Okay, there it is... really nice feeling from ethylphenidate, motivating, somewhat euphoric, and clean. At least if you don't overdo it. I've only ever had 50mg before orally... just took 75mg orally and it hits quite quickly. I don't feel tired anymore, nor do I have nearly as much brain fog.
The festival was incredible! It was forecast to storm throughout both days, and be 94 degrees. We didn't know what the venue was going to be like, we were imagining an open, parched field. Well, there was open field, but it was a clearing in a bunch of forest, and the property has a river and waterfall on it so anytime you got hot you could just swim in the river. The river was way warmer than the mountain streams I'm used to, and there was a really cool short waterfall right there, and also a sideways growing tree you could climb out on to jump into the deep part below the waterfall, plus a rope swing to swing on. Though there was this dog that I think was the neighbor's dog, who was really possessive of the best jumping rock and the rope swing. He just stood there and barked and barked and barked and nipped at the ankles of people jumping in... a pit bull too so it was fairly scary. He actually made one dude bleed just a bit... next time they should definitely have whoever's dog it is kept inside. He was a cool dog except at the river, he just hated that anyone else was using "his" stuff. When the rope swing was down and he was around, the dog would jump and grab the rope and just clench and hang on, growling and snarling, hanging over the water. Not only did he hold it for minute after minute, but he would re-bite and actually raise himself up the rope higher, it was pretty incredible. He made himself into a pendulum, and it was actually really difficult to get him to come down. So after that we would climb up the tree and raise up the rope swing whenever the dog came around.
And, it only stormed once after all the fretting people had been doing about the weather situation, an hour long really intense thunderstorm with very heavy rain, during which we played frisbee outside, and it was one of the most fun parts of the day. I feel bad for Delsyd's girl because she was going to come but thought it would be miserable in the heat and rain, but it turns out it was absolutely perfect, lots of shade, water, and sun. There were only about 300 people there, it was a very local thing. My friend's girlfriend is from there and she knew almost everyone there including everyone in all the bands... I met so many people and hung out with them and started to get to know them. I liked this small size SO much more than the 30,000 person festival I went to, it was so much more intimate and although both festivals had great vibes and were friendly, this one was put on by friends and there was absolutely no police presence or anything remotely sketchy. Everyone was just openly doing drugs, weed and psychedelics. People were SO nice and they loved that we came from Asheville, it excited them that we'd be into their music scene and they welcomed us with open arms.
And the music was incredible, very, very talented people, all crossing over into each others' bands. Mostly funk and blues. The band I was som excited to see was actually not my favorite set, or even second favorite. The venue was small and intimate so we were always in sight and hearing of the stage. We made a lot of connections and might have some of them coming to play shows in Asheville and stay at my friends' place, and we'll record them for free in his home recording studio where we record all the jams I post. Hopefully we'll get to open for some of the bands too. And hopefully next festival there both of our bands will play at it. There are 2 per year there with those people at that location, October and June. I'm so excited to go back.
I took 4-AcO-DMT the first night with my bass and drummer friends, and we had a beautiful, awesome trip. 25mg each. Listened to music, swam in the river in the dark, did some nitrous, hung out, talked to people, discussed deep, serious, playful, and outrageous things, laughed a lot; man, it was great. Then the second day I took 4.5mg of DOC at noon, actually I was starting to peak on it in that rainstorm I mentioned and playing frisbee in the rain felt SO great, I just was shirtless with my swimsuit the entire time I was there so I didn't care if I got wet. Then later on everyone else took some LSD so I also took some of my 1p-LSD and AL-LAD at the same time... in the end I took 2 hits of each, and then at like 11pm I added 2mg more of DOC (the music went on all night each night, until dawn). I was trying to get really deep into that DOC/LSD state, and I did, except I also drank a lot of alcohol... including shots of whiskey. At some point I lost some of my memory, and my friend said I kept taking shots and he was thinking about taking it away from me but didn't. He tells me I was in "rare form" which is his way of saying I was fucked up and acting pretty outlandish. He told me about a variety of things I don't remember. I kinda regret the alcohol, I should have stuck to beer, because I wish I could remember every minute of it. But I passed out for like 3 hours and got up and I remember everything after that, didn't even have a hangover. Some guy gave me and my bass player friend each a free hit of acid because we bummed him a cigarette (cigarettes were basically a precious commodity by the end of the 2nd night), that was when dawn was about to happen.
At one point when I was just on the original 4.5mg of DOC, we started jamming by our tents... we each brought an instrument, so we had 2 acoustic guitars, an acoustic bass, and a conga and tambourine. I played the conga mostly though sometimes I played the tambourine when our drummer wanted to play the conga (he's way better than me - and unfortunately bringing my keyboard wasn't feasible). We had a crowd and various people joined us in playing for a bit, including someone from one of the bands, and some random guy who was awesome at guitar. I let a few people play the conga and the one guy who was really good was also tripping hard and he was SO appreciative, it felt really good, he hugged me every time I saw him after that. We played one of our songs in there too and people responded really well to it. We basically were one of the musical events for a while, between sets, a lot of the people there stopped to listen for a bit. It felt really awesome.
Sunday we woke up and swam... I got a bit sunburned Saturday since I didn't wear sunscreen or a shirt at all but not bad at all, barely enough to hurt, it just looks a bit red (today in fact it mostly just looks brown already). I'm getting DARK this summer, I love it (and so does my girl

). Then we packed up and left around 1 or so. About 2/3 of the way home, the fatigue hit... my friend was asleep so I stopped for a Monster energy drink and smoked a cigarette and put on loud music (some of our jams). Made it back fine, went home after I dropped him and some stuff off, and I realized I was as sore or more sore than I've ever been... I had boundless energy during the festival and I ran and jumped and swam constantly, I was in this mode where everything felt effortless, I would run up and down the entire length of the venue multiple times in a row between stage and my tent, and I wasn't even breathing heavier than normal, it was weird but felt great. And I didn't sleep much, and I abused my brain some for sure. All I could do was drag myself upstairs and watch episodes of shows in my bed, and occasionally heat up bowls of potato soup. I couldn't sleep though because of the very late DOC redose, I was still getting patterns behind my eyelids and restless energy. My girl came over at like 11pm, and I had finally dozed off... I half woke up to her kissing me on my neck and being very naked. So I found some energy for sex, really nice sex actually despite me being unable to complete full sentences. It seems like a dream honestly, I was not 100% present. Right afterwards I passed out for like 11 hours and also felt half-asleep this morning, and sore as FUCK. But fortunately after I got up and took a shower (a nice hot one to soothe my muscles), and had some caffeine, I felt fully awake and in pretty good spirits, though still low energy, and only a little sore. Went upstairs and had some fully conscious sex with my girl then, mmm.

Then I told her all about the festival. I wish she could have been there but she had to work. I missed her during it though. It's really getting past time to tell her that I love her, I still didn't today though, it's a bit of neurosis hanging on in my brain from my last relationship, I know it is, but I just clam up whenever I decide I'm going to tell her. I'm positive she knows anyway but I will tell her very soon.
Oh yeah, and my bass player friend got laid at the festival... this is significant because it had been over a year for him and I think he was starting to feel less confident in himself and get that slight depression of a sexually frustrated human male. This 49 year old lady started dancing with him and next thing I know they're quickly walking back towards the camping area. He told me later that she just asked if he wanted to go do this after they were dancing on each other for a while, and he said yeah, and she led him to her tent, snuck him in because her kids were sleeping nearby in the car and she didn't want them to know she was having sex with a guy. She hung out with us periodically after that, she was cool, just someone looking for a fun festival hookup.

Also there was this really beautiful girl, I'm guessing maybe 24, who approached me to ask to bum a cigarette. She was so nice about it and really flirty in a shy kind of way, she kept blushing and smiling at me when I'd talk to her or look at her. She was really hot, looked like she had great boobs, beautiful face, great ass, and super nice. I think she wanted me to hang out with her and it probably would have led to some fun hooking up but I didn't want to go there since I love someone who's amazing for me. But it's still nice to know you have the option, feels good for someone to want to have that sort of connection with you.
So... I've been to 2 festivals, a huge one and a very small one, and the very small one was by far a more enriching and beautiful time, even though the huge festival was also enriching and beautiful. I felt much more comfortable at this one overall, in fact I felt like they were all already my friends especially since we were basically guests of one of their really good friends. They were so happy to have us, and so gracious. I want to go back to any festival they have there. And to think I almost didn't go... and my bass player friend REALLY almost didn't go, he decided to say fuck work, this is a great opportunity for an experience, right at the last minute, the same day we left.
Festivals, man... I love 'em.
