yucatanboy2
Bluelighter
Hello Fellow BL'ers
I would like to report on one of my experiences from last week when I was at Burningman. This was the first year I went, and I am DEFINITELY going back. If you don't know what Burningman is, look at the website: www.burningman.com Even if I had not taken any psychedelics it would have been one of the trippiest weeks of my life. I don't think I would be able to give the whole event justice in a written report, so I am focusing on my favorite night from the week. Even this report will skip over a lot, and for that I apologize. You just have to go and see it for yourself.
Background: I am 23 years old, roughly 200lbs and 6'1". I have been taking psychedelics since i was 17, and have taken acid, e, and shrooms on at least a dozen occasions and have combined them before. I have been in the "rave" scene just as long and go out clubbing frequently, where I usually dance my ass off. I generally have a pretty high tolerance to drugs, and i drink alcohol and smoke weed daily.
Mind Set: I was(and still am) on cloud nine. Burningman is awesome. The only problem i had was having was nosebleeds due to the dust and very dry environment. Besides that, I was staying hydrated, partying, and drinking like a fish and felt like I was in my element (my friends who were with me at burningman commented that I was in my element there).
Setting: I was camping with a group that I didn't have any connection to. I didn't know any of them because my friend had just met them, and he moved to a different camp as soon as we arrived. I decided to stay in the camp. We had five canadians join us, who turned out the be awesome awesome people, and were the reason I got to have the experience I will describe below. The canadians were from a different camp, and had gotten kicked out because of some bad blood, which was resolved during the night of this report. We drank and smoked weed together and I got along with them better than most of the original camp.
Ok, so let's get into the story....I will try to have a few timestamps, but I honestly really didn't keep track of the time at all.
9:00 ish
It was thursday night, and the canadians had arranged earlier in the week to party with their original campmates. The plan was to go over and take ecstasy at midnight. The rest of my campmates (18-20 people) were on mushrooms and about to board a truck that was going to drive them all around all night long. They had this luxury because one of them won a Strip Jeopardy contest earlier in the week. It took them a long time to get their shit together to get ready, and during that time I found out that one of the guys had found some acid instead of shrooms. Because I had been smoking him out all week, he gave me a tab, a small square of blotter with no markings. I was ecstatic. Acid is my favorite psychedelic, and it's been years since I did it. I decided that I wouldn't take e and would take acid instead since I had the opportunity
10:00 ish
I take the acid, knowing i have two hours before going to party with the people who were going to take e. I figured that in the worst case scenario, the acid wouldn't work and I would just take e with the canadians.
I watch my shrooming campmates get their crap together and throw two mattresses on the back of the truck and finally get in and take off. I sit and talk with two of the canadians while the other three take naps. I learn a lot about them, including the fact that one runs a coffee shop and the other was a meth addict for a while. They were both 2nd-time burners, and had great stories from last year.
I start to get that "acid energy", a pretty forceful stimulation and talkativeness that almost makes me feel like i am already on e. Colors seem a bit more "blue" and darker. We only had a dim lamp in the camp, and the low lighting definitely enhanced the trip. I did not have any OEVs or massive CEVs, but a general visual distortion was constantly present. I was having a lot of fun mental voyages/daydreams, but I was still very much connected with reality.
Midnight
We wake up the others and I tell them that I probably won't take e with them, but I am definitely coming along for the ride. We make our way over to their camp, which is on the esplanade, so we can look out on the playa and see tons of glowing/flashing/burning things. Its sensory overload even without the drugs.
We arrive at the camp to find that the people we are meeting up with are already rolling. I can tell immediately just from their behavior and their pupils. It takes us forever to procure the e and get going because the rolling people are very distracted and spend a lot of time talking to us about randome things.
This is when I realize that one of them is FoX, a bluelighter who has been around way before me and has been deeply involved with this website. I learned a lot about bluelight's history from him. I was very excited to meet another bluelighter at burningman (FoX, i sent you a pm).
At this point, the canadians spend some time talking to their campmates and reconcile the problems that occurred at the beginning of the week. Everyone feels good about it and I can tell its a weight off of everyone's chest.
12:30 - 1:00 ish
The canadians take their e and I take a half pill because the acid trip is pretty mild and I definitely feel like I want to be at least a little bit higher, especially if the evening is just beginning (damn my tolerance!!). We head out as a group of about 12 people, with a few walky-talkies to help us get back together if we get separated (its a crazy place out on the playa at night and you can definitely get lost very easily).
I talk to one of the people from the camp, who is a very quiet and reserved australian man who is rolling for his first time. His quiet talking and accent made him pretty hard to understand, but he seemed like a very cool guy.
I brought along a glowing head massage toy and everyone took turns getting their head massaged as we walked along.
We stopped at a few places, and i can't really remember where we stopped and in what order, but we were definitely waiting at the illumination village for someone for a bit, and the people there were playing with this long plastic tube you could shoot propane down, and you could watch the flame slowly travel down it then go "pop" out the end, which they held up to their mouths. It's hard to explain, but take my word for it that it was really cool.
The e started kicking in and I felt suddently grounded and clear-headed. I felt like i was limber as a cat and strong as a mountain. I felt like a warrior-shaman, which was awesome. Music and dancing are a big part of my spirituality, and I had the sudden urge to go dance and worship power and energy, life and death, and everything.
Luckly for me, we went out the the serpent mother, and there was a huge sound system playing loud, pounding tribal house. Fuck yeah.
OK, the serpent mother was the coolest thing ever. I saw it earlier in the week when they were building it. It's a giant snake skeleton coming out of an egg, all made from metal. The head is the size of a small car, and it moves around. Each vertebrae constantly shoots flame, as does the head. It can be played like an instrumnet, such that each key makes a corresponding vertebrae shoot a larger flame. It was phenomenal, especially at night with a pounding party going on and you're on drugs.
Here's a pic during the day:
http://blog.wired.com/burningman2006/index.album?i=29
And at night:
http://flickr.com/photos/dandawson/232522032/in/set-72157594257930185/
I danced under the head while everyone else talked. I felt like I was home, it was the best dancing I've ever done. I felt so happy and comfertable to be right there under the head of this amazing art construct that was practically alive. People got lost, so time was spent looking for them, and we eventually got everyone back together. A few people headed back.
4am ish (?)
We wandered further from the city to the Conexus Cathedral, where ANOTHER dj was spinning techno and a big party was going on. When we get there, the one canadian, K, who brought a bike with him this night had troubles with his bike. The chain fell off and he couldn't get it to stay on and was thinking about leaving it there. Luckly my leatherman was attached to the camelback that I was wearing (i was drinking water all night). I used the pliers to undo the back tire so that we could put the chain on then made the chain very tight so that it wouldn't fall off before screwing the tire back on.
K says he wants to get me a drink for fixing his bike. I say "where? We're out in the middle of the playa and its 4 am!" He points behind me, and sitting there is an Art Car with an obvious Bar on the back. I love burningman. We walk up and K says "let me get a beer for my friend who just fixed my bike!" Before the bartender can say anything, they guy sitting next to K turns and says "You have a bike? Can I borrow it?" K asks why and the guy responds "I need to use it to go get acid gumballs from the gumball machine out in the desert". K says "sure, do you want the drum on or off?" (He had a small drum tied to the front of the bike so that he could play it as he walked the bike along).
We remove the bike and i have to fix it again before guy borrows it, promising to bring back gumballs for us. He's my size and K is a small guy, and the bike is for like a 10-year old. This means that he can't ride it, he just waddles off on it into the darkness. K and I are skeptical but figure that in the worst case scenario the guy steals the bike. In the meantime, i remember i have a pabst in my camelback and i pull it out, crack it open and dance for a while. I share it with another canadian who is feeling cold and isn't feeling the e anymore.
After about 15 minutes, when K and I decide that the guy is gone for good, he suddenly pops up and drops 7 gumballs in K's hand. Holy shit, they're real! They have a little "Ohm" thingy stamped on them and have different colors. The guy explains that on Monday they were super-strong, but the heat has been killing their potency, so they might not work that well. Still, acid gumballs!!!
The guy points out a blue spot way off in the distance, beyond all the big art projects and says that its a small gumball machine out there with acid gumballs. K and I take turns dancing through the crowd with the gumballs in our hands, since we decided we'd never have a chance to do that ever again. Its a hilariously awesome feeling
. Everyone else is getting ready to head back and go to sleepm since its almost sunrise, but K and I look at each other and I say "Dude, we've got to go!"
Everyone else heads back, and K and I start making our way towards the blue light, me walking fast and K riding his bike alongside. It takes what seems like forever. Halfway there, K suddenly stops and says "Oh Shit! What if it takes quarters?!" We both agree that since its burningman, there's no way it does and continue on. There are some big art cars out there that are just sitting there, and it really sketches me and K out. We take off all of our glowsticks and lights and walk behind them in the darkness because we're paranoid.
We get to the gumball machine around sunrise. Yup, its a small gumball machine. It's stand is lined with tiny blue LED lights that are so powerful you can see them from Center Camp. A small sign is on the front with a picture of three people in various yoga positions, blowing gum bubbles. You slide a little thing and a gumball comes out. We take about a dozen more or so, and the sun is starting to come up.
Laughing our asses of, K and I start walking back towards the waffle. We start chewing one each, "to test them for the others". The Waffle was the biggest art structure there. It was a huge building built from 2x4's hammered together in a random fashing. They burned it on sunday, which was the biggest fire I have ever seen in my entire life.
http://laughingsquid.com/2006/09/04/uchronia/
Unfortunately, we get there just as the DJ says "thanks for coming, goodnight!" and shuts down the system. Doh. We start walking back, as the sun is rising. We run into two people and give them gumballs and tell them about the machine. They don't beleive it, it was hilarious to see the expressions on their faces.
We get back to center camp as the sun comes over the mountains. I get a little bit of visuals off of the sunrise, but its not much, and i am pretty sure its a remainder from the acid and e from before. A woman takes K and I's photos at dawn and promises to email them to K. I get a mocha and drink it and then K and I head back to camp, where we crack open a bottle of sangria and smoke a bowl. We're both laughing and on top of the world.
As people wake, we tell them the story. Eventually we pass out, probably an hour after starting drinking. The gumballs didn't do anything, but the story is still the best one I have from burningman.
This was just a little snippet of the Burningman experience. The acid and e was fun, but i think next time i'll do higher doses (i'm a big guy with a big tolerance i guess). I don't plan on doing them anytime soon, although i might chew on some gumballs tonight for the hell of it, even though i know they won't work. Whoever thought of that was a fucking genius.
I would like to report on one of my experiences from last week when I was at Burningman. This was the first year I went, and I am DEFINITELY going back. If you don't know what Burningman is, look at the website: www.burningman.com Even if I had not taken any psychedelics it would have been one of the trippiest weeks of my life. I don't think I would be able to give the whole event justice in a written report, so I am focusing on my favorite night from the week. Even this report will skip over a lot, and for that I apologize. You just have to go and see it for yourself.
Background: I am 23 years old, roughly 200lbs and 6'1". I have been taking psychedelics since i was 17, and have taken acid, e, and shrooms on at least a dozen occasions and have combined them before. I have been in the "rave" scene just as long and go out clubbing frequently, where I usually dance my ass off. I generally have a pretty high tolerance to drugs, and i drink alcohol and smoke weed daily.
Mind Set: I was(and still am) on cloud nine. Burningman is awesome. The only problem i had was having was nosebleeds due to the dust and very dry environment. Besides that, I was staying hydrated, partying, and drinking like a fish and felt like I was in my element (my friends who were with me at burningman commented that I was in my element there).
Setting: I was camping with a group that I didn't have any connection to. I didn't know any of them because my friend had just met them, and he moved to a different camp as soon as we arrived. I decided to stay in the camp. We had five canadians join us, who turned out the be awesome awesome people, and were the reason I got to have the experience I will describe below. The canadians were from a different camp, and had gotten kicked out because of some bad blood, which was resolved during the night of this report. We drank and smoked weed together and I got along with them better than most of the original camp.
Ok, so let's get into the story....I will try to have a few timestamps, but I honestly really didn't keep track of the time at all.
9:00 ish
It was thursday night, and the canadians had arranged earlier in the week to party with their original campmates. The plan was to go over and take ecstasy at midnight. The rest of my campmates (18-20 people) were on mushrooms and about to board a truck that was going to drive them all around all night long. They had this luxury because one of them won a Strip Jeopardy contest earlier in the week. It took them a long time to get their shit together to get ready, and during that time I found out that one of the guys had found some acid instead of shrooms. Because I had been smoking him out all week, he gave me a tab, a small square of blotter with no markings. I was ecstatic. Acid is my favorite psychedelic, and it's been years since I did it. I decided that I wouldn't take e and would take acid instead since I had the opportunity
10:00 ish
I take the acid, knowing i have two hours before going to party with the people who were going to take e. I figured that in the worst case scenario, the acid wouldn't work and I would just take e with the canadians.
I watch my shrooming campmates get their crap together and throw two mattresses on the back of the truck and finally get in and take off. I sit and talk with two of the canadians while the other three take naps. I learn a lot about them, including the fact that one runs a coffee shop and the other was a meth addict for a while. They were both 2nd-time burners, and had great stories from last year.
I start to get that "acid energy", a pretty forceful stimulation and talkativeness that almost makes me feel like i am already on e. Colors seem a bit more "blue" and darker. We only had a dim lamp in the camp, and the low lighting definitely enhanced the trip. I did not have any OEVs or massive CEVs, but a general visual distortion was constantly present. I was having a lot of fun mental voyages/daydreams, but I was still very much connected with reality.
Midnight
We wake up the others and I tell them that I probably won't take e with them, but I am definitely coming along for the ride. We make our way over to their camp, which is on the esplanade, so we can look out on the playa and see tons of glowing/flashing/burning things. Its sensory overload even without the drugs.
We arrive at the camp to find that the people we are meeting up with are already rolling. I can tell immediately just from their behavior and their pupils. It takes us forever to procure the e and get going because the rolling people are very distracted and spend a lot of time talking to us about randome things.
This is when I realize that one of them is FoX, a bluelighter who has been around way before me and has been deeply involved with this website. I learned a lot about bluelight's history from him. I was very excited to meet another bluelighter at burningman (FoX, i sent you a pm).
At this point, the canadians spend some time talking to their campmates and reconcile the problems that occurred at the beginning of the week. Everyone feels good about it and I can tell its a weight off of everyone's chest.
12:30 - 1:00 ish
The canadians take their e and I take a half pill because the acid trip is pretty mild and I definitely feel like I want to be at least a little bit higher, especially if the evening is just beginning (damn my tolerance!!). We head out as a group of about 12 people, with a few walky-talkies to help us get back together if we get separated (its a crazy place out on the playa at night and you can definitely get lost very easily).
I talk to one of the people from the camp, who is a very quiet and reserved australian man who is rolling for his first time. His quiet talking and accent made him pretty hard to understand, but he seemed like a very cool guy.
I brought along a glowing head massage toy and everyone took turns getting their head massaged as we walked along.
We stopped at a few places, and i can't really remember where we stopped and in what order, but we were definitely waiting at the illumination village for someone for a bit, and the people there were playing with this long plastic tube you could shoot propane down, and you could watch the flame slowly travel down it then go "pop" out the end, which they held up to their mouths. It's hard to explain, but take my word for it that it was really cool.
The e started kicking in and I felt suddently grounded and clear-headed. I felt like i was limber as a cat and strong as a mountain. I felt like a warrior-shaman, which was awesome. Music and dancing are a big part of my spirituality, and I had the sudden urge to go dance and worship power and energy, life and death, and everything.
Luckly for me, we went out the the serpent mother, and there was a huge sound system playing loud, pounding tribal house. Fuck yeah.
OK, the serpent mother was the coolest thing ever. I saw it earlier in the week when they were building it. It's a giant snake skeleton coming out of an egg, all made from metal. The head is the size of a small car, and it moves around. Each vertebrae constantly shoots flame, as does the head. It can be played like an instrumnet, such that each key makes a corresponding vertebrae shoot a larger flame. It was phenomenal, especially at night with a pounding party going on and you're on drugs.
Here's a pic during the day:
http://blog.wired.com/burningman2006/index.album?i=29
And at night:
http://flickr.com/photos/dandawson/232522032/in/set-72157594257930185/
I danced under the head while everyone else talked. I felt like I was home, it was the best dancing I've ever done. I felt so happy and comfertable to be right there under the head of this amazing art construct that was practically alive. People got lost, so time was spent looking for them, and we eventually got everyone back together. A few people headed back.
4am ish (?)
We wandered further from the city to the Conexus Cathedral, where ANOTHER dj was spinning techno and a big party was going on. When we get there, the one canadian, K, who brought a bike with him this night had troubles with his bike. The chain fell off and he couldn't get it to stay on and was thinking about leaving it there. Luckly my leatherman was attached to the camelback that I was wearing (i was drinking water all night). I used the pliers to undo the back tire so that we could put the chain on then made the chain very tight so that it wouldn't fall off before screwing the tire back on.
K says he wants to get me a drink for fixing his bike. I say "where? We're out in the middle of the playa and its 4 am!" He points behind me, and sitting there is an Art Car with an obvious Bar on the back. I love burningman. We walk up and K says "let me get a beer for my friend who just fixed my bike!" Before the bartender can say anything, they guy sitting next to K turns and says "You have a bike? Can I borrow it?" K asks why and the guy responds "I need to use it to go get acid gumballs from the gumball machine out in the desert". K says "sure, do you want the drum on or off?" (He had a small drum tied to the front of the bike so that he could play it as he walked the bike along).
We remove the bike and i have to fix it again before guy borrows it, promising to bring back gumballs for us. He's my size and K is a small guy, and the bike is for like a 10-year old. This means that he can't ride it, he just waddles off on it into the darkness. K and I are skeptical but figure that in the worst case scenario the guy steals the bike. In the meantime, i remember i have a pabst in my camelback and i pull it out, crack it open and dance for a while. I share it with another canadian who is feeling cold and isn't feeling the e anymore.
After about 15 minutes, when K and I decide that the guy is gone for good, he suddenly pops up and drops 7 gumballs in K's hand. Holy shit, they're real! They have a little "Ohm" thingy stamped on them and have different colors. The guy explains that on Monday they were super-strong, but the heat has been killing their potency, so they might not work that well. Still, acid gumballs!!!
The guy points out a blue spot way off in the distance, beyond all the big art projects and says that its a small gumball machine out there with acid gumballs. K and I take turns dancing through the crowd with the gumballs in our hands, since we decided we'd never have a chance to do that ever again. Its a hilariously awesome feeling
. Everyone else is getting ready to head back and go to sleepm since its almost sunrise, but K and I look at each other and I say "Dude, we've got to go!"Everyone else heads back, and K and I start making our way towards the blue light, me walking fast and K riding his bike alongside. It takes what seems like forever. Halfway there, K suddenly stops and says "Oh Shit! What if it takes quarters?!" We both agree that since its burningman, there's no way it does and continue on. There are some big art cars out there that are just sitting there, and it really sketches me and K out. We take off all of our glowsticks and lights and walk behind them in the darkness because we're paranoid.
We get to the gumball machine around sunrise. Yup, its a small gumball machine. It's stand is lined with tiny blue LED lights that are so powerful you can see them from Center Camp. A small sign is on the front with a picture of three people in various yoga positions, blowing gum bubbles
. You slide a little thing and a gumball comes out. We take about a dozen more or so, and the sun is starting to come up. Laughing our asses of, K and I start walking back towards the waffle. We start chewing one each, "to test them for the others"
. The Waffle was the biggest art structure there. It was a huge building built from 2x4's hammered together in a random fashing. They burned it on sunday, which was the biggest fire I have ever seen in my entire life. http://laughingsquid.com/2006/09/04/uchronia/
Unfortunately, we get there just as the DJ says "thanks for coming, goodnight!" and shuts down the system. Doh. We start walking back, as the sun is rising. We run into two people and give them gumballs and tell them about the machine. They don't beleive it, it was hilarious to see the expressions on their faces.
We get back to center camp as the sun comes over the mountains. I get a little bit of visuals off of the sunrise, but its not much, and i am pretty sure its a remainder from the acid and e from before. A woman takes K and I's photos at dawn and promises to email them to K. I get a mocha and drink it and then K and I head back to camp, where we crack open a bottle of sangria and smoke a bowl. We're both laughing and on top of the world.
As people wake, we tell them the story. Eventually we pass out, probably an hour after starting drinking. The gumballs didn't do anything, but the story is still the best one I have from burningman.
This was just a little snippet of the Burningman experience. The acid and e was fun, but i think next time i'll do higher doses (i'm a big guy with a big tolerance i guess). I don't plan on doing them anytime soon, although i might chew on some gumballs tonight for the hell of it, even though i know they won't work. Whoever thought of that was a fucking genius
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