Hal contemplates quitting forever; edges toward naming himself an addict; on JOI not being sober at death

pivotal · 12 Nov YDAU

• When: 12 Nov YDAU, ~1930h (same conversation), ~2.5-3 days without Bob Hope
• What: Hal floats going past the 30-day cleanout to quit "Forever" — because he's "doing it more and more and it was getting less fun but I was still doing it more and more." He distinguishes liking something "a great great great deal" from needing it, and edges toward self-diagnosis ("The part that's dependent or incomplete... The addict"). Pemulis, lobbying instead for a "transcendent" DMZ interlude and a lateral switch off the Bob, argues you can't simply quit everything you need — "You lose your mind, Inc. You die inside," the "walking dead." When Pemulis invokes going cold turkey, Hal rebuts with his own belief about his father's death: "You're saying Himself killed himself because he got sober? Because he didn't get sober. There was a thing of Wild Turkey right there on the counter." The addiction-recognition core of Hal's arc, plus his DISPUTED certainty that JOI was not sober at his suicide (vs. the sobriety-condition accounts elsewhere — cite all as written, see Dating notes).