Duff McKagan’s column runs every Thursday on Reverb.Yes, last week was pretty damn interesting if you were me. At long last, I had surgery to repair my torn and damaged sinuses left non-functional after a long-ago bout with the cocaine. From sometime in 1989 until about November 1993, I snorted perhaps my body weight in varying degrees of good, bad, and straight-up shitty blow. I don’t recommend this to any of you young readers. I was NOT such a smart 20-something. Nope, just an ordinary drug-addict.I remember trying to glamorize all my drug and alcohol use back then. I would romanticize my life and my struggle as something noble and just. I was an ARTIST, maaan! I NEEDED to dull myself to certain inputs or else my art would suffer. Yep, before I knew it, I was strung-out and terrified. Crappy stuff.Someone asked me about this stuff a while back, and “what are your kids gonna say when they start to party?” Some people ask me these things in an almost bellicose way, as if suffering through my kids’ drug-abuse issues would be just payback for what I have done to myself. Hopefully, I was a big enough idiot in my time that I have filled the dumb-ass quota for my whole family. God, I hope so.On another note, but still somewhat on-topic, I just got back from seeing The Fighter with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale–a true story about boxer Micky Ward and his once-promising older brother who got addicted to crack in the mid-’80s. Christian Bale just fucking nailed the tics and physical traits of a crack guy, and I swear he must have studied an old drummer of mine, Steven Adler, for this part. I love Steven, so watching this portrayal reminded me of the heartbreak that I felt back then.All right then, so it is Christmas, and most of you know that I am the It’s a Wonderful Life-Is-My-Favorite-Movie-Ever guy. If you didn’t know, well, now the rest of you do. In the “flavor” and mood of that particular film, I would now like to ask for some things, and give some thanks, for Christmas, my favorite time of year.1. Please let this surgery fix the problems that my cocaine abuse has brought upon me. I don’t want to go through another one of those procedures, ’cause that shit hurt!

2. Thanks for not letting me get strung out on the Oxys afterwards. That would have sucked pretty good.3. I would like to give a shout-out and nod to those of you still suffering from active addiction at this moment. If you are reading this now, just know that things will get better if you really want to quit. If you think that you are incapable of stopping, please don’t. I was that guy, the one whom everyone–including myself–had pegged as the one who wouldn’t survive. If I can, then you can too.4. Santa, please give my dog Buckley his testicles back. I need another dude in my household desperately!5. Create some jobs this next year. For those families with children stuck without a home because of this recession, may you find a helping hand.6. Bring our soldiers home!7. Let Matt Hasselbeck either find his way over these next few weeks, or give us Seahawks fans something positive to live with this off-season.8. Let Loaded reign supreme and dominate the planet in this year to come!9. May all the readers of this column enjoy good health and immeasurable happiness this next year.10. Thank you for letting me be born into this McKagan family. Our family Christmas parties are the best, loudest, funnest, and biggest celebrations of this type in Western Washington. I am so very grateful to witness now what I could have very well not been around for at all.Merry Christmas, everyone.