Facie’s Ramblings

If you live in or around the Pittsburgh area, you know right now there is a deadly batch of heroin going around western PA. People do a bag (I don't know if that is the right way to say it), and then they typically die. The more hardcore druggies might not die from that bag, but they will likely end up in the ER. In about about 10 days, 22 people have died from it. For the love of Pete, the story made the LA Times. It sickens me, for many reasons. First, I hate needles. I am very open about that. My fear of needles had kept me from getting a tetanus booster for 17 years. So I cannot even fathom wanting to do drugs via a needle. Second, I have never gotten over the movie Transpotting. I watched that in 1996 or '97 at a theater in Oakland (the name escapes me, but it is no longer there). I to this day am still haunted by scenes from that movie, which chronicled the heroin use of a handful of young men in Scotland. Third, like the vast majority of people, I know addicts. S...

So there was a hostage situation in the Burgh today. You can read the details here (I have not read the entire article yet). As it dragged on and before it thankfully ended peacefully, I started to think, as I have many times in crime-related situations, can you ever really "come back" from a serious crime? I know someone who is a drug addict (once an addict, always an addict, and know that I say this without malice or condescension). This person has been in and out of jail more times than I know, starting if not before he was 18, then not many years after. Most charges were drug-related. At least one was for assault or something of that nature. And one or more were related to theft. After a particularly long stint in jail (one to two years; I forget as it has been about four or five years since), this person came out a better man. A changed man. I believed in him and that he finally had overcome this soul-crushing addiction, something he either did not want to or could not...

Be forewarned: Keeping true to my blog title, the following is going to be quite rambling. If you are reading this, you are probably aware of some of the crap that has been going on with actor Charlie Sheen. I have kept up with it because one of my Facebook "friends" is the P-G TV critic, and he has been regularly posting Charlie-related tweets on Facebook. I am also somewhat interested in the saga because I know people who have struggled with drug addiction, and I have seen firsthand what that stuff can do to you. I can still see the scary face/eyes of someone I know when he was strung out, back about five years ago. Think of the darkest circles you have ever had under your eyes, and multiple that by 10. In fact, last year at the park, when a mother introduced me to her teenage son, he had the same look, and it scared the crap out of me. I wondered if I should say something to her, but ultimately decided not to, since I knew her only casually and worried I was wrong anyw...