Pontiac
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2011
- Messages
- 8
I'm in my mid-thirties, and have a PhD in an unrelated field.
I got interested in psychoactives just over the last year, and have had virtually no prior experience. In other words, I haven't had anything at all, other than alcohol, caffiene, nicotine, and a bit of hydrocodone once, until last year. Even weed!
I think the interest came from some life frustrations - as well as getting to that stage in life when you realise you are going to die at some point but aren't terribly pleased about the prospect of this happening, even in the far future. Accepting this, and wanting to get a little more balance, I thought that there might be something to these chemical catalysts and I might be able to get some benefit out of using them with care.
I'd noticed my drinking getting to a not-so-great level, accompanied by a dropoff in tolerance. Still, I'd also gotten to one or two fairly significant personal realizations while sitting terribly drunk at home alone on the couch, some of which I managed to take away and put to lasting good use. And I thought, 'gee whiz, if this is what I'm trying to accomplish why not look for a way to accomplish it that doesn't make me forget what I've thought of and leave me sick as hell the next morning?'
And so it's turned out to be! It's been very interesting to approach these things for the first time being a good deal older than a lot of the people who first encounter them - I think it's probably different taking things with a thirtysomething physiology than with one 10 years earlier. But, well, I figure I'm not too late -- Shulgin himself had his first experiences at about my age.
Going forward, I'm interested in a few things that are discussed around here. One is getting a better understanding of neuropharmacology. Another is understanding more about plant alkaloid production and extraction chemistry -- I'm interested in gardening and I think there's interesting hobby work to be done there. The last is to figure out what there is out there, and how I react to it, to where I have a reasonably effective toolbox.
And, well, for the purposes of discussion here I would wish to stipulate I'm a hyena, although one who is reasonably fluffy and easy to get along with.
I got interested in psychoactives just over the last year, and have had virtually no prior experience. In other words, I haven't had anything at all, other than alcohol, caffiene, nicotine, and a bit of hydrocodone once, until last year. Even weed!
I think the interest came from some life frustrations - as well as getting to that stage in life when you realise you are going to die at some point but aren't terribly pleased about the prospect of this happening, even in the far future. Accepting this, and wanting to get a little more balance, I thought that there might be something to these chemical catalysts and I might be able to get some benefit out of using them with care.
I'd noticed my drinking getting to a not-so-great level, accompanied by a dropoff in tolerance. Still, I'd also gotten to one or two fairly significant personal realizations while sitting terribly drunk at home alone on the couch, some of which I managed to take away and put to lasting good use. And I thought, 'gee whiz, if this is what I'm trying to accomplish why not look for a way to accomplish it that doesn't make me forget what I've thought of and leave me sick as hell the next morning?'
And so it's turned out to be! It's been very interesting to approach these things for the first time being a good deal older than a lot of the people who first encounter them - I think it's probably different taking things with a thirtysomething physiology than with one 10 years earlier. But, well, I figure I'm not too late -- Shulgin himself had his first experiences at about my age.
Going forward, I'm interested in a few things that are discussed around here. One is getting a better understanding of neuropharmacology. Another is understanding more about plant alkaloid production and extraction chemistry -- I'm interested in gardening and I think there's interesting hobby work to be done there. The last is to figure out what there is out there, and how I react to it, to where I have a reasonably effective toolbox.
And, well, for the purposes of discussion here I would wish to stipulate I'm a hyena, although one who is reasonably fluffy and easy to get along with.
