Myself, my brother J-Dogg and Dopey had planned to trip this weekend, although it ended up that a bunch of mates decided to invite themselves over upon hearing that my parents were away. Not wanting to have them all raid over like that, I looked for some sort of "exit", which ended up being this cool lunar festival called, plainly enough, "Moonfest". I realised I'd never get rid of the group, so the three of us decided we should just go tripping to Moonfest with the rest of them. That turned out to be a really good idea.
When we got there, I was delighted to find that there were people with fire sticks everywhere (the baton-twirling kind), a drum circle with people dancing, and a massive crowd of spectators, which were mostly young families. I remember thinking to myself, "most of these people HAVE to be on SOMETHING", followed by "I wonder if any of these parents realise they're bringing their kids to a hippie festival where most of the people are tripping?"
Regardless, the atmosphere was freaking brilliant there, and I had a blast dancing with all the "hippies" and playing with fire. I was kinda disappointed when Tony decided to leave (because his mates who we'd met up with there were leaving - but not before suggesting "interesting" ways to fuck with my trip, and suggesting I "have a cone"). It was also a bit disappointing because the acid was just starting to hit me (which is only disappointing because J-Dogg and Dopey had been feeling it for a while now, I usually take a bit longer to feel it). If that wasn't enough, Shizzle and Bob just picked up Shady from the train station, who I'm not all that fond of unless he's supplying me with acid. It wasn't all bad though. Shizzle had gotten Dopey to hook us up with some weed, which we all thought would be a cool idea. The guy who was getting it wasn't home though, and it would be about an hour before we could pick it up. We decided that was fine and headed home (to my place), with two of Tony's friends' fire chains and a jar full of citronella oil.
The car trip home was sweet. I had organised earlier that Tony would drive home, because there was no way I'd do it while tripping balls. J-Dogg, Dopey and I cranked the CD player to the max and sang at the top of our voices. We stopped off at a bottle-o for Shady, who bought himself a carton of some foul bourbon/cola mixture.
Upon getting home, we sat around out the back and played with our fire chains. Dopey got soot all over him, as did J-Dogg. I had a few goes but didn't hit myself with the flaming chains quite as often, so I only had a few black marks on my hands. I sat down and had a blast describing the shape of a cloud to Shizzle and Bob, who just sat there and effectively palmed me off as tripping, which was kind of disconcerting but not overly so. Later on, the three of us trippers watched this trippy-as music video, it was some song by Madonna, called "Get Together" or something. There were coloured ribbons flying around in every direction and all sorts of cool stuff like that. We geeked out at how FRIGGIN COOL those visuals were.
An hour later Dopey calls his dealer and says we're clear to go pick up our weed. Shizzle drives him to grab it. When they get back, they run through their usual routine of "we couldn't get any", which is hopelessly transparent because they do it Every. Single. Time... Anyway, Dopey starts chopping, and 20 minutes later we try to roll a J and find that he did a really shitty job of chopping (not that I blame him, I mean, I don't think I would have done much better in that state). Shady fixes that himself then rolls us one each.
We sit outside huddled around the gas heater for warmth, smoking our joints and just generally chilling. I decide that smoking is far too easy while tripping. I barely feel the smoke enter my lungs. Meanwhile, the group decides that it's a good idea to raid the fridge. Luckily, we'd stocked up on goodies last time we went shopping, and have plenty of useless junk to feed them. For a good 15 minutes it is pandemonium. People are raiding the fridge, making rude comments about one another, and Bob, Shizzle and Tony are making stupid calls about my mum (which they always do, and it always riles me up inside – I usually suppress that without realising it, but there was no hiding from that tonight). I tell them to shut the fuck up about my mum, but naturally, they don't (they never do anyway but I felt particularly vulnerable at that moment, as you might expect). That sort of pisses me off, but I decide I can deal with it, because it's really nothing out of the ordinary for them to be talking like that.
After that we decide to watch Star Wars: Episode 1 because it's on the movie channel right then. We sit down and start watching from the podrace in the middle of the movie (which is just where it happens to be up to at that moment in time). People are still getting up and getting food. And this, my fellow bluelighters, is where things got weird.
I go to the kitchen to grab a snack for myself. Bob and Shizzle are arguing because J-Dogg hid the marshmallows. I tell them to leave me out of it and go find the marshmallows themselves, Shizzle evenually "finds" them exactly where they should be, in the freaking pantry. Thank you, Captain Shizzle P. Obvious. I walk to the sink to get a drink, but before I can, someone makes me laugh (did someone tell a joke?), I keel over, and decide that it's a really good idea to crouch down and roll over on my back, as if I'd just hit my head. I proceed accordingly.
Everyone's looking at me on the cold tile floor of the kitchen. I'm giggling like a loony, looking up at all of them from my floor's-eye-view. "You alright there man? You hit your head," says Tony. "Oh, heh," I respond. I get up and go back to watching the movie, forgetting that I was about to get a drink.
People are still fucking with me. Telling me things that I have done tonight, embarassing things. Things I feel like I should be ashamed of, like eating a marshmallow that fell on the ground. Bob throws another marshmallow at me. It hits me near the eye but I don't care (normally I'd be pissed off that they nearly hit me in the fucking eye but I just didn't notice I guess), and I roll over and try to keep watching the movie. The assault doesn't stop. I'm still being verbally assaulted by the very people I consider my closest friends. I cringe on the floor and roll up into the fetal position. Nobody seems to notice that I'm having a truly horrible time.
Time itself seems to be going in circles. I try to fight the feeling of helplessness, and reconstruct my reality to a point where I can try to function, but fail. I finally crack and tell everyone to stop, because I just can't take it anymore. Shizzle stops imediately, Tony keeps a lid on it.... but Bob keeps on with it, and a now drunk Shady certainly isn't helping the situation. I start to cry in my fetal position on the floor, wondering how these people I had always considered friends could possibly be doing this to me.
We go back to watching the movie, and just as I'm getting into it and calming down, Tony starts waving a pillow around in my general direction. Since Dopey is between us I assume he has farted and inquire as to the accuracy of my prediction. Bob tells me that I was the one who farted, and I believe him. They all have a laugh at this. I cringe again.
Tony finally picks up on just how bad a time I'm having on the floor, and suggests I go and get a drink. I decide that's a good idea and get myself one. Somewhere around this time he reminds me that I hit my head. In my suggestible state I suddenly think "Oh God, what have I done? I'm tripping and I hit my head and now I'm having a bad trip! Maybe I have concussion! Is that why I suddenly feel dizzy? Oh God, I have concussion," and so on...
I feel like I've been here before, and BAM I'm back where I was, on the floor, but now I realise I've hit my head and am maybe a bit dehydrated. I stop caring whether I have a concussion. Everything old is new again, and it's as if I "start over" from the moment we returned to the movie, except now I "know" that I hit my head. This loop happened a good six or seven times. It is the most sinister thing I have ever experienced, and yet on some almost unrecognised level, I enjoy it in a morbid kind of way. I start to hate myself for liking it. That in itself confuses me even more.
I still don't know how I managed to get out of that loop. It was sort of like that Futurama episode "The Sting" in season four, where Fry gets stung by a space bee and Leela trips out because she thinks it's her fault he died. Much more sinister than I had ever imagined such mental loops to be.
EDIT: On further thought, I have worked out that the simple act of watching the movie and not concentrating on getting up and doing stuff (which I really wanted to do by the way, not sit there and "waste" a trip watching a movie) was what helped me get out of the loop. All I really needed to do was stop panicking.
I manage to chill out a bit as the movie progresses, and Dopey points out that the effects are really cool, especially the bits you normally don't concentrate on, like all the Gungans running around in the background of the battle scene. I remember thinking that was pretty profound for a while.
Tony decides he has to leave because he has stuff to do in the morning. I see him out and he tells me he reckons the weed was shitty and that's why I had such a bad time. I don't agree right now but pretend to anyway, he leaves and we watch the movie all the way to the end.
About 5 minutes from the end of the movie, Dopey, Shady and I go and sit out the back under the warmth of the gas heater. We talk about how Bob and Tony were being genuine cunts, and how Shady didn't help things either, but end up forgiving them because they have never experienced what it's like to be so suggestible. We reach the conclusion that we have to get them to trip eventually – that was my plan anyway, but now I have Dopey and Shady agreeing. Shady suggests we light up the last joint, but neither Dopey nor I want to. He says he doesn't want to bother if we're not going to have any, so we don't.
J-Dogg comes out to meet us and tells us the movie's over. Shizzle and Bob have gone to bed, so the four of us go upstairs and play World of Warcraft for a while. Shady lies down on the floor and just about passes out. Dopey and I play a battleground. I realise many things about PvP combat while in this state, such as how to defeat certain classes as a hunter. It almost seems like the game is going in slow-motion, because I don't seem to by dying as frequently as I usually do.
About an hour later I decide I'm sick of battlegrounds, so I put in the Red Vs Blue season 1 DVD and we watch that. Then season 2. Before we know it, it's 4.30am and we're friggin' tired. Dopey says it's a better idea that he doesn't sleep, but I am truly buggered. I set my alarm and spend half an hour trying to quiet my mind enough so that I can sleep.
