Tales of Home

{{ Highest I ever got, and strangest experience was on LSD. I had arranged to go to a mates new flat that night, I'd never been there before, we were going to take 2 tabs each. But due to things he coudnt make it and was stuck at his mothers 25 miles away, so being young and stupid I thought 'what the hell' and stuffed all four in my gob and lay myself down on the bed (it was a bedsit- bedroom/living room, a small kitchen area, toilet and a hall leading to front door).
I was lying on the bed watching tv and began to zoom up as the acid hit and I was soaring towards the peak, at which exact moment his electricity meter ran out of money and the power went out, plunging me into pitch darkness in a flat I didnt know whilst peaking on 4 tabs.
Freaked me out, but I managed to get a grip on myself and decided best bet was just to stay lying where I was. Kept peaking and the universe became waves of something akin to static electricity, a huge buzzing sound that crashed over and through me in waves in the darkness. Each wave as it went by physically hurt and each wave seemed to strip me away, physically as if my body was being torn apart bit by bit and spiritually until I felt there was only a tiny core of the real me left, then a final huge wave tore the last of me away and I remember nothing till morning after that.

Best experience I had was taking a tab and walking along a country road near a small village called Glenbranter in the middle of the night, despite it being pitch dark I could see for miles as all the leaves on the trees were glowing with a faint light, it was truelly magical.}}

{{ On a completly different topic, whilst it is good to see folk enjoying themselves again in my little town, with the excellent cant help but dance to them Heron Valley playing the bandstand, gatherings like this with no social distancing or masks are also probably one of the many reasons covid cases have spiralled out of control here. }}

https://fb.watch/7HUAHQ8Z2h/

They are outdoors, I would think a majority vaccinated - I don't actually see much of a problem here.  If there's a slight wind the aerosol is being quickly dispersed.

I don't think I will feel at ease in crowd for many years to come, even outdoors makes me feel antsy just thinking about it. Even outside those aerosols are floating about if you are close to others with no masks and no way of knowing who has been jabbed. That's why the Green Pass is so important even important for psychological reasons. If you think everyone around you has been jabbed it puts you more at ease. We had a small music festival here but nobody could get in without showing proof of vaccination. It may still be a super spreading event because nothing is perfect and it doesn't stop infection, but those present would probably not become ill as a result.

4 tabs Petty?  but I like the thought that you saw the true spiritual essence of trees glowing in the night.

Also the uptick could be due to delta working it's way in more than before.  If the vaccines control the symptoms (though we must fret about the unvaccinated) then it's not a lot of harm done.  More natural immunity.

Edit: I see cases going up much more than deaths in Scotland, the vaccines are doing their thing. If vaccination status is checked on entry, let people play.
https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-kingdom/scotland

I like the thought that you saw the true spiritual essence of trees glowing in the night.- Figg

{{truly was one of the most beautiful and spirtual moments of my life. Just walked and walked in awe. }}

I envy you that experience. It makes you wonder if they are always glowing but our everyday minds cant see it. I wonder if animals can see it as they have extra senses that we don't know about but we have lost. I wonder if ancient man had that ability, the Druids maybe, or the Native Americans, or civilisations older than the ancient Greeks, they saw it and made trees part of their pantheon of gods. Perhaps certain trees like the Olive and the Oak glowed stronger, being older and wiser, some of them are thousands of years old.

The remnants of Hurricane Ida nailed us with rain. The subway station just a few blocks up the street had a water fall coming down the stairs, which confused me because it's the top of a hill.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/subway-stations-filling-water-17-075022426.html

{{ Saw the footage of that on the news.Maybe avoid taking the subway for a bit then Halfy!   Nice brisk walk do you good }}

I have to take some form of public transport tomorrow morning, but may opt for a bus.

(in the videos above the 145th street station is just a 5 minute walk from me)

Have you got flooding generally or just in basements and subways? Does it look like 'The Day After Tomorrow' or 'Singin' in the Rain'?

I'm teaching class ALL the FUCKING DAY today, so haven't even been out.

cripes

ok, so I looked on the News and it looks like full on The Day After Tomorrow. Without the Wolves and Jake Gyllenhaal.

After the last class I hotfooted it out to take a look. Poked into the subways, etc. If not for a tree tipped in the park, you'd never know it was one of the greatest rain-induced flooding events of the last decade.

Several office secretaries left during the pandemic - nothing to do - leaving department chairs to pick up the slack. This means they don't have time to teach, and tapped me. Thursdays are my worst day. One of these chairs tried to invite me to a department meeting during the one break I have - now he knows right where he can stick it.

I absolutely freaking hate teaching. It gives me the heebygeebies. Cant do it, far too introverted and anxious. Its ok if I know the kids and its an informal small group, but stood up in front of a large (and obviously bored) class is my worst nightmare. The trick is to make them laugh, then its a done deal, but you need skillz to do that and I don't have those. You also need to know the latest slang and who is rad on TikTok, yeah...I havent a clue.  

I blame the students. Little buggers.


Anyway Petty was asking about the mushrooms. It was chill, totally fine. Just kinda good all afternoon. I thought I said that before but I guess not.

I have more, but not enough to do much more than before.

I take it one of the effects of shrooms is you forget whether you've told anyone about the effects of shrooms.

Figgy - long out of date but the thing about teaching is you just have to do it long enough to realize it's all okay, because you're still the most interesting thing in the room.  Eventually you find your voice and the kind of humor that works for you, and it flows out naturally.  Takes time, I used to get the shakes but now it's fun, you look forward to it.

But to get to that point you have to spend about a year crying yourself to sleep as you fumble your way towards your personal style: nobody can find that for you.  After that it's all gravy.

Don't fancy the 'spending a year crying myself' to sleep bit.

You kinda have to be forced into it.  For me my first grad school research career had imploded, so I was out looking for a sudden job.  I had taught in the Peace Corps, and after months of pain finally found my voice.  Got certified and then had to go through more months of pain because African kids are ever so much nicer than American kids.  But at least the first go-round had cushioned it.  Many teachers go into teaching because they are starry-eyed, but then you are trapped and have to sink or swim.  You'll never learn how to teach if you can just walk away from it; and many professors never learn how to teach because college students are too well behaved.  You need a room full of wild kids and no escape, THEN you figure yourself out.

oh boy

But once you've got it, you never really lose it.  Only been nervous once since then.  Decades of immunity to fear of speaking to crowds.  Doesn't help with the fear of chatting up a cute woman, though.  Easy if she comes up after I've talked to a crowd and I'm awash with front-of-the-room hormones, but going into it cold?  brrr.

Petty's the one who forgot.

{{ Forgot? Forgot what? Bugger it I must have forgot whatever it was Ive forgotten! And unless I've left whatever Ive forgotten at the bottom of a bottle of buckie Im unlikely to rediscover it now!

Learn about the cunning wild Haggis and the haggis hunting dog bred to catch the little blighters.



Whats particularly brilliant is his videos are normally serious history so this works particularly well for those who might follow him and not know. Also the gaelic name he gives for haggis which he then translates into Scots as "naer coupit" translates into english as "nearly falling over" or if used of an old and battered object "completely done in beyond use." (coup is an old Scots word for a rubbish tip). }}

you wouldn't want to meet a wild haggis on a dark night.