Better to Ramble than Gamble.

It appears that the ironing fairy is on strike...If she doesn't get back to work soon, I'm gonna have clothes that match my skin 🙁

This sure is one of the easier addictions to hide huh? I imagine it felt quite liberating to get it out & yeah, I get how cool that is to have a friend to turn to for advice, 10 years of recovery is proof indeed that he knows a thing or too 🙂

KOKTF - ODAAT

Ha ! Ha! Just got visions of you sat in yer shed , half piiiisssseed havin a ciggy , brilliant !!.

It's amazing that when we open up to people , even some wev'e known for a while they all start sharing experiences of life and it does suprise at times .

Now stop hiding in the shed and get indoors !

Have a good night buddy !

All the best !

Day 109

Today I went and had a look on FB can't remember the last time I was on there I just tend to come on here now. I did see this and thought I would share it.

If you FAIL never give up as it means "First Attempt In Learning"

END is not the end it means "Effort Never Dies"

If you get a NO as an answer remember NO means "Next Opportunity "

Always nice to remind ourselves of stuff like that so thanks for sharing! You are doing brilliantly so in your own words - keep the faith!

Thanks for sharing that, :))) and well done you on 110 days 🙂

Keep strong and KTF lol.

Suzanne xxx

Day 110

Cheers guys it's good to share

I've had a good day no thoughts of gambling smashed target again in work been to see the lad and even helped the ex out with her CV it's all very friendly atm.

Been reading lots of diaries over the week and please ladies don't take this the wrong way but im surprised how many diaries are written by females. I know it's not a male exclusive issue but I would imagine on the whole the male population has more gamblers. Is it because ladies can admit there problems and us men bury our heads in the sand. I go to GA and we have 1 female out of 20 fellas do any of you ladies go to GA. in going to stop here as I'm getting scared

KTF

I'm a female in a man's world so although I started with the old dears @ bingo, I pushed my boundaries with half hearted attempts @ recovery by self excluding resulting in me ending up in a bookies to get my fix! In the bookies the ratio of men to women is the polar opposite to the ratio @ a bingo. I think that most of the ladies on here have done their damage in the privacy of their own homes & to some extent are drawn into it a different way. Men by mates & women by adverts is my theory! Consequently, many women gamble during the day & as LB mentioned the other day, there aren't meetings in the daytime when kids are @ school. I wonder then if when they look for help, they are more likely to stumble across this site? In the bookies, the leaflets I have picked up & the phonecall I have just remembered making are GA biased. I have been to one GA meeting but more out of curiosity than a real desire to go & although I was extremely welcome, I am a hard nosed female dog (for want of a better phrase) & whilst I wasn't completely put off by the real men gathering outside, if day@atime had not been waiting for me inside, I don't know if I would have made it through the door.

Interesting topic!

well done on 110 days Oldham - great start!

Hi Ktf, thanks for the post in my diary. Your story is one of commitment and focus. Great to see you are doing so well and look forward to celebrating each milestone with you. Have a great day.

My gambling nightmare, started in the comfort of my home, I front of my OH and family, they used to joke about me being on bingo, playing say 20 a week for my treat, and getting little wins, until one morning I decided to put 15p on one of the slots, I could not believe it I won 600. I was delirious with excitement, little did I know what laid ahead for me:((

Sadly I believe female gamblers are gong to increase, because as ODAAT said, it's advertised all day and night, and the daytime ads are aimed for women at home, never mind we can do it on laptops, phones, computers, etc, that first win can determine whether we become CGs or not, Also I agree again with ODAAT, about GA, it's a bit scary to go on our own at night, not for me because I would feel ashamed, but for the same reason I would not walk my dog alone at night, it's not a safe world anymore:((

Having said that yes I would like to go and yes again like ODAAT out of curiosity, I would definitely attend probably every week, if there was daytime meetings, well that's my thoughts as a female CG, :))

Ohh and you had better be soo scared lol, I don't think, 0hhh:)))

Good post my friend.

Have a great gambling free day.

Suzanne xxx

Cheers ladies the gambling companies are tapping into every market now and the mins at home is a big one. When I started gambling the bookies was full of older people but the ear of online as brought to the masses younger people and you ladies no one is out of reach anymore.

I've just checked GA and they do have a say meeting in Manchester but only on a Saturday morning which is no good to anyone with a young family I even found one aimed at but not exclusively for women but that was in the evening it a shame but hopefully something that might catch up with the times we now live in

Thing is its a fellowship run by its members. No one is being paid to open a meeting. I have opened new meetings, trust me its hard & frustrating work. If you have daytime meetings that means time off work for most & with the state of most compulsive gamblers finances that's not an option. Also I don't see how getting to an evening meeting is any more difficult for a women than it is a man. The only way women will increase in GA is when some put their understandable fears behind them & take the plunge.We have 5 regular women members, why ?.Because one of them came along & decided to stay. So when another female comes along they find it more comfortable. Once in a GA room, we hopefully cease to be male, female, black, white, straight or ***. We are just compulsive gamblers with the same common goal. It's a good topic Oldham, one that GA would love to solve. If anybody has a practical, logical solution to get women attending meetings, would be great to hear this continued. One of our ladies said this last week. I have more intimate conversations& connections with the people in this room than I could ever have with my husband or my family. When asked why she replied that amongst us she felt completely free to be who she was without risk of upsetting anyone. No one else could be trusted not to use her vulnerability against her

​

I don't think women having gambling problems is anything new Oldham but it's not until you come to a site like this that you realise just how many female gamblers do have issues with it .

Years ago as a kid, I can always remember being taken to huge Bingo halls by my Gran and almost all those there were women , so the only difference these days is that you do it from the comfort of home and to be honest I still didn't see that many women going into a high street bookies all the time I gambled . One thing that did used to surprise me was the amount of female betting shop staff that would spend there lunch hour in a rival firms shop , I know that there not allowed to bet in there own but still ?.

DAY 111

I wasn't going to update today but I like the number 111 so why not.

Cheers Dan and Alan it's very interesting I think what it would take to get meetings in the day is for the people who need them to set them up themselves but that is no easy task.

I'm off to GA tonight to pick up my weekly prescription a good thriving meeting hopefully the Man U fans put their recovery before watching paint dry. I've only done one meeting a week upto now but tomorrow I'm off to Rochdale to support a member from Oldham who has set up a meeting their last year and its struggling at the minute so if your in that area pop down it might be the best gamble you take. I've committed to going every other week as I have my son on alternative weeks. I get him looked after on Tuesday's but don't want to miss another day.

I'm looking forward to both this week.

Another good day I see my team has sacked their manager I can see why we have been shocking but you don't get long in that management game to turn it around.

I'll catch up later until then KTF I certainly will be

All the ones , great going, am keeping the faith right along side with you :)))

Suzanne xxx