The alternative title being "The Le Mans BBQ" but that doesn't get the curiousity tingling as much does it?
Anyways, a while back I wrote about my very first drug experience here. I was invited to a BBQ for the Le Mans 24 Hour race weekend, and there I took my drug experiences upto the grand number of two OMG! But first, the Le Mans BBQ, and what was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.
It has become a yearly tradition for Will to host a BBQ for the Le Mans 24 hour race. I was invited last year but other commitments meant I couldn't make it, but when the invitation came round this year, I firmly declared my intent of attendance. Now, Will himself will admit far too easily that the timing of the BBQ for Le Mans is basically a wafer thin premise for a piss-up weekend. Looking back, I think we *just about* managed to catch the start and we watched for some extended periods the day after when we were all too tired and hungover to try and do anything else, but you're probably asking what has this got to do with drugs?!?
To go back to the start, there is a National Express bus stop literally a stone's throw away from Will's new place, so the travel down was pretty much pre-determined. I got a National Express coach down from Birmingham, and wow are the National Express coaches awesome. Very large and comfortable seats, with ample leg room which is good for me as whilst I might not be the tallest I do tend to slouch in the chairs. Along with that, they had those infamous circular air con fans along the immediate ceiling, and unlike all the school trips I went on in my youth, the air con was impressive, I was not reqwuired to hold my head within millimetres of the fan to experience a weak breeze, so I was mucho chuffed with that as well.
Dropped some of my stuff over at Will's before heading over to his parent's place for the actual BBQ itself and I promptly made a start on the drinking. To mix up festivities I took along Rock Band minus the drums, so we had 3/4 the fun. Despite the lack of drums, it has proven to be a game that literally anyone can come in and have fun.
What with it being a glorious day we also went and played some American Football, I was hoping for regular footie but it was still pretty cool - I scored the first touchdown but my team lost in the end :(. As I discovered the day after, I took a knock to my ribs, thought it may have been broken but was assured that I had just bruised the muscle. It took like 2 weeks for it to stop hurting when I put pressure on it or twisted it. That was pretty lame as it really interfered with my sleep at first but thankfully that's all cleared up now.
Moving on to the drugs itself and as the BBQ was starting to kick off, this guy Lee (back in the day he was known as Chem Soc Lee, giving it an oriental twist ), who has become a renowned "druggie" as my Nan would pigeonhole, started passing round a joint. I found it a little humourous (although not enough to throw out a snigger) that this girl Claire (very cute btw) passed on the offer which left it to me where I took a few drags, only for her to proceed to do so as well when I passed it on.
Interspersing the yummy food (did I ever say BBQs are awesome?) I had a few more smokes with Lee; getting in to the evening and I popped out for a smoke, so there's just me and Lee there and he asks me if I've ever done ecstacy....I was quoting Scrubs where Carla asked Turk to see I love you just like Astro the Dog, so there's me going "Raggy! Raggy! I Wuv you! ...RAGGY! Where are you!"
I replied no, but I was incredibly curious and empowered thanks to a sense of being a combination of merry and high, that I was not going to back down on this opportunity that had presented itself. I was asking what were the side effects I was likely to experience, in particular how badly I was going to crash. Lee could have told me my foot was going to drop off, and I would still have gone through with it, I was that made up in my mind.
Now, Lee actually told me to make the open can of the 'bow I had my last one in order to enoy the E I had just done, but I kinda went against that advice. Now it's supposed to be experienced best at clubs with loud dance music banging away - it made me wonder if there wasn't a rather large placebo effect, or perhaps I was expecting a much greater effect. We popped inside, grabbing some food, sat down some people with rocking out on Rock Band. For some strange reason, I felt the need to do a Scooby Doo impression, aided greatly by a mouthful of burger. It was either that and/or I was quoting Scrubs where Carla asked Turk to see I love you just like Astro the Dog, so there's me going "Raggy! Raggy! I Wuv you! ...RAGGY! Where are you!" I remember it very distinctively, only cos Lee absolutely lost it, to which I kept on going - he was holding his sides by the end of it, I was laughing cos he cracked up so much over it, everyone else looking slightly confused and intrigued to what could have been so funny.
I did bother Lee to perhaps try some more, but the first taste was on the house and he wanted some money for any more. In fact, it seemed like he called pretty much everyone in his phonebook to see if they wanted to come along to the BBQ and purchase some drugs from him - bear in mind at this time it must have easily have been around midnight, if not later :s
In reflection, there is a big environmental factor to the experience gained from E, that was the general consensus I learnt, so it's difficult for me to say whether it was a good or bad experience. That being said, Bill Hicks perhaps has the greatest argument on drugs. He goes on to say that he's had both good times and bad with drugs, but will he give them up? No, his argument being that he's had both good times and bad times with women, but he's definitely not going to give up pussy. Bad experiences are there to build character or so they say.
I am a well-renowned hesitator (so much so I was going to throw out a whole post on it but I binned it) in pretty much all parts of my life, from telling people how I really feel to crossing the street, but it's strange (but satisfying) that I have taken both opportunities for drug-taking. A part of me thinks that I could get into the semi-habit of smoking weed, if only to de-stress from time to time. Thankfully for my health (and my wallet) I am not that well-connected, which is the main reason why I'm making such a deal out of these experiences, as alluded to in part 1.
Other little nuggets about the weekend, I learnt how to play the darts game "Killer", very cool game, very much like Uno where you can get so close to winning and then have it snatched away from you just with less cards and more darts I guess. Also, Will still owns me at Call of Duty multiplayer, especially with low numbers where it becomes a game of waiting and biding your time - I simply don't have enough patience for that - enter me going for many suicide runs down the streets only to get picked off by Will who has been patiently looking out a particular window, waiting for me to break, arg!
(Is anyone else tired of the constant bracket text?)
