The title says it all… sand and surf is what my soul needs. I was text messaging with a friend earlier today and she mentioned that we needed to get away soon. I couldn’t agree more. What we were talking about was taking a day and spending it on the sandy beach of Lake Michigan, but I would much rather plant my bottom on the shores of Hawaii. I don’t even need a fancy Big Island hotel, just let me pitch my tent right on the beach. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t turn up nose at one of those hawaii beachfront cottages, but just being there is what I want. I would love to save up a little money and a few friends and fly out for a few days on the beach. I know it’s possible to rent hawaiian villas right on the beach. It would be awesome to take a big group of friends and just have a home on the water… closer to the beach and probably cheaper than buying hotel rooms for everyone individually!! I’m not holding my breath that this would happen anytime soon, but I’m probably going to be bringing this possibility up with my friends when I see them this weekend. I always say I want to travel more, but that’s not just going to fall into my lap!

It’s a Friday, thank goodness, but people always seem to be a little strange around here on Fridays. Usually I just chalk it up to weekend anticipation, but today people have been stranger than usual…. after two exceedingly odd encounters with visitors in the lobby, I thought to myself, “Man, people are weird today. Is it a full moon or something?” As none of the four different calendars within arms reach have the moon phases on them, I decided to try and find out. Lo and behold, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory the moon became full as of 1:04 this morning. I know there are people out there who don’t believe that the phases of the moon affect human behavior, but I do. People act strangely around the full moons… Of all the instances in which I’ve attributed strange behavior to the full moon, I’ve found very few times when I’ve been wrong.

What about you guys– Do you believe that we are affected by the full moon?

I was reading a website today that talks about a form of addiction treatment that I’ve never heard of before. The website is for the Stone Hawk Drug Rehabilitation program. I’ve never personally dealt with addiction, but the form of drug rehabilitation that I’m familiar with is that of the 12 step programs whose participants attend weekly meetings. At Stone Hawk, however, they believe that weekly meetings are a “crutch” that serve to keep people from fully recovering. I’ve heard from some people who felt this way in meetings, but this certainly seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
Another interesting thing about the program at Stone hawk is that they consider their program to be one of social education rather than one of a psychiatric or medical treatment. In other words, they’re teaching addicts skills towards living life without drugs rather than treating it as an illness. The whole idea is just kind of discordant to me… like treating the symptoms without curing the disease. They claim a 70% success rate, so the approach seems to be working for some people. I just worry about the longevity of a type of recovery that treats the surface addiction without seeming to address any of the underlying issues.