My homie, Nate Ballentine, just read my book, Shedding the Reptile: A Memoir, and apparently liked it so much, he read it again.
Here are his thoughts:
I read it twice! I couldn’t put it down. The thing that I think you really did well was convey how gradual yet immense the downward slide was. In reading it, I was aware of your deterioration, but the story-telling so aptly described your “I can deal with this later” attitude that by the time Chris picked you up and took you to the hospital, it hit me like a brick in the face how low you were…I honestly had to put the book down and recall earlier things you wrote about, working backwards, to fully grasp the situations you were in. I like that I had to do that, since it made me entirely reflective on the events leading up to when you were able to really begin your recovery. Not to put myself in your shoes too much, but I feel like that is what you had to do as well.
It also hit home because I knew you and saw you during the time you wrote about. I just thought you loved having a good time. I had no idea what you were going through.
Nate
Something I realized when I read Nate’s comment that speaks to how much my personality has changed during the past couple of years: If I had written this when I was speed-addled and drunk…
Hahahahaha
There is no way I would have been able to stay focused for that long. I would have set the computer on fire 20 pages into this fucker. But, if for some reason I had written this and got a compliment from a reader like this, my reaction would have been somewhere along the lines of, “Of course you read it twice. It fucking rules. So do I. In fact, motherfucker, how come you didn’t praise my shit more? Dick.”
Yeah, I was that much of a self-absorbed/insane asshole.
In reading Nate’s comment now, though, I am really just humbled. I was proud of what I wrote, but I don’t expect everyone to like it. In fact, I am anticipating some disgust and even hatred for the subject matter. Either way, David: humbled.
- David C. Garcia
Why is this post called “180?”
I have not finished the book yet, but it is damn good so far. You just have to accept that you’re going to get a lot of backlash/hate mail/death threats because that’s the way the world works. Everyone loves to harp on the negative. How many times a day do you hear that you are doing a good job at work? Never. How many times do you hear that you messed up? Lots.
Don’t get discouraged by said backlash/hate mail/death threats. Just remember that Howard Stern probably gets a lot of more of that than you do, and he’s an ugly kajillionaire.
Never mind; I got it. You’ve done a 180 in your personality since you stopped with the drink and the drugs.