The Heroin Diaries

No, I'm not on drugs.

I just wanted to talk about a book called "The Heroin Diaries" by Nikki Sixx, the bassist of Motley Crue. I haven't read it all, but what I did read was astonishing. I had heard about it because of the band Sixx A.M. was actually a band that made a soundtrack to this book. So, while up at Barnes and Noble one day, I looked for it on the back shelf next to the CDs, and I found it. The cover was very, well, I don't want to say disgusting, but more along the lines of elaborate. I turned the front page of it and saw some quotes. One of it was a lyric from one of Alice Cooper's songs. It said "Welcome to my f***ing life."

The Heroin Diaries is about Nikki Sixx's actual diaries that he kept during the late 80's when Motley Crue was really hitting it big. Either sober or inebriated, Nikki Sixx kept dairies to document what he went through. I think it started on Christmas Day of 1986. What I read was astonishing and almost disturbing, but I couldn't put it down. Nikki Sixx called it the life of a shattered rockstar. He definitely wasn't lying about that. Even in one part, he called his high self "Sikki". It was as if he were describing an alter ego, and it sent chills up and down my arms.

When reading this, I was glad that he turned his life around and now anybody who buys the book, a certain percentage of the income go to a charity that helps homeless children. After all of that, Nikki turned his life around for the better. His story was one of the reasons why I am a straightedger. I refuse to let myself and my friends end up that way. It may be their choice, but I want to someone be the detour that helps them make a better decision for themselves so they don't mess up later in life. That's what friends are for, right? I don't want to see my friends go somewhere where they shouldn't be. Being straightedge may get me a lot of stares and curious questions but that doesn't demean what I believe in. Sure, a lot of successful bands are alcoholics and drug abusers, but I think that it only progresses as they gain success, not beforehand. They may have STARTED doing it before they were a band but it gradually gets worse from stress and fame and money. That doesn't mean that if you drink and do drugs you'll get famous. Most of those people who do end up dying or becoming poor because they spend most of their earnings on beer and drugs. I'm not saying everyone, just people who get so deep into it where they can't resurface again.

Nikki Sixx's Heroin Diaries really did back up my beliefs in straightedge. I'm proud to be one and anyone can kiss my ass if they want to condemn me for it or make fun of me. I know I'm making the right choice. I want to keep my body healthy and my mind clear. I want to be able to be sober every day and live the life I was meant to have. I can feel physical pain when I fall, I can feel heartache when something bad happens, and I can also feel happy and excited whenever something great happens. I don't want to be drunk or high to experience a good time. I won't remember it anyway even if I did.

I want to remember every single day, even if it kills me.