AA

She said, “I'm an alcoholic, just like my mother was. It's a struggle, but I haven't had a drink in a while.” That was something she hadn't meant to say, something she had never said outside of an AA meeting. But, after it had been said, it felt like as good a way to start as any.

Like a true AA follower (as in Academy Awards, not 12 steps), I never cared for Oscar parties. Somebody always talked through the songs or Vanessa Redgrave's speech or the costume parade, in which elegant runway models were forced to dress up as the farmers in Places in the Heart.

Alas, I fear, Netflix will soon break my heart. And it's an American icon that is warning me: American Airlines (AA). ¶ You see, middlemen are dying. Sabre, the former AA subsidiary that is now an independent global distribution system (GDS) supplying travel agencies and online travel agencies with ticket and pricing information, recently announced it was raising the rates it charges on AA tickets.

As we have said before, never accept an AA increase – if you phone up and threaten to leave they will, in our experience, drop it back to the previous price. Or better still, just keep switching provider each year. LV’s cover is a good alternative.

In the American steel industry, only two labor organizations were of any great significance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These were the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers (The A.A.), and the Knights of Labor. The A.A. was formed in 1876 when the United Sons of Vulcan, composed of iron puddlers and boilers, joined forces with several smaller unions of rolling mill hands and other skilled iron workers.

• APO/FPO AE ZIPs 094-098 — Space Available Mail, Nov. 26; Parcel Airlift Mail, Dec. 3; Priority Mail, Dec. 10; First Class Mail Letters and Cards, Dec.10 and Express Mail Military Service, Dec. 18.

• APO/FPO AA ZIP 340 — Space Available Mail, Nov. 26; Parcel Airlift Mail, Dec. 3; Priority Mail, Dec. 10; First Class Mail Letters and Cards, Dec. 10 and Express Mail Military Service, Dec. 18.

• APO/FPO AP ZIPs 962-966 — Space Available Mail, Nov. 26; Parcel Airlift Mail, Dec. 3; Priority Mail, Dec. 10; First Class Mail Letters and Cards, Dec. 10 and Express Mail Military Service, Dec. 18.

In Magic in Theory and Practice, Crowley explains his other Order, the Silver Star (Argentinum Astrum), which certainly does have such a degree. The AA is a totally secret occult organization in which any member should know only the person who initiated him or her and those whom he or she has initiated.