That's a pretty intense story mike. I'm glad you're putting your life back together.
Yeah, it was kinda hardcore there for a while. It was the first real low point I hit in my life and I wasn't really prepared to cope with some of the shit that was going on. I guess that happens to everyone sooner or later, though.
Unlike a lot of people, I don't attribute the shit that happened to drug use. It was the product of a series of bad decisions I started making during my second semester of college. Before my little fall from grace, I had a number of scholarships and was getting everything paid for by the state or federal government. I didn't pay for tuition, housing, food or books AND I was getting an extra $2000 every semester to use for whatever I wanted. By the end of my first year of college I had lost most of my scholarships and had to take out some loans just to be able to go back for my first semester of my sophomore year.
All in all, I'm glad that I experienced it. I started acting stupid after I got with my ex-girlfriend and she started playing head games with me. I'd get all stressed out because of her and worry more about relaxing than doing my homework or going to class. This went on for about a year before it finally ended with me dropping out of school, losing my job and going to jail for three days. I'm lucky to have gotten out of it without having a nasty criminal record.
I learned a lot from that whole situation, and I feel that I know what to expect if and when things get shitty again. As it stands, I can go back to college for one semester and get my GPA back up to the point that it was before everything kinda blew up in my face. I won't be able to get all of my scholarships back, but if I'm lucky I can appeal and reclaim most of them. Even if I can't, I can still take out loans and pay them back once I get a real job.