The Beginning of Something Wonderful

During the summer of 2008, I spent most of my free time either taking psychedelics or studying astrophysics - sometimes both at the same time. The next couple of posts will be a recap of last summer, the stories, the journeys, and the experiences that shaped my path for the last year.

The summer started out with me finishing a very intensive semester of cellular and microbiology courses. The day after finals, I was in Claremont, CA with Max tripping on the best acid either of us have ever had. I attribute the wonderment and awesomeness of the experience to our lack of expectations - we had no idea how strong the acid was or had any real experience with heavy trips.

We started out watching Good Burger, a really stupid Nickelodeon movie from our childhoods. It was actually pretty entertaining, and as the acid began to kick in the movie became frighteningly hilarious. At one point, the antagonists (the rival burger restaurant) is poisoning the 'secret sauce' used by the protagonists. The poison they use is labeled 'Shark Poison'. Now, this really bothered us because why would you poison a shark? If you needed to kill a shark I would think poison is probably the least effective method. So surely there isn't a company manufacturing poison to specifically target sharks. Maybe the poison is developed by sharks, like in a poison gland? I am no expert on marine biology, but I don't think any shark excretes poison. Though that would suck, a shit wrecking shark...WITH A POISONOUS STINGER! We then imagined that it must be like rat poison, a poison developed for little cockroach sized sharks, scurrying about the woodwork. We imagined an Italian immigrant family trying to squish little sharks yelling "Get 'im with the boot Guiseppe!"

At that point we realized we were really, really out of it. The tree outside Max's dorm had begun to swing towards me, trying to grab me through the window, and Max's Union Jack flag had begun to bleed and drip off the wall. Time to go outside and get some air. Unfortunately there were fractals everywhere, and we were having a hard time maneuvering around them until Lauryn helped us to a grassy spot. I looked at Max, and the grass had taken root in his manly arm hair, making him look like a treant. Lauryn had a decidedly reptilian look about her.

The next thing I remember was going up to this girl Elaine's room to see a small kitten she had smuggled into the dorms from Mexico. She had a tie dyed wall hanging which was so brilliant and beautiful to look at. The only way Max and I could describe it was as if a man wreathed in multi-coloured fire was doing capoeta. We began joking that The Kitten Immigration Services would come to get it. 'La Migra de los Gatos Illegales' were a group of flak jacket clad kittens with rifles marching little kittens with sombreros and mustaches - who only wanted to taste American freedom - back across the border. It was so sad I began to cry, but that could have been my cat allergies acting up. I ran outside to get some fresh air, at which point Max and Lauryn came out laughing about La Migra. They asked my why I was crying and I yelled 'DON'T YOU FUCKING TALK ABOUT THE KITTEN MIGRA - IT'S TOO DAMN SAD!" And threw this metal pole Max had picked up over the balcony. I can't stand it when he has nice things that I don't have.

After the debacle of the Kitten Migra, we went back downstairs to sit on the couches and collect ourselves. Whatever crazy conversations we had are lost to time, but Lauryn left soon after for a recital. We were still really bothered about shark poison. More people came by to see what we were up to, all amazed that we were still functioning after taking acid.

Lunch came around, which was pitas and spreadables. The pitas looked like Pfaddenstohl hats (Germanic fairies that are little anthropomorphic toadstools.) It was sad that they gave their lives so that we could eat. I think that was the first time I started to think about where my food came from and the dynamic web of consumption. In addition to my experiences working at the morgue, it would later prompt me to switch to a vegetarian diet.

Honestly I can't remember too much more of what happened, only that Max and I talked a lot about people we knew, our childhoods, tautology, causailty, and plans for the future. As the visuals subsided we began to get more lucid and have deeper conversations, which we termed the cerebral phase of LSD. Lots of introspection, but your thoughts continuously spiral inwards, leaving you tangentally scatterbrained.

At some point during this phase, I looked at Max, who I had known since I was 9 or so. The last couple of years of our friendship had been turbulent, and I had doubted whether we would continue to remain friends after college, with us going to grad schools across the country or life taking us in some other far off direction. Sitting with him on a grassy hill, I realized that I would know this man until the day I died, that he was a friend for life. No matter how bad things got, I knew that Max and I would be friends - he is one of the most unique and dear persons I have ever known.

The world works in mysterious ways, and a year later I travelled with Max for a month in Europe. He came back to Salt Lake for grad school and we have an apartment together. Things are still rocky, but I truly love the man and couldn't be happier with the situation.