Brad Does Acid

September 11, 2012 11:38 AM

Twitter user hella_brad stumbles upon a new and novel use for the platform: Livetweeting an acid trip.
posted by to sir with millipedes (130 comments total)

are you aware of the tremendous amount of reflective surfaces visible in the day to day world. there's so many

his story checks out folks
posted by nathancaswell at 11:44 AM on September 11, 2012 [43 favorites]

I'll take "Yet Another Reason I'm Glad Social Networking Wasn't Prevalent When I Was in College" for $300, Alex.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:45 AM on September 11, 2012 [42 favorites]

I found a really nice tree, I'm gonna hang around this one for a bit. a good tree to lean on and touch.

The most interesting part of my own trip was how, in a hippie-ish reversal of my usual value system, natural surfaces like tree bark felt "clean" while artificial surfaces like plastic felt "dirty".
posted by Egg Shen at 11:46 AM on September 11, 2012 [3 favorites]

WHAT THE HECK THIS GUY NEXT TO ME JUST POPPED THE EMERGENCY EXIT WINDOW OUT I'M LAUGHING SO HARD LET'S GET OFF THE BUS NOW

to be fair it doesn't start off with that
posted by twist my arm at 11:47 AM on September 11, 2012

limousines have to be the funniest looking cars they must be very secure and emotionally confident to go out every day looking like that

I really hope he's talking from the point of view of the automobiles themselves, here.
posted by invitapriore at 11:47 AM on September 11, 2012 [9 favorites]

previously on acid
posted by twist my arm at 11:50 AM on September 11, 2012

I sorta hoped he would never find the barbecue, but it sounds like it ended up okay.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:51 AM on September 11, 2012

I wish I could have gently reminded people to look at the bird but they all seemed busy. they missed out, he was friendly & nice to look at

This kind of sentiment will not fit into my public service film on the dangers of drugs. Please try again.
posted by robself at 11:51 AM on September 11, 2012 [26 favorites]

Starting off listening to R Kelly sounds like a recipe for a bad trip.
posted by mannequito at 11:52 AM on September 11, 2012 [5 favorites]

I live in a monochromatic world.
posted by dirtdirt at 11:52 AM on September 11, 2012

The most interesting part of my own trip was how, in a hippie-ish reversal of my usual value system, natural surfaces like tree bark felt "clean" while artificial surfaces like plastic felt "dirty".
posted by Egg Shen at 11:46 AM on September 11 [1 favorite +] [!]

I felt the same way about the trash bins behind the house, but I'm not proud of that.
Anyway, that was a terribly awkward read. Twitter is good for some things, but this isn't it.
posted by Stagger Lee at 11:53 AM on September 11, 2012

Starting off listening to R Kelly sounds like a recipe for a bad trip.

"I believe I can fly", perhaps?
posted by jaduncan at 11:54 AM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

DAMN everything is WAY prettier without a window in between me and it

Word.
posted by Kitteh at 11:55 AM on September 11, 2012 [4 favorites]

This surprisingly good. Going to a frat party on acid sounds like it could be lame.

Vegan guy going to a bbq at a frat party and teaching them juggle and taking them shopping for organic portabellos. Awesome.
posted by psycho-alchemy at 11:57 AM on September 11, 2012 [5 favorites]

That was a jovial and sweet read. I hope the rest of his trip ended up as happy and peaceful.
posted by batmonkey at 11:58 AM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Terrible narrative. There was zero pathos. C'mon dude, make it interesting for us. Snort like 4 huge rails real fast then tweet.

We don't want to hear about how beautiful stuff is, we want to hear how much you hate your father.
posted by Ad hominem at 12:00 PM on September 11, 2012

Did he die? It cut off so suddenly. I bet he jumped off a building thinking he could fly.
posted by empath at 12:00 PM on September 11, 2012 [5 favorites]

And, on a full read, this makes me smile and makes me happy and makes me miss tripping. I should probably fix that.
posted by jaduncan at 12:01 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think there's something inherently difficult to believe about live-tweet narratives. There's no way I could live tweet something and remain remotely coherent and engaged in the activity at the same time. But I want this to be real so I will believe it.
posted by that's candlepin at 12:03 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Dear god, if I were tripping with someone and they insisted on constantly updating their Twitter feed, I'd take their fucking phone and throw it in the river.

This guy must be insufferable.
posted by Afroblanco at 12:03 PM on September 11, 2012 [6 favorites]

Whoah, I had the same acid experience re: clean/not clean.
I was sitting on a Florida panhandle beach at night, looking at the stars and the ocean. Behind me was the party I'd just left, full of pit bulls and drunken people and women with big hair.

And I had this capital letter insight: OCEAN STARS GOOD BAD PARTY BAD. Except it was like clean clean universe dirty dirty humans.

Also, wtf somebody randomly popped an emergency window off a bus? That could seriously ruin a trip of many varieties.
posted by angrycat at 12:04 PM on September 11, 2012 [2 favorites]

Do not take the #brownacid, the #brownacid is bad.
posted by Artw at 12:05 PM on September 11, 2012 [3 favorites]

Once spent an afternoon wandering the neighborhoods of SE Portland in search for the perfect wind-chime.

Didn't find it as it's an unobtainable construct, but did hear a lot of good ones, and met some friendly cats.
posted by wcfields at 12:07 PM on September 11, 2012 [10 favorites]

MCMikeNamara: "I'll take "Yet Another Reason I'm Glad Social Networking Wasn't Prevalent When I Was in College" for $300, Alex."

Oh dear god, yes. Digital cameras also.
posted by octothorpe at 12:09 PM on September 11, 2012

The most interesting part of my own trip was how, in a hippie-ish reversal of my usual value system, natural surfaces like tree bark felt "clean" while artificial surfaces like plastic felt "dirty".

Whenever I do shrooms, I find that being indoors, listening to electronic music, dealing with things like man-made fabrics or synthetic surfaces or artificial lighting feels really terrible. Whereas things with natural texture, like clouds or grass or tree bark or distant mountains, feel very pure and attuned to my senses.

I've only ever done acid at Burning Man at night, so my experiences there are kinda like being stuck inside a giant pinball machine made of fire and lasers, but I loved it nonetheless.
posted by mykescipark at 12:09 PM on September 11, 2012 [4 favorites]

I went into a convenience store to wash my hands but the slushy machine was making a terrifying noise. lesson learned. let's stay outside

ha ha ha this rings so true
posted by neuromodulator at 12:10 PM on September 11, 2012 [14 favorites]

Blimey, it's like Twitter on acid....
posted by mippy at 12:11 PM on September 11, 2012 [2 favorites]

metafilter: full of pit bulls and drunken people and women with big hair.
posted by mannequito at 12:13 PM on September 11, 2012

On the Bigger and Blackerer DVD, David Cross has a "going to the store on acid" bit that is the best impression of someone on an acid trip I've ever seen. It's on YouTube probably but I'm at work.
posted by griphus at 12:17 PM on September 11, 2012

I guess he made some friends at the frat party and didn't feel the need to tweet anymore. That's such a comforting thought.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 12:19 PM on September 11, 2012 [2 favorites]

I don't buy it. If he was really tripping at some point he would have lost his focus on the tweeting and started looking at his phone different or getting distracted by a letter or something. Unless his minder was actually doing the tweets.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 12:20 PM on September 11, 2012

And then someone puts on Bauhaus and you end up writhing on a couch because of that obvious attempt at torture.

At least, that's what I've heard happens.
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 12:21 PM on September 11, 2012

It may not be real, but it is a perfectly cromulent account.
posted by mek at 12:22 PM on September 11, 2012

The animated gif thread just above this is so much more like what I thought being on acid is like than this twitter feed. This feed is so sweet that it almost makes me want to do acid, except that I know I'm so paranoid that I would just be cowering in the corner from the undead pigeons who wanted to eat me, rather than enjoying trees and whatnot.

laugh out loud moment: "have you ever sat down in a field of grass and sat really still and watched every blade of grass move individually in the breeze...that's what I'm doing right now only I'm not sitting still and instead of grass it's the world."

reminds me that I need to go out and look at grass more.
posted by jb at 12:23 PM on September 11, 2012

"I knew that ice cream would come in handy sooner or later"

It always does.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 12:23 PM on September 11, 2012 [2 favorites]

I don't buy it. If he was really tripping at some point he would have lost his focus on the tweeting and started looking at his phone different or getting distracted by a letter or something.

The last time I was tripping, I sent out an array of text messages and tweets with almost the exact same tone as these. The only real difference is that I didn't tell most of my interlocutors why I was sending them these messages. Sometimes, the message you send the most lovingly... is yourself. God bless.

-xBZ69x
posted by xBongzilla69x at 12:24 PM on September 11, 2012 [12 favorites]

This guy must be insufferable.

"Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."
— HL Mencken

That explains a lot about America, actually.
posted by deanklear at 12:26 PM on September 11, 2012 [29 favorites]

I can't imagine writing that coherently on acid or mushrooms.
posted by zzazazz at 12:28 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah, when I did acid, it was all about being in the moment. I can't imagine I'd want to waste my time with social media bullshit.
posted by Afroblanco at 12:34 PM on September 11, 2012 [2 favorites]

I can't imagine writing that coherently on acid or mushrooms.

One presumes you've encountered HST?
posted by digitalprimate at 12:35 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't buy it. If he was really tripping at some point he would have lost his focus on the tweeting and started looking at his phone different or getting distracted by a letter or something.

I thought the same thing too -- but then I remembered my old word processor and how many good ideas I wrote down and oh my god I'm so glad that doesn't exist anymore.

But seriously (not that I'm not serious about that), whether or not it was real, it did make me want to do acid, which, personally, was a hugely surprising reaction.

Maybe it just made me want to be 19 again.

(though I do get just this type-y happy and world-noticing when I'm drunk and alone in the city... it's probably pretty intolerable to some as well)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:36 PM on September 11, 2012

Thanks, but I think I prefer my trip narrations on youtube.
posted by Killick at 12:38 PM on September 11, 2012

Man too bad this guy didn't live-comment his trip on MetaFilter because then he'd have us to tell him that he was tripping wrong and instructions on how to trip right. Maybe then he would've had fun. You missed out, hella_brad!
posted by griphus at 12:39 PM on September 11, 2012 [26 favorites]

Using an iPhone on acid seems depressing to me, given how beautiful the world outside of a screen is.
posted by cell divide at 12:40 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

the slushy machine was making a terrifying noise

Somebody I know had some sneaky-strong cannabis edibles recently that made all the white noise he heard (fans, wind, running water) sound like music. The unfortunate bit was that it was mostly Third Eye Blind.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:40 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Let me give some more unsolicited advice for future brads -- do not go to Steak and Shake at 1 AM. There is no exception to this rule. None.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:40 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Somebody I know had some sneaky-strong cannabis edibles recently that made all the white noise he heard (fans, wind, running water) sound like music. The unfortunate bit was that it was mostly Third Eye Blind.

Most effective anti-drug commercial ever.
posted by entropicamericana at 12:42 PM on September 11, 2012 [4 favorites]

Is waffle house acceptable?
posted by squorch at 12:42 PM on September 11, 2012

I can't imagine not being able to write on acid. Never did shrooms. The brain is very much alive and functions mostly. In some respects, it functions better than ordinary. Obviously, not in all.

Once upon a time I made some recordings of my own ramblings while tripping. But I was hitchhiking cross-country. The funny part was when a car load of nuns came by. They didn't stop, but I got a laugh considering the possibility.

Latter, things got more intense as I swapped the macro and micro around in a really huge way. I think the recording actually added order to the experience. And seems obvious, it made me remember better the events of that day, while the tape is likely no longer around. Shit, that was 37 years ago, and Donny the Punk sold me the stuff. :-O
posted by Goofyy at 12:44 PM on September 11, 2012 [4 favorites]

My only complaint about acid is that after around the 200th time you do it, you don't get these sorts of experiences and it just gets giggly and boring.

Reading this made me long for those first 50-100 adventures of my youth.

Also, agreed that I can't imagine using a smart phone while tripping. That's like the worst window EVER.
posted by broadway bill at 12:48 PM on September 11, 2012

A guy once pitched a perfect game on acid and yet people can't believe that a dude could write some tweets on it.

Anyway I thought his tweets were very nice.
posted by ludwig_van at 12:48 PM on September 11, 2012 [11 favorites]

This was a pleasant read for the most part.

did anyone else cringe when he described licking his hands after fist bumping a homeless guy?
posted by galvanized unicorn at 12:52 PM on September 11, 2012

I had the barbecue-on-acid experience at a friend’s place out in the country. They had a rambling house with several extensions that was in a state of perpetual construction, and a barbecue pit in a clearing in the woods. That clearing seemed like a great place to trip.

The acid kicked in when I was grilling hot dogs, and I decided to let someone else take over after the hot dogs started undulating. Then my friend’s 14 year old brother came riding through on his dirt bike. After he passed through a couple of times he slowed down and I told him that it looked like fun. I was only trying to be genial, but he invited me to hop on back and ride along.

Like a fool, I accepted and he blasted off into the forest with me hanging on. The kid was a show off and a speed demon and he had a tight, winding course cut out through the woods. He said his parents wouldn’t let him cut down any trees... which was good, I guess. I felt like a hero, later on, after I managed to mellow out.
posted by Huplescat at 12:53 PM on September 11, 2012

A guy once pitched a perfect game on acid and yet people can't believe that a dude could write some tweets on it.

Spaceman Lee has said on a few occasions that he doesn't believe the story. He contends that Ellis was pretty full of shit in general, and the idea of anyone pitching a perfect game on acid sounds impossible to him. And he knows plenty about pitching AND drugs.
posted by Mayor Curley at 12:54 PM on September 11, 2012

It's strange to see so many people convinced this isn't real. It reads as utterly authentic to me, and an interesting experiment.

I've seen people do some very involved things while tripping, and the historical record is full of many more.

Also, several commenters may need to update their lore files, as they are sadly misguided about effects and likelihoods.
posted by batmonkey at 12:58 PM on September 11, 2012 [3 favorites]

A guy once pitched a perfect game on acid

He was also on truckloads of amphetamines, which I imagine would have dwarfed the LSD by a factor of ten.
posted by Afroblanco at 12:59 PM on September 11, 2012

Once upon a time I made some recordings of my own ramblings while tripping. But I was hitchhiking cross-country. The funny part was when a car load of nuns came by. They didn't stop, but I got a laugh considering the possibility.

This brings to mind the time I was holed up in a little beach side resort for work, we took a long weekend off, and a Jehovah's Witness convention came to town. I still had it on my tongue when they first knocked on the door asking to borrow a lighter for the bbq, and proceeded to return every hour or so to offer me food. After the 3rd or 4th time I gave up answering the door, turned off all the lights and basically hid peeking out the curtains giggling each time they showed up.
posted by mannequito at 1:01 PM on September 11, 2012 [3 favorites]

I think we're all missing what's really important here, which is that this guy was tripping on LSD and was still able to identify a portabello mushroom.
posted by mek at 1:03 PM on September 11, 2012 [13 favorites]

DEAR HATERS. I APOLOGIZE FOR IGNORING YOU. I'M JUST LIVING MY LIFE. HAVE A GOOD AFTERNOON. NAMASTE.

That alone puts the trip into the win column.
posted by whuppy at 1:08 PM on September 11, 2012 [12 favorites]

It's strange to see so many people convinced this isn't real. It reads as utterly authentic to me, and an interesting experiment.

You forgot that this is Metafilter, where people show how worldly and smart they are by immediately declaring things fake or stupid.
posted by 235w103 at 1:17 PM on September 11, 2012 [12 favorites]

A guy once pitched a perfect game on acid and yet people can't believe that a dude could write some tweets on it.

The acid no-hitter has been disproved in the most scientific way imaginable.
posted by no regrets, coyote at 1:20 PM on September 11, 2012 [2 favorites]

DAMN everything is WAY prettier without a windowpane in between me and it

"Nazz had them pretty eyes. He wanted everybody to see with pretty eyes and see how pretty it was."
posted by octobersurprise at 1:25 PM on September 11, 2012

After a few tweets, I started reading it all in Will Ferrell's Elf character voice.
posted by perhapses at 1:25 PM on September 11, 2012 [5 favorites]

I guess he didn't tweet buying the ice cream, cause how would it last from him being in the grocery store? MAGIC

i get so fucking weirded out when i'm high in public. i have far too much difficulty conversing with people and i get strange looks and i just can't even.. ugh. so this guy made it through what probably would have been a really hateful trip for me, at least being alone..
posted by ninjew at 1:34 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh, this makes me want to do acid again. Then I remember the sensation of lying in a dark room at 3am with a raging headache, trying to unclench my jaw, and I also remember that I'm middle-aged and can't do that shit anymore. Or at least I shouldn't.

Maybe.
posted by Lectrolamb at 1:35 PM on September 11, 2012

Wait until he comes down and takes a good look at that 'cute girl'.
posted by stormpooper at 1:37 PM on September 11, 2012

Is waffle house acceptable?

Not in rural northern colorado after watching an Andrew Dice Clay concert and some porn in a hotel room at a "friend's" birthday "party" and then going across the street for a plate of grits, bright lights and glaring truckers.

That is not an acceptable venue for any part of an acid trip.

I was the king of tripping in unacceptable venues.
posted by univac at 1:43 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

see also: driver's ed class on the interboro on a friday afternoon
posted by elizardbits at 1:45 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

I love how watching people under the influence of hallucinogens is simultaneously hilarious and inspiring. I am so grateful for having had a time in my life when I was an adult and free and able to rediscover my world under the influence of LSD on a bright sunny day with friends.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:03 PM on September 11, 2012 [3 favorites]

Also, I highly recommend doing this and walking down Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. At least the way it used to be, a dozen people you'd pass would recognize what you'd taken and give you the clear signal they knew, in a totally non-threatening way. At first I thought it was all in my head, but then on repeated, um excursions, this proved to be a verifiable observation, as my friends also confirmed.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:06 PM on September 11, 2012 [5 favorites]

I don't buy it. If he was really tripping at some point he would have lost his focus on the tweeting and started looking at his phone different or getting distracted by a letter or something.

I've bought it in bulk quantities, and this is absolutely 100% believable. It seems pretty clear that the subtext of just about every 'this is fake' comment is 'this doesn't mesh with what I've decided drugs must be like without having done them to any notable degree.'
posted by FatherDagon at 2:18 PM on September 11, 2012 [10 favorites]

found a rly nice waterbottle on the ground in quad but I misspelled every word in this tweet the first time I typed it so I'm not keeping it

Awesome. This all reads as completely legit to me, especially the sort of "sudden weird signs point to no" tweets.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:49 PM on September 11, 2012

Going to a frat party on acid sounds like it could be lame.

The worst acid trip I ever took, we went to a frat house with some people we sort of knew, and right after we got there the phone rang and one of the frat brothers was told that one of their other brothers had just driven his car off a freeway overpass and died, and a minute later the dead boy's girlfriend showed up and one of the frat brothers had to tell her, right there in the room with us.
posted by Fnarf at 2:59 PM on September 11, 2012 [4 favorites]

I can hear LEVELS!

I'm in the middle of campus and everything is still except for that squirrel in the tree right there hey squirrel...

it would have been funnier if that were the last tweet.

limousines have to be the funniest looking cars they must be very secure and emotionally confident to go out every day looking like that

I notice a (minor) theme.
posted by mrgrimm at 3:01 PM on September 11, 2012

Now, I should remind you that once you can see things then things can see you...
posted by Artw at 3:04 PM on September 11, 2012 [3 favorites]

It's definitely possible to tweet while tripping hard; I've done it. Although the touch-sensitive display on an iPhone is.. ..really weird, if you think about it too hard. Possibly because the display appears to be moving with your finger, but the tactile sensation is of it moving against your finger.

Anyway, using a smartphone (like a lot of other things) on acid isn't a problem provided you don't try to think about what you're actually doing; once you do that, you're lost.
posted by doop at 3:05 PM on September 11, 2012

That was just lovely, it made me smile. I'm so glad he had a wonderful day.
posted by Sebmojo at 3:10 PM on September 11, 2012

Fnarf:

Damn.
posted by nosila at 3:15 PM on September 11, 2012

Oh, that was such a delightful and nostalgia-inducing read. Made my day. Thanks to sir with millipedes and Brad!
posted by treepour at 3:23 PM on September 11, 2012

I've bought it in bulk quantities, and this is absolutely 100% believable. It seems pretty clear that the subtext of just about every 'this is fake' comment is 'this doesn't mesh with what I've decided drugs must be like without having done them to any notable degree.'


I spoke from....experience. I've posted elsewhere about THAT.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 3:23 PM on September 11, 2012

This post made me very happy. And regretful that I wasted all those chances to try psychedelics in college. But mostly happy.
posted by indubitable at 3:29 PM on September 11, 2012

Fuck - at first I was all cynical and shit, but then I'm like - oh yeah... LSD! Now I wanna trip :(
posted by symbioid at 3:45 PM on September 11, 2012 [2 favorites]

Metafilter: I knew that ice cream would come in handy sooner or later.
posted by symbioid at 3:51 PM on September 11, 2012

Damnit! An even better one:

Metafilter: buncha tribal savages tapping away on glowing screens
posted by symbioid at 3:57 PM on September 11, 2012

have you ever really stared at an apartment building and tried to compreheld like how many people were in there doing life stuff

I have.
posted by malapropist at 4:46 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

I spoke from....experience. I've posted elsewhere about THAT.

This seems to be a recurring issue for you -- the inability to understand that your experience doesn't define things that are external from you. I say this as someone who has driven a car while tripping (not recommended)
posted by to sir with millipedes at 5:16 PM on September 11, 2012 [3 favorites]

Oh, come on! Not only does he remain more-or-less coherent, apparently losing no skills higher than his ability to use the "shift" key... He spelled "kombucha" correctly? Gimme a frickin' break.

Sorry, but fake-fake-fakety-fake. You can't tweet while lying face down fascinated by the waves crashing across the surface of the carpet. You can't even write very well, for that matter - Attempts to do so, if at all recognizable, look like a six year old writing up a description of their picture of a horse-that-actually-looks-like-a-blue-rock.

And apparently he did this by texting his tweets, a feat of dexterity some unimpaired adults can barely manage? Sorry, but he'd more likely have stared in rapt fascination at all the things reflected off the surface of the phone and the adorable (or annoying, depending on his mood) way it kept going "bip!" every time he touched a key, than managed to use it in any way connected with "communication".

And visiting a frat party? I knew a good number of trippers in my youth, and not one would have ever, ever dropped prior to going out to a large social event; much less a place full of drunks known to behave in a hostile manner toward the sort of "hippies" that trip rather than sticking to weed and beer.

/ Did I mention, "fake"?
// Either that, or he doesn't know the difference between acid and atavan.
posted by pla at 5:22 PM on September 11, 2012 [3 favorites]

I found the rest of his tweets, and apparently he stopped posting because the battery on hs phone died, and it seemed he was only a few hours in, so he stopped before he peaked probably.

Though me and friend once abandoned a car at a stop light thinking it was out of gas, when my friend had actually just stalled it out because driving a stick shift while tripping is hard. So maybe he just forgot how his phone worked at one point.
posted by empath at 5:23 PM on September 11, 2012

I've done TONS of research into hallucinogens and have concluded I need to try one, at least once. Wish I knew where to find this stuff in Baltimore. But I have no friends locally, and the ones I know in the DC area and CA (meaning "California" AND "Canada") don't know anyone, either, so I'm kinda fucked.

Plus, I read it's been known to get some people to kick -- or at least significantly mediate -- their alcohol dependence, so . . . nice side bonus for me there, too.

Instead, I'll just keep drinking, I guess. Sigh.
posted by CommonSense at 5:26 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Mushrooms are a lot easier to get... Hell, if you're desperate, you can order spores online and grow them yourself.
posted by empath at 5:32 PM on September 11, 2012

The first time or two I took acid my experience was pretty much like this guy's - the whole, "Man, aren't trees awesome"- sort. Problem was, each subsequent time (I'm sure having something to do with increasing my dosage) got progressively worse, to the point where I eventually started to have nothing but bad trips. I'm sure if I had live-tweeted any of those, it would have made for an incredibly dull, monotonous read:

"Please let me control my own thoughts again"

"Please let me control my own thoughts again"

"Please let me control my own thoughts again"
posted by The Gooch at 5:32 PM on September 11, 2012 [3 favorites]

FatherDagon : It seems pretty clear that the subtext of just about every 'this is fake' comment is 'this doesn't mesh with what I've decided drugs must be like without having done them to any notable degree.'

Good try, but... No. Those of us calling it fake do so because you can't do most of that crap while tripping. Yes, you can indeed have brief moments of lucidity in which you can do just about anything "normal". No way in hell would anyone on more than 250 mics maintain the presence of mind to tweet their experiences and retain a basic grasp of spelling and grammar.

Someone legit, even trying this, would have agonized over how to spell the sound you make when softly moaning in (nonsexual) delight at the particular way a marble rolls down the stairs.

Maybe on a first time "second day" attempt to trip, with only one hit left of some fairly weak blotter. Maybe. I'd still call it far more likely he either faked the whole thing or got screwed by his dealer and had no frame of reference to know better.
posted by pla at 5:40 PM on September 11, 2012

empath: So I've read, but my eyes start to glaze over when I read the instructions. It probably doesn't help that I can't stand mushrooms as an actual food. I'm actually willing to make an exception (I'd probably do the old "hide it in a cupcake" routine if I ever got some) if I were able to get some, but . . . I can't.

A woman of questionable reputation once gave me half an Ecstasy pill, about a year or so ago, and I still haven't tried it, but . . . I'm guessing it's too late for that now. And I know it would hardly even compare.
posted by CommonSense at 5:40 PM on September 11, 2012

I once used three 90-minute cassettes to record a trip I took alone in the middle of winter in my apartment. That was in 1999 or so, and I haven't listened to them since, but I still have them. I should digitize and post them somewhere on a tumblr.

I do remember that there was a lot of time where I'd forgotten I'd pressed the record button, and I was just moaning, "wow... wow... it's the... wow... it's so amazing," before remembering I was carrying a tape recorder.
posted by not_on_display at 5:42 PM on September 11, 2012 [2 favorites]

Good try, but... No. Those of us calling it fake do so because you can't do most of that crap while tripping.

I mean, I appreciate this is your experience on acid, but I find I can do all sorts of strenuous activities exceedingly well on LSD, including pretty technical stuff like canoeing and hiking. For me it differs from other more physically disabling hallucinogens in that respect (eg. mushrooms). Texting is not exactly outside the realm of possibility, especially with young people who have been texting their entire lives (scary, I know). I also appreciate that a lot of people lose their spelling/grammar skills rapidly when intoxicated. There are others who can retain the ability to type well after they're having trouble walking.

I think you're also projecting the wrong sense of "frat party" here - this guy is Canadian, and Canadian frats are often overachiever keener student groups, rather than an excuse for binge drinking.
posted by mek at 5:49 PM on September 11, 2012 [2 favorites]

quit saying 'hella'
posted by This, of course, alludes to you at 5:52 PM on September 11, 2012

Although livetweeting represents a horrendous waste of LSD, there's no doubt in my mind these could be real. Remember, we have no idea how much acid he took. One hit? Fuck, I could take one hit and do pretty much anything. 22 hits? Well, that's another story....
posted by Afroblanco at 6:06 PM on September 11, 2012

Good try, but... No. Those of us calling it fake do so because you can't do most of that crap while tripping. Yes, you can indeed have brief moments of lucidity in which you can do just about anything "normal". No way in hell would anyone on more than 250 mics maintain the presence of mind to tweet their experiences and retain a basic grasp of spelling and grammar.

Things I have done on acid (not at the same time): driven a car, worked a deep frier at a restaurant, provided windows technical support to my father, danced, djed, navigated the smithsonian, lost my virginity, talked to the police, worked an unfamiliar remote control, guided a lost friend out of a haunted house, made phone calls, gone grocery shopping, picked up a girl at a bar (who was sober), swam in the ocean, wrote music.

One can manage, though clearly its difficult when you are going through complete ego death and rebirth. An LSD trip takes a long time, and the come up and come down are fairly easy to act fairly normal during.
posted by empath at 6:08 PM on September 11, 2012 [8 favorites]

And I know it would hardly even compare

They're very similar, and both are worth trying, but half a hit of old ecstasy is very likely to do nothing.
posted by empath at 6:10 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Canadian frats are often overachiever keener student groups, rather than an excuse for binge drinking

heh yea, people look at me funny if I mention that I dated a guy that was president (or whatever the title was, can't remember) of a frat - I always have to explain that they're not like that in Toronto, and this frat was a particularly artsy one. god did they have great parties!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 6:27 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

No way in hell would anyone on more than 250 mics maintain the presence of mind to tweet their experiences and retain a basic grasp of spelling and grammar.

Who said he took 250 mics? These days, a "standard" hit of LSD tends to be 75-100 micrograms.
posted by crazy_yeti at 6:28 PM on September 11, 2012 [3 favorites]

Metafilter: We don't want to hear about how beautiful stuff is, we want to hear how much you hate your father.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 6:53 PM on September 11, 2012

No no no! Everyone! You've got it all wrong! PLA had a different experience than you! He's a really cool smart guy and definitely right!
posted by to sir with millipedes at 6:56 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

It really depends on the dose. Half a hit of weak acid and I could do math homework or set off fireworks without issue. Three hits of acid and I might spend four hours opening and closing a door watching how the light made the imaginary paintings on the wall start dancing while telling my friends how awesome the light makes the blue look.
posted by Veritron at 7:08 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

I was ready to come at this with my rage hammer, seeing that he planned on doing drugs and go somewhere (that to my American mind means drive) but I was pleasantly surprised. And so I'll just quell my anger here too, since some of you admit to driving and its not my place to lecture.

A lot of his thoughts and reactions are how I naturally think: genuinely looking at the proportions of mundane objects; greeting and caring about small creatures; seeing the reflections off things and imagining the pattern they make when they collide mid air; looking at a cemetery and imagining all the bones, or a retirement home and all the old people.
Is there a word for this kind of abstract-yet-routed-in-the-physical-world thought? Either way, I love it when my brain goes there, and after this I'd seriously consider taking the steps to figure out how to get some acid.
posted by FirstMateKate at 7:16 PM on September 11, 2012

pla: "And visiting a frat party? I knew a good number of trippers in my youth, and not one would have ever, ever dropped prior to going out to a large social event; much less a place full of drunks known to behave in a hostile manner toward the sort of "hippies" that trip rather than sticking to weed and beer."

The best shrooms I ever got were from a frat guy. Then again, he sold us bunk acid microdot, bunk hashish (we jokingly called it "piano wax") and... bunk shrooms. But he did deliver the goods on quite a few occasions.

That said you're right, I couldn't stand to deal with any fuckin' "bros" now, not like my current condition lends itself to psychedelics anyways.
posted by symbioid at 7:18 PM on September 11, 2012

And so I'll just quell my anger here too, since some of you admit to driving and its not my place to lecture.

I was 19 and it was 20 years ago. I do not recommend driving on LSD.
posted by empath at 7:30 PM on September 11, 2012

Things I have done on acid:

1. Driven from Rapid City, SD to Washington, DC in one shot. I needed something that would keep me awake because school started the next day. Yes, I realize that there are about 27 fucked up things about this statement.

2. Rode my bike from San Francisco to Santa Cruz.

3. Taken and passed an organic chemistry mid term. I had been dosed without my knowledge at a party the night before and this was my second time taking the course and knew my stuff frontwards and backwards.

Then there's major league pitcher Dock Ellis' no hitter on LSD.

I don't tweet much, but I think it would be a trivial task on acid. Not like, say, trying to order at a restaurant with a straight face.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:42 PM on September 11, 2012 [4 favorites]

Note: I don't do stuff like this anymore. Usually, just in the evenings, after my children have gone to bed.

Stay in school, kids.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:44 PM on September 11, 2012 [2 favorites]

Empath, I'm really not trying to have that argument, I promise. I understand you do dumb things when you're stupid. As long as people [and not just the person doing them] realize that, then there's no grief to be had- what's done is done.
posted by FirstMateKate at 7:45 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Never took acid. Only shroomed once. In Berkeley. Watching Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense live at the Greek Theatre. Seemed like the reasonable thing to do. Seeing the lights on the Bay Bridge, individual people unknowingly contributing to the light show I was watching, was pretty darned awesome at the time. Never did it again.
posted by ga4ry at 9:48 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is great fun and rings true. What happens after taking LSD can vary a lot, even with roughly the same amount from the same batch. Some years back, I overdid it and couldn't even move off the floor of my very tiny bedroom for about six hours, reduced to some kind of single-cell word virus catapulting through the void forever, but then popped up feeling alert/weird and bashed out a column for Tabloid.net that veered wildly between happy reflections on the night breeze coming through the window/how the corner of Haight & Steiner outside looked like an alive Edward Hopper painting and waves of fury over my co-editor leaving a Sheryl Crow CD playing on repeat in his computer's CD-ROM drive, I think as some kind of intentional punishment for my dereliction of duty that night. Then I sat outside at a cafe up the street and smiled at birds and leaves for a couple of hours, just like this dude. More people should document their happy drug trips on Twitter!
posted by kenlayne at 10:37 PM on September 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is so, so wonderful.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 10:45 PM on September 11, 2012

Everyone should be a friend to small birds who are not being paid attention to. It's the only honorable course of action.
posted by moneyjane at 12:09 AM on September 12, 2012 [2 favorites]

I enjoyed reading this! If there were pages I would call it a page-turner.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 1:15 AM on September 12, 2012

Man this make me want to be 20 again and listening to Fugazi In On The Kill Taker on acid hiding from my roommates second year of college.
posted by twiggy32 at 1:52 AM on September 12, 2012

Try talking to bedrock sometime. Like, under Manhattan. Only at 6 AM when you've been up all night, talking to the trees growing on top of the bedrock. My first trip, a double-hitter. 380 Riverside Drive, Manhattan. Riverside Park is awesome, especially so from a 4th-floor window, at night, on acid. So much perfect rolled up into that trip.
posted by Goofyy at 3:02 AM on September 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

I had a friend who LOVED to go to the frat parties and dance and drink tons of beer when he tripped. Four of us would drop, start listening to Pink Floyd and looking at our hands in amazement, and then he would stand up and say, "Well, boys, I'm off to Phi-Kap!" and the big boy from Georgia would lumber out of the room, and I would imagine kettle drums punctuating his every step, as he walked out of the room, leaving the door open behind him, while we sat there doing whipits and watching Led Zep tumble out of the speakers, wondering how he could possibly survive out there. He had a great time!
posted by not_on_display at 4:20 AM on September 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

Not only does he remain more-or-less coherent, apparently losing no skills higher than his ability to use the "shift" key... He spelled "kombucha" correctly?

For some of us, spelling "kombucha" correctly comes as naturally as breathing or making love to the wild wind of nature.

Go in peace, brother, and may serenity find you.

-xBZ69x
posted by xBongzilla69x at 6:07 AM on September 12, 2012 [3 favorites]

this house is like a maze, so many twists and turns

A a maze of twisty little passages, all alike? He's lucky; he could've been eaten by a grue.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:32 AM on September 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

Good try, but... No. Those of us calling it fake do so because you can't do most of that crap while tripping.

Maybe... you just can't handle your shit? The rest of us don't seem to have that issue.
posted by FatherDagon at 7:33 AM on September 12, 2012 [9 favorites]

I can't state strongly enough how wonderful this made me feel. Like, swelled-heart glowing nostalgia. It certainly rings true from my experience. As a few have noted upthread, dealing with a smartphone or whatever would be do-able, if not easy. Dealing with restaurants / foodstores / etc. is a little bit harder. I remember being in a Burger King or something with a few friends, early evening, and I.just.could.not.keep.my.shit.together. It was so weird, and alienating, and defamiliarizing . . . I stood on a table and had to announce my mental state to everyone in the establishment. We ALL lost our shit then, and ran out, laughing maniacally. We ended up in a public park, and the rest of the evening and night were wonderful.

I would like to continue to try to cultivate that sense of childlike wonder, the sense of "beginner's mind" . . . but yeah, reading hella_brad's experience made me feel really good.
posted by exlotuseater at 8:51 AM on September 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

My friend and I would get stoned in college and go to the local porn theater. And we would make up our own dialogue. We were brilliant.
posted by Kokopuff at 12:42 PM on September 12, 2012

I can't state strongly enough how wonderful this made me feel. Like, swelled-heart glowing nostalgia. It certainly rings true from my experience.

That's one of the coolest things about LSD to me. You don't need to ever take it again. You can still feel it IN YOUR MIND'S EYE.
posted by mrgrimm at 1:30 PM on September 12, 2012

crazy_yeti : Who said he took 250 mics? These days, a "standard" hit of LSD tends to be 75-100 micrograms.

Fair point. I assumed too much.


FatherDagon : Maybe... you just can't handle your shit? The rest of us don't seem to have that issue.

Quite possible, though following up on crazy_yeti's point, I'd call it more likely that we just have different goals in our use. IMO, if you can still function normally on it - you've completely missed the point of experimenting with strong hallucinogens in the first place. ;)

Just an opinion, though.
posted by pla at 3:24 PM on September 12, 2012

The High Price of a Degree in LSD
posted by homunculus at 11:15 AM on September 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

For what it's worth, I find it all entirely feasible. And it brings me heartwarming recollections, too.
posted by holist at 2:04 PM on September 14, 2012

The account made me yearn for younger and simpler times. We forget how to look properly at things and fight what the universe is giving us all too often.

Thanks for the reminder, hella_brad :)
posted by elphTeq at 5:25 PM on September 14, 2012

Starts out sweet, but then it becomes about me, me, ME... where are the other people? ME leading, ME teaching... even on acid can't he see the humans beyond the frat boy façade?
posted by Tom-B at 10:01 AM on September 15, 2012

It seems appropriate that a trip centered on tweeting is highly self-absorbed.
posted by mek at 11:46 AM on September 16, 2012