[ExI] hartman spoiled my fun, plus nova

[spike at rainier66.com]

After our discussion of psychedelics here, I Googled on it and found the
generic term is "acid."  Ah, so that is what that guy at Woodstock meant
about some bad acid going around.  Now I am hip to that term.

I have long heard that the placebo effect is powerful, so I had an idea: I
would eat some placebo "acid" and see if I got all psychedelic.  I have acid
here, a perfectly safe kind: boric.  It is the active ingredient in
eyedrops.  So I put a drop of it on a sugar cube, then gave myself
self-hypnosis to forget that this was boric acid rather than the other "bad"
acid (I have no idea where one would get such a substance (and do not wish
to find out (I suffer a deplorable lack of curiosity on that.)))  OK so the
self-hypnosis worked: I couldn't remember what it was I hypnotized myself to
forget.  So I figured that would give the placebo effect a fighting chance.

It worked!  I was getting all trippy, colorful room, incense, guru softly
plucking at a sarod, naked nymph feeding me honeydew, the works.  Cool!

Well... Problem.  The placebo effect is real but only kinda works.  My trip
didn't stay pleasant and trippy.  I suffered a bad trip.  Her fully-clothed
husband showed up.  And... he was Sergeant Hartman from Full Metal Jacket!
Naturally he was most annoyed.  He ripped my head off and shit down my
throat.  

When I regained consciousness, Mrs. Hartman and her clothing were gone, the
guru was stuffed into the toilet so deep only his feet were sticking out.  I
saw myself groping around looking for me, perhaps hoping to put me in the
freezer until Max and Alcor friends showed up.  I couldn't find me of course
because my eyes were over here.  Calling out to me was similarly useless
because my ears were similarly dislocated, but calling out was impossible
anyway because I had dislocated lungs.

Fortunately the drug wore off, and my chess ability returned to normal.

OK then, never mind that.  Fun and games, but this next part is not.  I
seriously debated whether to put this link in the same post as the silliness
above, and eventually decided to do it.  You know me: I write stuff like
that placebo trip nonsense.  But this Nova program is not silliness, it is
damn serious stuff, so if you choose to view it, do pretend it isn't in the
same post with the angry sergeant spoiling my pleasant meal with Mrs.
Hartman.

This Nova definitely does spoil my fun, because I have family all over West
Virginia coal country and I do have relatives who have suffered addictions,
specifically in the area of Welch, which they talk about a lot in this grim
program.  Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ-qX3yrxC0

spike