remember the first time it hit me that I had really lost everything was when I was riding in the passengers side of my mother's car en route to her house to begin living with her. Since I didn't have a drivers license, I couldn't even drive over there myself; so at 25 years old I had to have my mother come pick me up because I had lost my driving privilege to alcohol. I had been driving since I was 16 so this was very embarrassing for me. On the way home (it took me months to start calling it home), my mother stopped at the strip mall I used to walk to in order to get my liquor everyday. It was right next door to my apartment complex. The strip mall had numerous stores in it - a video store, a pet shop, restaurant, liquor/party store, etc. My mother told me she was going into the pet shop and I told her I would meet her there after I went to the party store to get some chips. I got out of the car, walked to the store and bought a bag of chips and two shots of Bacardi. Then I walked to the side of the store and discretely drank the two shots. I figured my mother wouldn't smell the liquor on me because it wasn't that much and I would cloud any smell of it on my breath by eating the chips. That time she didn't smell it so I was in luck.
I needed a job bad.
At the time, all I could think about doing was finding a job so I could put some money in my pocket. All of my investment money was almost gone and I was getting closer to being down to my last dollars. I probably had about $300 to my name. Most of my money was going to pay for the random drug/alcohol testing. I figured that if I could get a job and have some money coming in, I would have more options. So I filled out job applications everywhere I could think of. I had a good work history and an associate degree so I figured I would be able to land something. Unfortunately, I was wrong. After a few of months of consistent job hunting, I had no leads. No interviews. The economy was still in a recession and out of all the states, Michigan was one that had been hit the worst. This was approximately June 2010, and in August 2010, Michigan's unemployment rate was 13.1%. This was the first time the recession was having a direct impact on me.
I only mentioned one DUI on my job applications.
I did mention that I had one DUI on my job applications, but I didn't mention the other one. When I caught my second DUI, I had worked out a plea deal to where I plead guilty to another first offense of DUI, which meant that I never plead guilty or was convicted of a second DUI. As a result, my lawyer told me to just mention one DUI on my job applications. So I did just that. Although I know it still may have been a red flag to employers seeing that I had a DUI that was pretty recent, it was a lot better than mentioning that I had two.
I drank and played video games while my girlfriend was at work.
I had made a plan to visit my girlfriend at least once a week while living with my parents. The first time I went to visit her, it went well. I stayed a couple of nights with her and when it was time for me to go back home, she didn't want me too. She asked me to just live with her and continue to look for a job until I found one. I really didn't want to go back to my parents house either. At my girlfriends place, I had a lot more freedom and felt a lot more comfortable. I also still had associates and drinking buddies that lived in the area that I could hang out with. So when I went back over my parent's house I grabbed some outfits and other small things and informed my mother that I'll be staying with my girlfriend for awhile. Most of my days at my girlfriend's place were routine. I would wake up in the morning and go straight to the library to fill out for jobs. After about three or four hours at the library, I would go back to her place or find someone in the neighborhood to chill with. We would do stuff like play videos games, watch TV, and drink. Depending on whether or not my girlfriend had to work depended on what time I chose to drink. If she had to work, I may drink on my way back from the library (there was a liquor store on the route) or when I was by myself at her place. I would time it to the point where I would be sober - or close to sober - by the time she got off of work. If she didn't have to work, I may not drink until I knew we were going to be apart for some time throughout the day. I really just played it by ear, but I tried my hardest not to let her catch me intoxicated.
