Positive reinforcement, repeat alcohol is evil, then you delude yourself into belief of a breakthrough. However if you offer an alcoholic just a few with that type of wall around them, they relapse. If you never drink alcohol again it does not mean you're cured, just that you have avoided it.

So, chase how fake is LA?

It's kind of ironic you made a reference to The Catcher in the Rye.

So the guy was in AA.... That could possibly mean his alcoholism was so problematic and possibly he made some irreversible mistakes (went to jail for being a drunken driver) because of it, that he felt a need to preach. Lots of cigarette quitters do the same (or any type of reformers, because they learned some really hard life lessons). While I think it's a little "party pooper" behavior, and he shouldn't do it unsolicited, but I believe he thought he was trying to be a catcher in the rye, except you and others probably think he is a phony.... Maybe I shouldn't be a catcher, now I think of it. Some people might call me a phony....

Anyways, I suggest you read Holden's characterization more carefully. He might have called other fakes and phonies, but he was a phony himself. After realism movement in literature, characters often have flaws, just like real human beings you see in the world (come on, who doesn't have flaws? At least we're improving ourselves).

Yes, LA is a concrete garden. I used to think SF is pretty sad with all those homeless people around. After I visited LA, I think LA is a little sadder with all the plastic culture. But wait until you see NY. LA is pretty decent compared with NY. That place is just sad, with all the people trying to convince how happy/successful they are when I can't see any glow on their faces.... (Novels like The Catcher in the Rye and American Psycho took place in NY, not without reasons)

If he is a recovering alcoholic, why in the heck did he attend the party where alcohol would be offered? I thought one of the main things of AA and NA were you had to stay away from temptation?

Either way, I wouldn't have been able to hold my comments back about the dude. I hate people that preach.

@andreanugget yeah i know right, i asked the girl who was throwing it but she said he insisted on seeing everybody, whatever.

@Ashi - i didn't mean the guy was being holden or phony or whatever, I was just saying some of the actor types I've meet act like holden, or at least appear to "look" at the world like holden did. i really like that book i think its a good read for what it is. i don't really look deep into what he supposedly meant, i heard he was a mean old man so it probably was just how he met it to be when he wrote it. yeah holden is a huge hypocrite, in his own messed up way, his flaws, which in a way make him one of my favorite characters. its probably because he seems so damaged. to me damaged means vulnerable, which means easily taken or manipulated. lol, that sounds so harsh. anyway - the actor types are just like so apathetic, like three times my apathy to the world. so when i was hanging out with them i was like well i suppose thats how i seem, how phony of me haha. ive been to NY its so tense, like constant tension. but i like those atmospheres, busy, sound, movement, i like to know other things are there too. i like my apartment, its right near a major street so you can hear this light car murmurs. i think its something to do with the idea of civilization. anyfwayzz- I really really like SF, i had good friends that when to SF state and another at UC Santa Cruz, so ive always been up around those parts, i like it better. the layout of SF is way cooler than stupid ass LA. the fakeness people see i don't see (maybe im used to it? hahaha), fake like what? fake tits? those are a dime a dozen and lips too. fuck i hate women that get their lips done. ewwwww. i mean there are wealthy people, a large amount of Arab Emirates types, and nice cars and what not. but its hollywood-LA, mosh-pit of multi media, not to mention hubs for movies and a good portion of music. so its gonna attract drastic forms of people. LA doesn't move me like SF does though, LA has a fake skyline then a ton of housing and dirty air. its cool though, i don't mind, its a city. i like the driving, its like a meta game, you gotta be ruthless or you just get fucked. i feel like eventually i'll settle fully into a cityscape. i appreciate nature though when i go to it, camping, etc i really like being out there, but only briefly. my friends and i are planning on going camping soon and three of us have already agreed out of the six that the location must have showers. must. oh and LA has way hotter guys than the OC honestly. annnnd traffic has made me a far calmer person. its like mediation, not really, but its nice to sit in silence and think. weird, or i listen to music. usually music. but traffic is a thing here. a thing

phonyx2

Okay, that's fine. No need for big explanation. Just a simple check and balance thing, which I do once a while. I tend to read a lot into the novel like between lines and stuff, which is why I read so slowly.... Yes, Salinger is a mean old man with some Lolita complex, which is what I read from biography about him anyways.... Anyways, it's not about him, but about his book, which I also like a lot (Bret Easton Ellis, the author of American Psycho is kind of mean too. He said mean stuff about Salinger when he died..., so lack of respect...). I also like Holden, just because he is like someone you could have met on the street, which is all more interesting, because the book was written like 50+ years ago.