The Smell of Wood

I have tripped about four times in my life. I don't trip very often not because of lack of interest, but mainly because shrooms can be rather hard to find in my neck of the woods (Guelph, Canada).

Anyway, last summer I was working at a local restaurant as a waiter. My friend and I both smoked herb all summer, but one day I was able to grab about 4 grams for the two of us, and one other friend.

We decided we would ingest after I finished work. I got off about 12:00 or 12:30 in the evening. When we arrived back at J's house his parents were still awake and his older brother was outside drinking his face off (we shun obnxious drinking...but not obnoxious toking). "What the hell" I figured "It's gonna take some time to kick in anyway" We went up to his room and ate our share, approximately 1.3g each. We proceeded to go downstairs to grab some OJ from the fridge.

We flipped on the CD player and popped in Chemical Brothers. After 15 or 20 minutes I was looking at the vertical blinds, becoming acutely aware that when I moved my head up and down, the blinds would meld into one huge blind (hard to explain without doing it). I glanced over at J and noticed a big grin across his face. "Dude, this is fucking awesome!" he exclaimed, having never tripped before.

Anyway, we managed to make conversation with J's brother, the whole time not dropping a hint that we were tripping. But when we told him we were gonna go to the park, he replied "Why? so you can smoke drugs?". He is the type of guy who thinks that instead of smoking a doob now and then, kids should just drink a six-pack (in other words he's a jerk-off). So we finally went, but instead of smoking up we simply laid down on the ground and peered at the stars. Part of me felt that I could create clouds with my mind, and part of me thought that even on a clear night such as this one, I could still see clouds swimming here and there. It was absolutely amazing.

Now since J lives in a relatively nice neighborhood, on our way back we passed a house undergoing renovation. what struck us most was that as we passd a pile of lumber a magnificent smell crossed our path

"What's that smell?"

"I think its that wood over there" (I walked over to the lumber)

"Oh man! That's incredible! What a smell!"

15 mins later we realized that our sense of smell was in many respects more altered than our vision. It was a refreshing change from the typical marijuana high.

We came across an abandoned tennis court and played a few games of "imaginary tennis" involving a non-existent ball and non-existent rackets (fits of laughter ensued). Afterwards we returned to the house for a snack and then we were out again, taking in all these things with childlike curiosity (Note: I have noticed this in many other trips...a fascination with even the most trivial concepts)

Finally, we returned to the house to write stories and just generally chat. It was a highly intellectual evening rarely experienced on other mind-altering devices. I will trip again at the Ben Harper Concert this Saturday, and I eagerly anticipate it.