June 2003 – Page 3 – sixthseal.com

Nitrous Oxide

June 15, 2003 by HB

Hi, I’m veritas and this is “Just say N2O”.

Laughing gas. Nitrous oxide is usually found in cartridges sold as
“whipped cream chargers”. These beauties are about the size of your
index finger and makes a nice clinking sound which tends to produce a
Pavlov reaction. 🙂 The first time I’ve seen nitrous oxide used
recreationally was when I was 12 years old. I saw this friend of mine
take a whipped cream bottle and depress the trigger in a particular way
while inhaling the gas. He offered me the bottle, but I declined to try
it, having read horror stories about inhalant use and brain damage.

Fast forward to a decade later, I’m much more knowledgeable about
recreational drug use, and I’ve had quite a bit of experience under my
belt. I am now aware that even though nitrous is classified as an
“inhalant”, the use is this particular substance is not linked to brain
damage the same way other inhalants like Freon, gasoline and toluene
are. I’ve had a lot of drugs, but this particular recreational
substance seems to have been left on the side in pursuit of “harder”
substances.

Do not inhale!

Inhaling from a whipped cream bottle does not seem to produce the
level of effects which a cartridge filled balloon does, so I finally
got hold of some N20 cartridges today. The recreational use of nitrous
oxide requires the cream charger cartridges, a “cracker” and a balloon.
The cracker is a contraption which pierces the cartridge and releases
the (very cold) nitrous oxide on the other side, which would ideally be
occupied by a balloon. This cracker is made by the resourceful CT:

The open threaded end is where the balloon fits over and the other
side can be screwed apart to fit a cartridge in and then screwed in,
piercing the seal and filling the balloon. Very nifty device. Each
cartridge seems to be able to fill a balloon, and that volume is just
comfortable for my lungs to inhale. I have read about people being able
to inhale two cartridges, I am very impressed! I smoke cigarettes and
marijuana, and I think I can hold a fair bit of stuff in my lungs but
one cartridge is already enough to fill my lung to capacity.

How does nitrous feel like? Three words: Nitrous is fun! 🙂 No, that smiley doesn’t count as a word. CT
has a very good technique he passed on, basically you hyperventilate
for about 30 seconds, and during the last breath out, breath out
completely, attach balloon to mouth, inhale and hold that motherfucker
in for as long as you can. Well, like I said, I smoke so I am
comfortable with inhaling stuff. The rush of the sweet (it really does
taste sweet, I swear) gas into my lungs produced a head rush and I held
it in for a full minute and suddenly (I was sitting on the floor), I
dropped backwards and laid prone on the floor.

It’s quite obvious whipping cream is the last thing on my mind

I had the presence of mind (I have been reading too much H.P.
Lovecraft) to exhale the lungful of gas + carbon monoxide back into the
balloon for “recycling”. I remember NOFX – Idiots are Taking Over
playing and the music sounds good, but distorted…and clichéd as it
sounds, I started laughing my ass off. I inhaled the recycled gas and
held it in for another minute and everything started getting distorted
and that seemed even funnier. I was lying on the floor and I dropped my
hand over my face and realized that my face is numb! I did it again and
again and that was fun for a while, until the nitrous wore off.

How a cracker works

Yep, I loaded another cartridge, and then another one, and then
another one. 🙂 I also smoked some cannabis, and man, nitrous feel so
much better while on weed! It is quite compulsive too, I kept on
loading cartridges and refilling balloons (all the while enjoying the
ice cold cracker feeling) until every single one was gone. I did “burn”
(the opposite of burn anyway) my finger one time…I didn’t realize I was
holding on to the icy cracker for a long time and it left a mark on my
index finger.

Nitrous oxide in the cartridge is a very cold gas and the cracker
will become icy cold after a few iterations. I don’t think you’ll
actually hurt yourself seriously this way though. This is a very fun
substance indeed, I can’t wait to try it while under the influence of
other things…I would try it again on mushrooms soon, I hear it’s a
blast! 😉

Now, where did I put those Nurofen Plus tablets? I have a headache…

Supply chain management

June 14, 2003 by HB

This is a post by veritas.

Sick of your deliveries getting held up in transit? Well, we can’t help you in that aspect but we do have an alternative:

It’s Sudafed to the rescue! I’ve never had any problems with
purchasing pseudoephedrine, except this one time at Chemmart. I was
looking at the Colds and Flu department when this store attendant came
up to help. The girl was very friendly and helpful at first, getting me
a generic pseudoephedrine pack, but I saw that it had 5 mg
chlorpheniramine maleate (an antihistamine) in it too and asked for a
pseudoephedrine hydrochloride only preparation and she immediately said
they don’t carry it and walked away. Yeah, that’s real nice customer
service. I don’t even look half-dodgy, I always get asked for ID when I
buy cigarettes or alcohol. I’m not saying that I purchase
pseudoephedrine frequently though, no, of course not.

Anyway, I don’t have a stuffy nose, I’m just taking it in a (vain)
effort to stay awake. It’s a very, very poor substitute for meth
though, 320 mg + caffeine isn’t doing much to shake off the
benzodiazepine metabolites that INSIST (Why are you doing this???) on
sedating me. I am still sleepy right now, despite guzzling Coke (the
drink) like it’s going er…out of style? I don’t have any meth – supply
chain issues, hopefully will resolve itself soon. Help, I seriously
have trouble staying awake. Caffeine and pseudoephedrine is not
triggering my dopamine receptors. Damn things are spoilt by meth. Now
if only I have some red phosphorus, Lithium, anhydrous ammonia and some
organic chemistry background…

I’m kidding of course.

NOFX – Quart In Session
(right click, save target as)
[1:36 minutes 128 KBPS STEREO 44.1KHZ 1.48 MB .mp3]

[Edit: Mp3 deleted.]

It’s funny how
Nothing seems much fun anymore to me now that I don’t have meth
Coz soberness – it might be what I need but
It certainly not how I want to be
Nothing seems much fun to anymore to me…

Slight modification of lyrics.

Photo Friday – Multiples

June 13, 2003 by HB

Photo Friday – Multiples [photofriday.com]

Multiples. The recent rains and cold weather produced a flush of mushrooms around the halls compound. This is Coprinus comatus
(shaggy mane), an edible mushroom. I saw a large one growing on the
grassy lawn on the way to the campus. The large shaggy mane is
surrounded by multiples of itself, albeit smaller ones. This is in
Melbourne, Australia.

The shooting data:

Focal Length: 8mm
Exposure Mode: Programmed Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern 1/72 sec – f/2.8
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Sensitivity: Auto
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-C
Saturation Compensation: 0

The post-production work was done in Photoshop 7.0 and involves:

Image Size: Size reduced from 2048×1536 to 500×375

The ugly

June 12, 2003 by HB

Flunitrazapam (Hypnodorm, Rohypnol, “roofies”) script.

I went to the doctor today and was prescribed flunitrazepam and
clobazam for my anxiety, panic attacks and insomnia. I’m supposed to
take the Frisium (clobazam) in mid-morning (10 mg) and Hypnodorm
(flunitrazepam) at night (1 mg). Both the prescriptions belong to the
benzodiazepine family and they are pretty rare. The campus pharmacy
doesn’t stock them so I had to head down to Clayton to get them from a
bigger pharmacy. Personal and other identifying details have mosaic
applied for privacy. Yes, I really do have severe anxiety.

Clobazam (Frisium) script.

Anyway, here’s a bit of information (compiled from various sources) about both the medications:

Flunitrazepam

Hypnodorm (Flunitrazepam) bottle containing 30 tablets @ 1 mg each.

This is banned in the United States due to the hullabaloo about it
being a “date rape” drug. It is available in Australia for severe
insomnia “when all other options are exhausted”. It is Schedule 8 over
here (belongs to the same schedule as dexamphetamine) while most other
benzos are Schedule 4. Schedule 4 is “Prescription only drugs” while
Schedule 8 is “Drugs of Dependence/Addiction”. Schedule 8 prescriptions
are not easy to get due to the restricted nature, while Schedule 4 is
easier.

The scheduling into Schedule 8 is probably due to it’s notoriety as
a “date rape” drug, since a benzo is a benzo is a benzo and most
benzodiazepines are Schedule 4. However, this doesn’t mean that all
benzodiazepines “feel” the same, because they don’t, since every one
has a different affinity to different GABA binding sites.
Benzodiazepines have been compared to red wine in this sense, in that
you can “appreciate” the subtle differences between the different ones.
Flunitrazepam is marketed under Hypnodorm (generic) but it is more well
known under the name Rohypnol (F. Hoffman-La Roche). This is called
“roofies” on the street and due to the unfortunate media hype (search
for “date rape drug” and Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol) comes up, followed by
GHB – do not allow me to rant about this topic) it’s not available in
the US and it’s hard to get in most other countries as well.

The tablets are green and oval, with FM | 1 on the front and the alpha symbol on the back.

Flunitrazepam has a long half-life (18-26 hours) and it also has an
active metabolite (like Valium) that lasts 36-200 hours. Peak plasma
concentrations occur after 45 minutes, so this is one of the fast
acting benzodiazepines (like Xanax). 1 mg of Flunitrazepam is equal to
10 mg of Diazepam (Valium) or 0.5 mg of Clonazepam (Klonopin) and
Alprazolam (Xanax). It is marketed as a hypnotic (for insomnia).
Hypnodorm comes in a bottle of 30 tablets of 1 mg each. It’s not
available in other doses or sizes in Australia. 30 x 1 mg Flunitrazepam
tablets costs A$26.05 (RM 50) under my health coverage, which does not
cover prescription drugs, so I pay private (full price).

Clobazam

Clobazam (Frisium) pack containing 50 tablets @ 10 mg each.

This is another benzodiazepine that is not available in the United
States. It’s made by Hoechst and marketed under the name Frisium. This
is indicated for acute anxiety in Australia and it’s Schedule 4 like
most other benzos. An interesting tidbit about Clobazam is that it’s
the first anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) drug which belongs to the class of
1,5-benzodiazepine as opposed to the 1,4-benzodiazepine structure. This
makes it something of “historic value” to people who are interested.

This is a side view of the Frisium pack.

The different structure also makes it feel different from other
benzodiazepines, qualitative user comments mentions that the 1,5
structure makes it affect the motor functions much less than normal 1,4
benzodiazepines ie you don’t feel as physically impaired (stumbling
around etc). The half-life of Frisium is 12-60 hours and it’s marketed
as an anxiolytic and an anticonvulsant. Peak plasma concentrations
occur between 1-4 hours, so this makes it a slower acting
benzodiazepine (like Klonopin).

Frisium blister pack – front.

Frisium only comes in packs of 50 tablets containing 10 mg of
Clobazam each. The pack has 5 individual blister packs with 10 tablets
each. 20 mg of Clobazam is equivalent to 10 mg of Diazepam (Valium) and
0.5 mg of Alprazolam (Xanax) and Clonazepam (Klonopin). The pack I have
is the brand name one (Frisium) so it costs much more than generics
would. I paid A$36.15 (RM 70) for the pack of 50 x 10 mg tablets. This
is the private (full) price.

Frisium blister pack – back.

The comments to this post has been disabled. Please refrain
from commenting about this issue in the other comments box because I
prefer not to discuss this subject on the blog. You can email me if you have any pressing questions related to the post, I will answer every one. Thanks for understanding.

The tablets are white and round, with B | GL on the front and the Hoechst logo on the back.

The bad

June 12, 2003 by HB

I had an interview worth 30% of the course marks, which I just had
to miss…by 35 minutes. That’s late, considering we’re allocated 30
minutes each for the interview. I don’t understand why I had to wait 45
minutes for the 630 Huntingdale bus on a weekday. Lunch hour is no
excuse, the connection to the train didn’t go well and I only turned up
for my 12:30 pm interview at 1:05 pm. The tutor was kind enough to
reschedule it to next Monday, so that’s one good thing at least.
Anyway, I wanted to write more but I’m just coming down like a ton of
bricks right now, so here’s a picture I took today:

This scene entertained me for 15 minutes…I was waiting at the
Caulfield train station and the Pakenham/Cranbourne/Frankston line is
also used by the V/Line trains to Sale. Sale is a town which is quite
far away from Melbourne and there seems to be some kind of dog
competition going on because I saw three people with dogs in those
portable kennels. I liked the interaction between the black one and the
brown one. The black dog (being physically larger) feels he is the
dominant one and wants to make it known by making a loud “woof” when he
saw the brown dog. I like the brown one, it looks worried. 🙂

The good

June 12, 2003 by HB

I am pleased to announce that I’ve been invited to join the core group of Project Petaling Street
[petalingstreet.org]. I’m delighted by the invitation, to say the
least. 🙂 The other members are established bloggers with good content,
and I’m not sure I really fit in, but it’s an honor to join the group.
The core members of the group are:

Aizuddin Danian (http://www.aizuddindanian.com/)
Dinesh Nair (http://www.alphaque.com/)
Ditesh Kumar (http://gathani.org/)
Jeff Ooi (http://www.jeffooi.com/)
Mohan Raj (http://codeworks.blogspot.com/)
NSalleh (http://nsalleh.canggih.net/photoblog/)
Najah Nasseri (http://www.najahnasseri.org/)
Poh Huai Bin (http://www.sixthseal.com/)
TechnoLAHgy (http://www.yat.ch/lah/)
TV Smith (http://www.mycen.com.my/duasen/)

I’m excited by this project and what it’s going to do. It was kept
under wraps until today, so click on the link and see what it’s all
about.

Anyway, I just got back from campus, this is the first part of a
three post series about my day that unfortunately gets worse. I will
write the rest after I take care of some unfinished business.

Coming up:

The bad
I missed my interview today…by 35 minutes! It’s worth 30% What happens now?

The ugly
Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol, Hypnodorm, “date rape drug”), Clobazam
(Frisium). Wtf? This isn’t a veritas post? (No) What’s going on here?

Stay tuned…

ELC1000 Postmortem

June 12, 2003 by HB

ELC1000 @ Blue Diamond Room

Notice the empty room? I was one of the last ones out. The examiner
looked at me with a puzzled smile when I took this photo. I told her
this is my last semester and she went “Ah…I see”. The exam was great,
but I didn’t have enough time to write, I left one question
half-answered. It was an easy paper though, I should be able to do well
and in this site’s tradition:

Expected Grade: Distinction

Do you notice that exam halls in winter (or autumn rather) tend to
be filled with sneezes? The weather factor together with the closed
windows seems to exacerbate this even further. I’m just sitting there,
thinking hard when *sneeze*!

That’s cool man, so you’re having a cold. I feel sorry for you.
*sneeze* Okay, the cold is infectious. *sneeze* *sneeze* Very
infectious. *sneeze* (beside me) *sneeze* (the girl in front) *sneeze*
*sneeze* (somewhere behind) *sneeze*

………………..

It’s very hard to concentrate when the whole room’s a-sneezing.

I’ll be writing furiously, when I suddenly think of another
important point and put that in my memory cache (so I can write it down
when I’m done with this sentence), when out of nowhere – *SNEEZE*! Nope, lost it. Curses.

Poor AlCee
[tripod.com] had the same problem today but it was with whispering
instead of sneezing. I reckon that’s even worse as whispering has a
certain tone to it that just totally messes up your concentration. I just thought of something. ELC rhymes with AlCee.

The Blue Diamond Room @ Caulfield Racecourse. This is the last time I
sat for an exam in this room. My apologies for the out of focus photo.
I had set the custom mode to optimize for close-ups and accidentally
used that instead of auto.

Two down, two to go…

June 11, 2003 by HB

I just got back from my exams, I’ll just grab some dinner before I post again.

Oliver Twist 2003

June 10, 2003 by HB

Oliver asks for more

The room in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall, with a
copper at one end: out of which the master, dressed in an apron for the
purpose, and assisted by one or two women, ladled the meth at
mealtimes. Of this festive composition each boy had one line, and no
more — except on occasions of great public rejoicing, when he had two
points and a quarter of clonazepam besides. The bowls never wanted
washing. The boys polished them with their straws till they shone
again; and when they had performed this operation, (which never took
very long, the straws being nearly as large as the lines,) they would
sit staring at the stash, with such eager eyes, as if they could have
devoured the very bricks of which it was composed; employing
themselves, meanwhile, in sucking their straws most assiduously, with
the view of catching up any stray specks of powder that might have been
cast thereon. Boys have generally excellent appetites. Oliver Twist and
his companions suffered the tortures of slow sedation for three months;
at last they got so voracious and wild with sleepiness, that one boy:
who was tall for his age, and hadn’t been used to that sort of thing,
(for his father had kept a small meth cook’s shop): hinted darkly to
his companions, that unless he had another gram of methamphetamine per
diem, he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept
next him, who happened to be a weakly youth of tender age. He had a
wild, hungry, eye; and they implicitly believed him. A council was
held; lots were cast who should walk up to the master after supper that
evening, and ask for more; and it fell to Oliver Twist.

The evening arrived; the boys took their places. The master, in his
cook’s uniform, stationed himself at the copper; his pauper assistants
ranged themselves behind him; the meth was served out; and a long grace
was said over the short commons. The meth disappeared; the boys
whispered each other, and winked at Oliver; while his next neighbors
nudged him. Child as he was, he was desperate with sleepiness, and
reckless with fatigue. He rose from the table; and advancing to the
master, basin and straw in hand, said: somewhat alarmed at his own
temerity:

“Please, sir, I want some more meth.”

The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed
in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds; and then
clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralyzed with
wonder; the boys with fear.

“What!” said the master at length, in a faint voice.

“Please, sir,” replied Oliver, “I want some more meth.”

The master aimed a blow at Oliver’s head with the ladle; pinioned him in his arms; and shrieked aloud for the beadle.

– butchered from Charles Dickens original work (copyright expired)

Oliver took clonazepam to sleep last night.
Oliver had an exam today.
Oliver had a line of meth before taking the exam.
Oliver still felt sleepy during the exam. (curses clonazepam)
Oliver did not perform at maximum capacity.
…but Oliver did well anyway.
🙂

Crystal meth

June 9, 2003 by HB

Crystal methamphetamine!

Naturally, this is a veritas post.

Just look at those nice shards of methamphetamine! I aquired
some of this quality meth today, er…I mean last year. 😉 It has all
been consumed so it doesn’t matter when I got it, because it’s not in
my possession now. Now that the disclaimer is done with, let me proceed
with the test results. I haven’t seen nice shards of crystal meth in a
long time, so this is a real treat indeed. =D

Marquis:

A single shard *pounds heart with fist* was placed on a surface and
a drop of Marquis reagent was added. The reaction was a fast one,
bubbling and fizzing to an orange color. Orange indicates an
amphetamine type substance.

Simons:

Another shard *more pounding* was tested with two drops of Simons
reagent and two drops of buffer solution. The color change was very
fast to dark blue, it saturated the solution. Blue indicates a
secondary amine, so together with the Marquis result, it is safe to
assume that the shards of clear crystal is not sugar (or another inert
substance) but methamphetamine. 🙂

If you didn’t get the heart pounding reference, it’s a feature of
slapstick comedies when something shocking (usually financially related
i.e. a wasteful act) is done at the disapproval of the person involved.
This is presumably an attempt to get the heart beating again after the
shocking deed resulted in a cardiac arrest. I have taken the shards to
the “taste test” (or rather insufflating test) and the conclusion is
that this is Damn Good Methamphetamine or D.G.M. for short.

I am prepared for the final exams…are you? 😉

Ethical question:

Do you think it is “unfair” (cheating) to have a line of meth (or
another stimulant) before taking an exam? Please comment. Your input is
appreciated.

Personally, I don’t think so, because even though it affords extra
concentration, increased memory retrieval and (qualitatively) improves
thought processes, it’s no different from caffeine – which a lot of
people take before exams. What makes caffeine acceptable, but not
methamphetamine? The legal status? The availability? Different people
have different mental abilities too…are the smarter ones “cheating”?
Are exams really a fair and equal environment to evaluate understanding
of course material? Does being born with a gift (above average
intellectual ability) make things “okay” but not taking something to
increase performance? Is the perceived advantage given by certain
substances (in a non-competitive sporting event) wrong? How does this
fit in with drinking coffee, eating a meal and the other things people
do to improve performance in exams?

Ethical question:

Do you think it is “unfair” (cheating) to have a line of meth (or another stimulant) before taking an exam? Please comment. Your input is appreciated.

Do you think it is “unfair” (cheating) to have a line of meth (or
another stimulant) before taking an exam? Please comment. Your input is
appreciated.