Aidan of TCC
Bluelighter
A Serious Misunderstanding of the Phrase "familiar set and setting" (mushrooms)
This was my first experience with an altered state besides alcohol. I had smoked pot a few times before hand but never felt high. When I arrived for a week's vacation in Portland, I decided to try mushrooms.
After reading advice on choosing a "familiar set and setting," I decided to wait until the end of my vacation. Five days later I ate mushrooms with my best friend from high school and a lot of people I'd known for five days, in a city I'd never seen five days earlier, three thousand miles from my home.
This is about 4 years old and my first attempt at a trip report
Ok so I'm in Portland, Oregon on spring break in my friend's dorm room and I decide to do some shrooms. So I bought 1/8th and had them with peanut butter at 12:25 pacific time. I'm going to try to relate what happened as I perceived it.
12:25 - I started eating my bag with peanut butter. There are four other guys with me eating. One was my friend Jimmy, one was my friend Graham, and two of them I had met the other day.
12:35 - I finished eating, they picked on me for taking so long but it was my first time and I was a little nervous.
12:45 - My friend left to go buy some weed I think, and I insisted on going with him. The hallway in this old high-rise dorm building seemed to go on forever, and it was all strange. I was getting visuals, lots actually. One guy I know kept putting his hand in front of my face and it felt like it was just suddenly there and I kept telling him to stop. My memory starts fading about now and I only remember bits and pieces.
12:55 - They can't find the guy's room to buy the weed so we end up back in the room I ate the shrooms at. I wanted to go for a walk urgently, even though it was pouring outside.
I began losing it seriously about then. We went outside but I don't even know which direction we turned but it was towards downtown Portland. We went through some parks...The road was ending suddenly and there were so many directions. I was trying to follow my friends because they knew where they were going. I had no idea where I was going. I stood on the lip of a fountain and looked down. It looked like it was miles below. I looked up at a building and walked off and I was startled by how abruptly the ground came.
Then I don't remember a bit and we were in a square outside, Pioneer's square I think. There is a statue of a man there with an umbrella. Someone was standing under the umbrella talking to the statue and I was so confused. I didn't know why he was talking to the statue or if he was insane or if maybe he had some mushrooms too. It was down to three of us, my good friend from high school and his friend who I also knew.
Then we were inside Nordstrom’s to find a bathroom. It seemed like we were looking forever and walking in circles. Some guy came out of a bathroom and my friend caught the door and went in. But it turned out it wasn't a normal bathroom, there was a sign on the door that said "This bathroom must be opened by an access code, see a clerk to gain entrance" or something. But my friend caught the door so he didn't see anyone. Then a clerk came by and was asking us if we needed a code and I was so confused. I didn't know why she would be asking me anything at all, as if it should be perfectly obvious to her that I didn't know anything.
When we left Nordstrom’s I thought everyone was looking at us, after us. Guys on walkee talkees were looking at us and I felt the whole world was out to get me.
We were walking down the street in the pouring rain and I was trying to decide if I had pissed my pants or if I was just wet. After a while I asked Graham if I had peed myself and he told me I had and that's why everyone was staring at me. For the next few hours every time I had a spare moment I would feel my crotch and look at my pants. I was worried and embarrassed.
We were back in the mall. I wanted out badly I felt trapped, but my friends didn't want to go out and get wet. This didn't make sense to me because I had only a vague sensation of what 'wet' was at this point. I was searching for an exit everywhere, and when I got to one my whole reason for reality was invariably shattered because they didn't want to go out in the rain. Sometimes I had trouble with the 'pull to open' doors and kept trying to push my way out. I felt like people were looking at me.
I always had to have some task to do or I panicked. Find a bathroom. Find a way out. Get back to the room. It didn't matter what it was, but it was vital that I be trying to do it. Jimmy and Graham were just looking at shit because it looked cool, I was totally gone. I didn't know where I was, where I was going, or anything.
The rain had let up so we went outside; I kept insisting we go back to the room. In my mind everything would be alright in the room. The room was normal. Graham and Jimmy were having a conversation but it made no sense to me at all. Eventually we got back to the room but things kept not making sense.
I was cold. I was hot. I took off a sweater and sat down. I was confused, panicked. I didn't know what was happening to me. I started talking to people online. I needed them to keep talking to me, tell me something real. I still didn't know if I had pissed myself or not. Someone had me take a picture and upload it and we decided that I had not pissed myself. It was 2:30 now, two hours after taking them. Slowly things were getting back to normal. By that I mean I knew what things were supposed to be like, at least in some sense.
I talked to people online and made no sense for a long time, and I'm still feeling a body high at 6 pm. The body high felt good and euphoric, but the rest, the rest was just bad. Throughout coming down I couldn't tell who had eaten and who hadn't, and I didn't know if I could trust what they said to make sense.
So the moral...don't take shrooms for your first time in a strange city with people who are also eating and may be behaving strangely. I was trying to make sense of too many new things at once and it fucked me up.
The good thing is I didn't in fact piss myself.
This was my first experience with an altered state besides alcohol. I had smoked pot a few times before hand but never felt high. When I arrived for a week's vacation in Portland, I decided to try mushrooms.
After reading advice on choosing a "familiar set and setting," I decided to wait until the end of my vacation. Five days later I ate mushrooms with my best friend from high school and a lot of people I'd known for five days, in a city I'd never seen five days earlier, three thousand miles from my home.
This is about 4 years old and my first attempt at a trip report
Ok so I'm in Portland, Oregon on spring break in my friend's dorm room and I decide to do some shrooms. So I bought 1/8th and had them with peanut butter at 12:25 pacific time. I'm going to try to relate what happened as I perceived it.
12:25 - I started eating my bag with peanut butter. There are four other guys with me eating. One was my friend Jimmy, one was my friend Graham, and two of them I had met the other day.
12:35 - I finished eating, they picked on me for taking so long but it was my first time and I was a little nervous.
12:45 - My friend left to go buy some weed I think, and I insisted on going with him. The hallway in this old high-rise dorm building seemed to go on forever, and it was all strange. I was getting visuals, lots actually. One guy I know kept putting his hand in front of my face and it felt like it was just suddenly there and I kept telling him to stop. My memory starts fading about now and I only remember bits and pieces.
12:55 - They can't find the guy's room to buy the weed so we end up back in the room I ate the shrooms at. I wanted to go for a walk urgently, even though it was pouring outside.
I began losing it seriously about then. We went outside but I don't even know which direction we turned but it was towards downtown Portland. We went through some parks...The road was ending suddenly and there were so many directions. I was trying to follow my friends because they knew where they were going. I had no idea where I was going. I stood on the lip of a fountain and looked down. It looked like it was miles below. I looked up at a building and walked off and I was startled by how abruptly the ground came.
Then I don't remember a bit and we were in a square outside, Pioneer's square I think. There is a statue of a man there with an umbrella. Someone was standing under the umbrella talking to the statue and I was so confused. I didn't know why he was talking to the statue or if he was insane or if maybe he had some mushrooms too. It was down to three of us, my good friend from high school and his friend who I also knew.
Then we were inside Nordstrom’s to find a bathroom. It seemed like we were looking forever and walking in circles. Some guy came out of a bathroom and my friend caught the door and went in. But it turned out it wasn't a normal bathroom, there was a sign on the door that said "This bathroom must be opened by an access code, see a clerk to gain entrance" or something. But my friend caught the door so he didn't see anyone. Then a clerk came by and was asking us if we needed a code and I was so confused. I didn't know why she would be asking me anything at all, as if it should be perfectly obvious to her that I didn't know anything.
When we left Nordstrom’s I thought everyone was looking at us, after us. Guys on walkee talkees were looking at us and I felt the whole world was out to get me.
We were walking down the street in the pouring rain and I was trying to decide if I had pissed my pants or if I was just wet. After a while I asked Graham if I had peed myself and he told me I had and that's why everyone was staring at me. For the next few hours every time I had a spare moment I would feel my crotch and look at my pants. I was worried and embarrassed.
We were back in the mall. I wanted out badly I felt trapped, but my friends didn't want to go out and get wet. This didn't make sense to me because I had only a vague sensation of what 'wet' was at this point. I was searching for an exit everywhere, and when I got to one my whole reason for reality was invariably shattered because they didn't want to go out in the rain. Sometimes I had trouble with the 'pull to open' doors and kept trying to push my way out. I felt like people were looking at me.
I always had to have some task to do or I panicked. Find a bathroom. Find a way out. Get back to the room. It didn't matter what it was, but it was vital that I be trying to do it. Jimmy and Graham were just looking at shit because it looked cool, I was totally gone. I didn't know where I was, where I was going, or anything.
The rain had let up so we went outside; I kept insisting we go back to the room. In my mind everything would be alright in the room. The room was normal. Graham and Jimmy were having a conversation but it made no sense to me at all. Eventually we got back to the room but things kept not making sense.
I was cold. I was hot. I took off a sweater and sat down. I was confused, panicked. I didn't know what was happening to me. I started talking to people online. I needed them to keep talking to me, tell me something real. I still didn't know if I had pissed myself or not. Someone had me take a picture and upload it and we decided that I had not pissed myself. It was 2:30 now, two hours after taking them. Slowly things were getting back to normal. By that I mean I knew what things were supposed to be like, at least in some sense.
I talked to people online and made no sense for a long time, and I'm still feeling a body high at 6 pm. The body high felt good and euphoric, but the rest, the rest was just bad. Throughout coming down I couldn't tell who had eaten and who hadn't, and I didn't know if I could trust what they said to make sense.
So the moral...don't take shrooms for your first time in a strange city with people who are also eating and may be behaving strangely. I was trying to make sense of too many new things at once and it fucked me up.
The good thing is I didn't in fact piss myself.
