Monday of last week brought me a second opportunity to explore the world of weed. Since I am new to smoking, I wanted to conduct some experiments to measure cognitive enhancements or inhibitions. I constructed a list of things I wanted to compare doing while sober and while high. The list is as follows:
Some of the most pivotal points I wished to explore are:
With this list in mind, I prepared for a period of cannabis indulgence. I gathered my materials and rolled a spliff using Jasmine tea and my indica cannabis. I went for a walk, around 4 PM, on the trail in the woods behind my home. I lit up, started smoking. After about 10 minutes, the fuzzy, pulsing, visually magnified feeling I experienced during my first time smoking returned to my body. However, this time it came in incremental waves. The first wave was a mild high, followed by a more intense and zoom-y wave of THC and CBD about 5 minutes after the first. The third was really intense, and I feared that I was beginning to get too high. Ahead I noticed an adult woman walking towards me, and I began to panic. At this time, I had totally forgotten about my experimentation, which tells me a little something about one of my points. In fear of interacting with this mysterious woman, I turned around and began walking (briskly) back home. In my panic, I neglected to take any hits from my joint, which became extinguished after being starved of oxygen for several minutes.
Approaching my house, I decided that I was high enough, though I had no idea where to go with my joint. I did not want to finish it, but it had weed in it. After contemplation, I decided to hide my joint where I could find it again and smoke it. I carefully pulled out the ashy, charred remnants of weed and tea and twisted the end to re-seal it. I then placed it carefully inside a hollow tube that constructs the frame for my mailbox.
Inside, I remembered my list of experiments. I started with music. I fetched my bass clarinet, started soaking a reed in water, the sight of which made me really really thirsty. I tried pouring myself a glass of water. I wasn't unsuccesful, but I had much difficulty seeing things as objects rather than dreamy pictures. I had to force myself to focus otherwise my vision would space out and I would simply stand in place, lost in thought. My physical ability to pour water was not hindered, however I did not really feel as if I was pouring water as much as it seemed that I was watching myself lucidly dream of pouring water. I then set up my music, and started playing. It was really difficult. I could not for the life of me keep my mouth wet enough to produce a good sound on clarinet. I became frustrated and ended up stopping really quickly, choosing to listen to music and browse the internet. Music while high is something I cannot even begin to describe. I was listening to the World of Warcraft soundtrack, and I got totally absorbed. I forgot to see and feel and I just listene d. Wow. I must have been sitting in my chair absorbed with the WoW OST for an hour, because I started noticing that the visual zooming and stop-motion effects were wearing off, and I just felt super relaxed and happy. For some reason I did not experience any munchies at this point, but I didn't care.
Waking myself up from the reprieve, I modified my checklist with some notes.
- Composing, reading, and playing music.
- Random internet browsing
- Physical activity
- Homework (Specifically a thesis for my lit class)
- Homework (Specifically an assignment for my calc class)
- Playing video games of various genres.
- Reading my favourite book
Some of the most pivotal points I wished to explore are:
- Interpersonal interaction (ie, talking to people)
- Eating food
- Appreciation of nature.
- Cognition and memory performance.
- General ability to complete basic tasks
With this list in mind, I prepared for a period of cannabis indulgence. I gathered my materials and rolled a spliff using Jasmine tea and my indica cannabis. I went for a walk, around 4 PM, on the trail in the woods behind my home. I lit up, started smoking. After about 10 minutes, the fuzzy, pulsing, visually magnified feeling I experienced during my first time smoking returned to my body. However, this time it came in incremental waves. The first wave was a mild high, followed by a more intense and zoom-y wave of THC and CBD about 5 minutes after the first. The third was really intense, and I feared that I was beginning to get too high. Ahead I noticed an adult woman walking towards me, and I began to panic. At this time, I had totally forgotten about my experimentation, which tells me a little something about one of my points. In fear of interacting with this mysterious woman, I turned around and began walking (briskly) back home. In my panic, I neglected to take any hits from my joint, which became extinguished after being starved of oxygen for several minutes.
Approaching my house, I decided that I was high enough, though I had no idea where to go with my joint. I did not want to finish it, but it had weed in it. After contemplation, I decided to hide my joint where I could find it again and smoke it. I carefully pulled out the ashy, charred remnants of weed and tea and twisted the end to re-seal it. I then placed it carefully inside a hollow tube that constructs the frame for my mailbox.
Inside, I remembered my list of experiments. I started with music. I fetched my bass clarinet, started soaking a reed in water, the sight of which made me really really thirsty. I tried pouring myself a glass of water. I wasn't unsuccesful, but I had much difficulty seeing things as objects rather than dreamy pictures. I had to force myself to focus otherwise my vision would space out and I would simply stand in place, lost in thought. My physical ability to pour water was not hindered, however I did not really feel as if I was pouring water as much as it seemed that I was watching myself lucidly dream of pouring water. I then set up my music, and started playing. It was really difficult. I could not for the life of me keep my mouth wet enough to produce a good sound on clarinet. I became frustrated and ended up stopping really quickly, choosing to listen to music and browse the internet. Music while high is something I cannot even begin to describe. I was listening to the World of Warcraft soundtrack, and I got totally absorbed. I forgot to see and feel and I just listene d. Wow. I must have been sitting in my chair absorbed with the WoW OST for an hour, because I started noticing that the visual zooming and stop-motion effects were wearing off, and I just felt super relaxed and happy. For some reason I did not experience any munchies at this point, but I didn't care.
Waking myself up from the reprieve, I modified my checklist with some notes.
- Interpersonal interaction: Scary as hell
- Playing a wind instrument: Impossible with cottonmouth
- Listening to Music: Absolutely fantastic
- General ability to accomplish basic tasks: Somewhat difficult with strong CBD high, as I was in a disorienting dreamlike state of mind.