Leading the wild into the ways of the man…
My friend Shu Yiing came down from Adelaide with her boyfriend Andy
today. I was graced by their presence just now, along with Derrick, who
is Shu Yiing’s cousin, also from Sibu and lives in Richardson Hall. The
weird thing is Richardson Hall is very close to Roberts Hall and yet
we’ve never seen each other before. Also here was Selina, Andy’s sister
who is doing law in Monash University. Note that all of us are from
Sibu. Represent!
From left: Selina, Derrick, Andy, Shu Yiing, Huai Bin
A friend of mine wrote a trip report on DXM and wanted me to post it here.
It’s pretty entertaining and I don’t have anything to post today, so here
goes. It should be said that DXM is a dissociative anaesthetic like
ketamine and PCP and can cause false positives in tests for PCP. If you’re
interested in trying this, read the
DXM FAQ [erowid.org] and this article about
NMDA Antagonist Neurotoxicity [erowid.org]. The following trip report
has been posted in its entirety and without any editing. The author does
not want to be named.
Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide 30 mg per 10 ml.
I have finished a normal sized
dinner at 7 pm. At 9:30 pm I took a 200 ml bottle of Robitussin DX (3mg
per 10 ml), which gives me 600 mg. With my body weight of 70 kg, that
amount of DXM will push me into the 3rd plateau. This is my
first time taking DXM and I did not have a trip sitter with me. As per
custom in such cases, I wrote the drug name, amount taken and body weight
on my left hand. DXM is not illegal in Australia and most other countries.
I have had previous experience with hallucinogens, so I know what to
expect. I took copious amounts of LSD when I was 16 and I’ve also taken
speed, ecstasy, marijuana recreationally. Contrary to the reports I’ve
read, Robitussin DX is not hard to swallow or disgusting in taste. I found
it quite sweet and pleasantly acceptable when I chugged the whole bottle
down. The texture is surprisingly not cloying and st, but rather
smooth and went down without much trouble. The opening of the Robitussin
DX bottle was small and not conducive to chugging but I managed to get it
down within 5 seconds. I did not have nausea and only had to chase the
mixture with a swig of water to clear my mouth of the taste. To provide a
safe and comfortable setting, I’ve locked the door to my room and switched
off all the lights.
10:30 pm
Felt a slight intoxication with
periphery numbness consistent with alcohol. Interestingly, my lips feel
slightly numb as well. I feel somewhat sleepy as well, so I’m going to get
a diet coke. Caffeine and disassociates do not go well together. It’s a
bit hard to go to the toilet when you can’t move now innit? 🙂 I’m having
slight trouble recalling events too, I wonder if that’s because I’m
sleepy? Slight tingling around the scalp area too, not entirely
unpleasant, but it feels a bit weird. Slight nausea and dizziness when I
walk.
10:52 pm
Feeling rather intoxicated now.
Slight tunnel vision and a general ‘feeling’ of intoxication. Shit, my
whole scalp itches and it didn’t go away when I scratched it. Trip coming
on now. I keep on scratching my whole scalp but it’s STILL so damn itchy.
Is this is dreaded Robo Itch? Nevermind. Nevermind. Don’t let that spoil
your trip. It’s damn itchy though. Needs two hands to scratch to fulfill
the itch. Best to leave it alone? My head is damn itchy and painful. Calm
down. I’ve been scratching my head for several minutes now and it’s still
itchy and painful. I promise to leave it alone now. I’m listening to
Cradle of Filth now and it sounds good. Mellow and peaceful, but my head
itches so much. Damn. The itchy scalp itch has now spread to my forehead.
Fuck.
11:02 pm
I’m STILL scratching my scalp and
forehead and some parts are starting to hurt. And now the itch has spread
to my eyelids. Damn. I’ve found its nicer and not so tough on the skin to
put my hands under my shirt and use my shirt to rub my forehead. I’m
starting to sweat a lot too. Naughty. I’m getting a lot of the side
effects of the trip. Urm…my neck itches now.
11:18 pm
The itch has spread to my chest.
Calling it an itch is too subtle as it hurts now. Going to the mirror to
see if I’ve scratched myself raw. It doesn’t look red at all but it hurts.
After washing my face, even the underside of my eyes itch. It didn’t
before. 🙁 Feeling slightly intoxicated now, but still coherent and able
to communicate. I hate the itch.
11:31 pm
Still can’t stop scratching
myself. Scratch scratch scratch. It’s a compulsion. My whole body
itches…neck…shoulders…back.
11:41 pm
Scratch scratch scratch
11.45 pm
The itch has spread to my lower
belly and upper thighs. Good thing it bypassed my crotch. I wouldn’t want
to scratch that raw. Heh. I’m feeling a heaviness in my brain, as if all
my blood has concentrated there.
11:58 pm
Still itchy but it’s subsiding.
Feels good to scratch anyway. If it’s not on the head that is. Scratching
the head hurts. Whoa…swinging my head from left to right a couple of times
made me dizzy. 🙂 I remember once when I had a slightly bad trip on LSD. I
went to a rave with a couple of friends and got home at around 6 am after
getting some McDonald’s. I haven’t eaten it yet, it was still with me, and
I looked in the mirror and my eyes scared me. Heh. But then I ate my stuff
while still tripping took a shower and tried to go to sleep. While looking
at my ribcage, I realized that one side is much higher than the other
side. I totally freaked out for no good reason and tried pressing one side
down. I was frantic when it wouldn’t go down and kept punching it to make
it go down and make both sides symmetrical. I was almost starting a panic
attack when I calmed myself down and told myself it was probably just the
acid that made one side look higher than the other. After telling myself
that a couple of times, I calmed down somewhat, but it still looked
disturbing to me. I don’t know why I was so freaked out by that, it’s
actually no big deal but while on acid, it seemed a pretty big deal for
some reason. Ah…the wonders of psychedelics.
12:07 am
I looked in the mirror just now
and saw the stuff I wrote on my hand and laughed. I don’t like the way I
laugh. Fucking annoying. I don’t think I laugh like this normally. The way
my mouth contorts when I laugh just now is really very annoying and makes
me want to punch myself. I think it’s because I don’t like someone with
the same smile and it irks me that I’m smiling that same smile now. Shit.
That sucks. I have an ugly smile. I don’t like the way I look in the
mirror when I smile. But that could be because I’m forcing myself to smile
in a shitty way.
12:27 am
I realize that I’ve been
inadvertently gritting my teeth like I usually do when I’m on speed. Oh
well, at least I’m not grinding it. Hey, I can correct my own grammar. J
12:40 am
It’s 12:40 now and still no
hallucinations. L There is a pretty heavy stoning effect but that wasn’t
what I was after. I prefer intellectual highs. The itch still hasn’t gone
away but it’s pleasant now. Nice to scratch the itch.
1:03 am
I’ve been to the mirror in the
toilet and checked out my body. A lot of marks from scratching but nothing
permanent. Slight visual artifacts but nothing much more than that.
Feeling a bit drunk though, as if I’ve consumed alcohol. Is this all to
DXM? I’m very disappointed if it is. Perhaps I should have taken it on an
empty stomach.
1:15 am
Was amusing myself by taking
photos of myself. I found out that I can take numerous photos of myself
with the same facial expression and pose. Heh.
1:18 am
Feeling rather euphoric now. All
is good, but I wanted to have a psychedelic experience as opposed to a
euphoric one. Does DXM and caffeiene bind to non-competitive receptors in
the brain? Or, *gasp* are they competitive receptor binders and so that’s
why I’m not feeling the typical 3rd plateau experience?
1:28 am
Okay, my trip is ending. I knew I
should not have eaten just now.
3:02 am
I’m pretty much sober now. The
trip wasn’t very exciting and I had expected much more. There was very
mild closed eye visuals and hallucinations but not full blown ones typical
with acid trips. DXM definitely is psychoactive and I felt rather stoned
in the early and middle parts of the trip but there wasn’t much
psychedelic activity. I also felt mentally euphoric but without the
‘energy’ of speed towards the end of the trip. Was that from the caffeine
or DXM? Also, I’m feeling slightly queasy from the Robitussin and rather
hungry as well. Perhaps I’ve expected too much from this trip or I just
ate too much, because my experience wasn’t really interesting at all. I
got the dreaded Robo Itch really bad though. By my body weight, the
dosage I gave myself should put me into the 3rd plateau but it
did not. I was rather out of it during the trip but could still move
about. My experience did not fit into any of the plateaus documented in
the FAQ. I might try DXM again but I’ll double the dosage and do it on an
empty stomach to see if I can get into the 4th plateau or I’m
one of those people who just doesn’t get much from DXM. I’m rather bummed
though…I killed all those brain cells and risked Olney’s Lesions for
nothing. I could have gotten the same buzz from alcohol. Tsk tsk…and I was
looking forward to an intellectual psychedelic experience.
I’m feeling pretty bushed now. I was in uni the whole day from 8 am in the
morning till 6 pm and I only got a couple of hours of sleep last night. I
did manage to catch up on my sleep today though and that makes me very mad since I really wanted to try out my new mattress from the labor day weekend mattress sales. I had no classes from 10
am – 12 pm and went to the library to take a nap. =D It’s pretty
convenient to sleep in one of those tables with privacy screens in the
silent area of the library. I fell into such a deep sleep, I actually
dreamt! It was a pretty weird dream, all jumbled up. The characters seem
to be people I saw on the way into the library but I’ve forgotten about
the dream by now. It was quite interesting though. Oh, and I drooled all
over my arm while I slept and woke up with a wet patch on my long sleeved
shirt.
The best place to sleep on campus
Anyway, I also found one of the best places to take a dump on campus. I’ve
always favored the S block toilets because they are some of the newest on
campus. However, I’ve found an even better one. The N block second floor
toilets are really something. Even though it’s rather old, it has a nice
ambience to it, courtesy of the clouded glass windows on one side of the
toilet. Furthermore, the furthest toilet even has a ledge on the side to
put your bag on. Nice indeed. Every time I need to take a dump while on
campus, I’ll be heading to the N block toilets.
Well, by the time I got back to Clayton, I was pretty much dead from lack
of sleep. However, I managed to spy the elusive security bus and got onto
it. Heh. It’s a bus that loops around the campus every half hour and it
stops right at the halls of residence. It actually takes longer to use the
bus than walk, so I’ve never bothered to get onto it, but I was so tired
today I appreciated not having to walk back even if it meant it takes
longer.
Anyway, it turns out that the book sale isn’t today after all. It’s on
Thursday. My bad.
I missed the shuttle again today and thus was forced to take the
Huntingdale bus to connect with the Flinder’s Street Station train. The
thing is, the 12:40 pm bus gives you exactly 5 minutes to walk from the
Huntingdale bus stop to the train station. Normally this is more than
enough, but today the bus was delayed by this long ass truck who was
trying to back into a plaster factory right off the highway. The trailer
was so long, the truck actually had to go over the road divider to back
into the driveway of the factory. Thus, all four lanes of the northbound
traffic was down to a standstill to accommodate the truck. The truck took
a good 5 minutes to completely back into the driveway and thus, by the
time the bus got to the train station, the train was already pulling in. I
had to sprint to get to the train platform and the doors started closing
just as I ran noisily into the train, startling a poor old lady who was
about to doze off. Heh. I think only 3 of the 15 people on the bus managed
to get on that train. The next train is a good 20 minutes away and that
would make me late for my tutorial so that’s why I wanted to get on this
one.
A router in action
Anyway, I had my Network Administration lab today and there was this movie
being shown to explain the concept of the Internet. I’ve seen this one
countless times before, the movie is
Warriors of the Net
[warriorsofthe.net] and it’s made by
Ericsson for internal purposes but seems to have spread far and wide
because, truth to be told, it actually is a very good movie that explains
networking concepts in easy to understand terms.
A$5.00 per bag
Well, as I was heading back I saw that the bookshop is having a sale
tomorrow. It’s not your normal, run of the mill sale, but one where you
can fill a bag with as many books as you can for only A$5! Basically, they
provide you with a bag and you go around stuffing books into the bag until
you can’t fit anymore in and you pay A$5 at the counter. I’m not sure what
books will be available and what the size of the bag actually is, but it’s
a pretty good deal nevertheless. If you’re interested, that’s the bookshop
of the Caulfield campus of Monash University.
I’ve just had a discussion with my Industrial Experience supervisor
regarding the Christmas vacation period and it seems that going back will
be out of the question for most people because the workload will be pretty
hefty right around then. I’m aware that Industrial Experience does not
follow uni holidays since it’s supposed to provide a one year working
experience in software development and project management. Oh well, we’ll
see how it goes. I’ve just noticed that half the semester is gone and
there will be a lot of assignments due soon. Bummer.
Anyway, I was taking the train back at around 9 pm today after working on
the IE project in the labs. Interestingly, I saw three policemen (one of
them was female but for the sake of being politically correct) board the
train at Caulfield and get off at Clayton. I’ve never seen police use
public transport before. They were still in their uniform and obviously is
still on the job since they were questioning a druggie at Clayton station.
I wonder why they don’t use cruisers and have to take public transport.
Well, as I was reading the Herald Sun today, I saw this advert regarding
Southgate’s [southgate-melbourne.com.au] 10th birthday. There will be
a fireworks show and other entertainment as well. I might head down if
I’ve nothing better to do on Saturday night.
Well, as you all know, I went with MONSU trips to the Grampians yesterday. I managed to wake up
about 30 minutes before the bus was scheduled to depart and made haste to the pick-up point, which
is a convenient two minutes walk from my place. There were a whole bunch of people already there
and one of the MONSU volunteers handed out the itinerary for the day. The bus arrived from Monash
University in Peninsula with a couple of people already in the bus and we headed to Caulfield to
pick up the rest of the people in the trip. The first stop after that was in Ararat, not Beaufort
as scheduled. We were supposed to stop at Beaufort for a toilet break but that didn’t happen
because Ararat was just a while away. After using the toilets, we passed by Halls Gap and arrived
at Grampians National Park about 3 1/2 hours after we departed.
The Grampians National Park trail marker
We did the Grand Canyon walk, which is a 900 meters walk up rocky terrain. It was quite
strenuous because there was an ascension of 280 meters, which doesn’t sound like much, but it
involves large steps over rocks. I’m having trouble being descriptive today. =D
Grand Canyon (The Aussie version)
Steps are mounted to allow navigation through the steeper portions
The walls of the Grand Canyon behind me
There was a strange outcropping of rock at the furthest point of the loop. It was a two rock
formation which looks scalable so I tried going on the first one and pulling myself to the other
rock. Pretty fun, as I needed to support my body weight with my hands at one point.
A little bit of climbing required to get to that vantage point
Me and Jimmy at the Grand Canyon v.Australia.Melbourne
It is interesting to see so many large boulders, I’ve never seen them in this size before. The
loop was supposed to take 30 minutes and we went back to the picnic area for lunch.
Lunch at the Wonderland picnic area
There were several crows in the picnic area and I tried to see how close the crows would come if
I fed them bits of ham. The crows were pretty bold and would snatch up bits of food from in front
of you. There was even some cawing and staring down involved. Heh.
Stand down soldier
Anyway, we were scheduled to depart at 1 pm but there was a group who wasn’t back yet. After a
one hour wait, they finally emerged all sweaty and tired from the path. It seems that one of the
volunteers had taken a group to the Pinnacle Lookout, which is a 4.2 km walk from the picnic area.
Naturally, the rest of the people who were waiting for them wasn’t too pleased at their waywardness
and the volunteer in question got a rather deserved admonishment from the bus driver. Due to the
fact that we’re running late, we had to miss one of the scheduled stops – Jaws of Death. Too bad, I
had wanted to see that one.
Anyway, we headed down to MacKenzie Falls after that. I’ve noticed that we went on the Grand
Canyon Walk instead of going to Boroka Lookout, but that’s just as well coz the Grand Canyon Walk
is pretty nice too. As we arrived at MacKenzie Falls, there was a wallaby wondering wild. A wallaby
is a native animal of Australia which is related to the kangaroos and for all non-scientific
purposes, is a kangaroo, albeit a smaller one. It got spooked pretty easily though and won’t
let me get close to it, even though I tried approaching slowly and crouched down a bit. I had
wanted to put myself into it’s pouch to try and see if I fit or put my arms around it at least.
Don’t hop away…I’m also a wallaby, only slightly bigger and uglier and without fur.
At the MacKenzie Falls trail there was two options – one which went to MacKenzie Falls Lookout
with is a view of the falls from above and one which went to MacKenzie Falls Base which is the view
of the falls from below. Me and Jimmy decided to do both, and started off to the lookout in a very
brisk walk. There was only a couple of people with us as most of them decided to go to the base.
The lookout was pretty high up and since I have a fear of heights, I thought it would be fun to
stand right at the edge.
View of MacKenzie Falls from the top
I scaled the fence and started down the side of the lookout outpost and got myself right to the
edge of the cliff. Dear God in heaven that was scary indeed. I didn’t actually think about it
before I went and done it (I have an impulsive personality) so the fact that there wasn’t anything
that is separating me from a long, long drop to the base of the falls didn’t hit me until I was
right at the edge. Now that I think about it, it would be a waste if I slipped and fell down. I
don’t think people are meant to survive 100 meter falls into rock. There wasn’t anything to stop
you from falling. That was meant to be the fence, which I climbed over to get to the edge. I got
some pretty good photos from up there though.
I won’t be typing this today if I leaned backwards in this picture
Heh. Perhaps next time I would do a cliffhanger from the edge while someone took a photo of me
from below. It’s best not to tempt fate though. 🙂
For reference, here was where I stood in the previous picture. This view is from the
bottom.
Well, after all that, we walked back to the staging point and started to the base of the falls.
There was even more photo opportunities there as you can see MacKenzie Falls up close. It’s
interesting that there is no bridge to go across the river but large stepping stones instead. I
have to say that MacKenzie Falls isn’t much to write home about though. I’ve seen larger
waterfalls in Sarawak. But MacKenzie Falls does have an appealing flow.
MacKenzie Falls close up
Another view of MacKenzie Falls
It’s very relaxing to look at it. I imagine people would enjoy taking some psychedelics while
sitting in front of the falls. Which reminds me, I saw what I think is Gymnopilus
spectabilis growing on a couple of dead tree stumps. I cannot be certain though, for my
knowledge of psychedelic fungi is limited to pictures I saw in a book about magic mushrooms species
in Australia. I did not trust my visual memory enough to pick it, because it would be unfortunate
to accidentally ingest a poisonous strain. Heh.
Me and Jimmy at MacKenzie Falls
If you happen to be visiting MacKenzie Falls, there is some damn good homemade ice cream in the
small booth selling snacks outside. It goes for A$1.80 per cup and has to be heated up in the
microwave for a while to soften it. The owner of the stall was kind enough to give us two spoons
because he said the ice cream is hard enough to break the plastic spoons. Sure enough, I broke my
spoon about halfway through. Heh. It’s very good ice cream though, loved it.
Anyway, after visiting the falls, we headed to our next destination – Zumstein. There was
nothing much to see in Zumstein though. There is supposed to be a lot of kangaroos in that area,
but I didn’t see any. This place is so dismal, I took it upon myself to jump into MacKenzie
River.
Seriously though, I nearly fell down coz the bridge is a suspension bridge and did not like
me swinging over the rail.
That’s about the only interesting thing in Zumstein. MacKenzie River starts here and ends at
MacKenzie Falls. 20 minutes later, we departed again for Ararat, where we had dinner. Ararat is a
pretty nice place, and there was a Target Country there that looks pretty spiffy. Then it was back
to Melbourne and I arrived in Clayton at around 9 pm. The highlight of the day was the Grand Canyon
Walk and MacKenzie Falls. Too bad we couldn’t go to Boroka Lookout because it’s closed from
June-November 2002 for renovations. That can’t be avoided, but the Pinnacle Lookout fiasco which
made all of us miss out on Jaws of Death could. That was poor judgment from one of the volunteers.
He did apologize at the end of the day though, so all is well.
I can’t keep my eyes open. I was supposed to write up the Grampians trip right after I got home
but I was caught up with something else and now I’m too sleepy to write the trip up. =D I shall
leave you with this teaser photo and I’ll write up the trip right after I wake up tomorrow
afternoon.
Grampians Rocks
I’ve noticed that the lineup of prepared meals at the Frank and Lily Lee’s Asian Grocery in the
campus center has improved somewhat. This is Fairy Calamari with XO Sauce on rice. Interesting.
Anyway, I’ll be going to the Grampians [grampiansrocks.com] early tomorrow morning.
It should be fun, but it also means I’ll be missing out on one “day” of my weekend. I like to
stay up late in the weekends but I have to sleep early tonight coz the trip leaves early
tomorrow morning. That makes me lose one “day” of my weekend – Friday night. There is a rave of
some sort going on at the dining hall of the campus center from 10 pm – 6 am and I would have
gone to that if I didn’t have to wake up early tomorrow. Too bad. Oh well, the Grampians would
be fun too and I’ll take heaps of photos and post them up tomorrow. Stay tuned.
I said he he he
It came out as hr hr hr
I have cotton mouth
Poh Huai Bin (22/08/2002 11:17 PM + 1000)
I was supposed to have a half day off today but ended up spending the whole day on campus due to
my ITPM and IE projects. Brass Monkey Consultants first deliverable is due tomorrow. Don’t look at
me, I didn’t choose that name. Anyway, I was at the MONSU lounge around noon, so I did get to eat a
couple of doughnuts courtesy of MONSU’s Sex It Up Week. I was reading the paper there and saw this
funny article which is also available here [theage.com.au].
Apparently someone decided to rob Crown Casino [crowncasino.com] yesterday and managed to
get away even though it was a half-assed attempt at best. He was operating alone, took out a
handgun and robbed Crown of “a substantial, six-figure sum”. However, he didn’t have a getaway
car and left fingerprints and all sorts of personal info at the casino because he’s a Mahogany
Room member. Guess how he got away? A cab. You can’t make this stuff up folks. Heh. He didn’t
even have a bag to put the cash in (?) and just stuffed it into his pockets. Here is a choice
quote from the article: Police were quickly on the scene, but were unable to find a suspect
with bulging pockets. Man, that totally cracked me up. If you’re still wondering, he got
away. Somebody up there must like him. =D
