He Drove the Wrong Way on the Highway in a Stolen Hearse – Vince Y.

About This Speaker Tape

September 20, 1972. Pacific Coast Highway. Vince Y. wakes up from a blackout driving the wrong way in a stolen hearse with a screaming woman beside him. He recalls the wreckage of a life that looked good on paper—a biochemistry major, a Navy officer, and later a Physician's Assistant in East LA. But the internal machinery was broken. He spent years "dry" in AA, avoiding the steps while fueling his anxiety with Dexedrine and Demerol until the Medical Quality Assurance Board stripped his license and tossed him into a tank at LA County Jail.

He describes the generic misery of the half-gallon-a-day vodka binge: vomiting bile and losing forty pounds in a Turkish bathrobe. He warns the new arrivals that they aren't special; they are exactly like him. Recovery didn't come from love or a sudden epiphany, but from a raw, gritty desperation that finally made him willing to take direction from people he didn't even like. He surrendered to a Higher Power only when he had nothing left but a car...

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Vince Y. opens with his fear of flying and his habit of checking in with pilots.
• 11:00 Description of his first AA meeting in Long Beach, 1965, and the contrast between his appearance and the 'well-ordered' members.
• 18:00 Discussion of the 12 Steps and the realization that religious 'examinations of conscience' are not the same as spiritual recovery.
• 25:00 Laughter: The 'imbecilic' birthday party rituals in Southern California AA.
• 35:00 Recounting his time in the Navy on Okinawa and the 'fine line' of drinking in village bars.
• 45:00 The chaos of driving an ambulance while in a blackout state in Orange County.
• 55:00 The descent into Demerol abuse in the emergency room and the subsequent loss of his medical license.
• 65:00 The bottom: waking up in a stolen hearse on the Pacific Coast Highway in September 1972.
• 75:00 The 'unholy pact' with his sponsor and the requirement to live in a Skid Row mission.
• 85:00 The struggle of riding the 83 bus and the humiliation of the chewing gum incident.
• 95:00 The restoration of his medical license and the beginning of true recovery.
• 105:00 A final story about a mysterious card received in a Catholic Mass that helped him overcome his fear of flying.