- Flashback -

Wow, talking about taking me back in time.  Smoking small amounts of marijuana, or cannabis, in private, is now legal in Colorado.  I have watched the media cover this, along with the selling of sales licenses, since the new year, and never really thought much about it.  Today, I stopped inside the local bus station to get a sip of water from the fountain,and was asked something I haven't been asked in years - "Do you have a few extra rolling papers I can have?"  I told the young man that I didn't, and got my water and went back to my pick-up area.  Then I started trying to remember when I had last been approached and asked for "rolling papers"...  and had to admit that the last time I remember that happening, I was at a concert that featured Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Roger McGuinn at the University of Florida.  In trying to pinpoint the year, the closest I could come was 1976 or 1977 - I know it was before I cut my right index finger off two days before Thanksgiving in 1977...  I know who I went to the concert with, and that we traveled on his motorcycle, and I remember having a wonderful time.  Marijuana never did anything "for" me - it just made me giggle insanely at everything, so I only used it once or twice.
  My Dad was an alcoholic, and, other than trying to drink for a little while, in college, I gave that up, too.  I suffer from migraine headaches, and alcohol brings them on - even though I didn't know it at the time.  All I knew was I always had a "hang over" that lasted a week, and that I'd spend most of the 24 hours after I stopped imbibing in the bathroom - either throwing up or with diarrhea.  Neither was pleasant, so I stopped doing that, also. I have to admit that up until 6 years ago, I occasionally - once or twice a year - had a cocktail.  But I don't really like the taste, and I have an allergic reaction to gin, so I've stopped drinking.
  I never tried LSD, but I did have a good dose of psychedelic mushrooms one night; at least, I was told they were -   The next day my friends told me about all these strange mental experiences they had; while I don't remember a thing out of the ordinary happening to me, mentally or physically....  I figure either I didn't ingest enough to "get high," or that I just didn't react to it for some unknown reason.
   It's possible that I'm just a spoil-sport.  I prefer to observe the world that I live in from a mind that isn't clouded (or enhanced) by psychotropic drugs.  I'd rather see and evaluate things as they actually happen. Maybe that's why I enjoy history so much - it's already happened, so it's cut and dried, other than the perspective.  But, then, I love to read science fiction, fantasy, and fiction, as well - maybe reading is my drug of choice....   I know I'm certainly addicted to it!

Cycling, Lance Armstrong, and Drugs

It's a beautiful day outside: sunny with a light breeze, and the temperature is currently 65 degrees.  I have had breakfast, done my grocery shopping, taken care of my kits, and visited and cared for Ooch and the Thore girls.  Lovey is sleeping in the cat tree and Nedi is lying on the tiles, just inside the patio door.  I ran into one of my cabby buddies who drove me up to North Boulder and back, and we discussed the "rolling closures" that will be taking place in the streets around Boulder due to the US Pro Cycling Challenge being here today.  -  The city is expecting more than $8 million in income from today's race - it runs through Boulder twice, and there's a day-long cycling Expo at the Pearl Street Mall.  And it seems a shame that all of the garbage about Lance Armstrong has hit the news while (a) he is cycling in Aspen, and (b) the US Pro Cycling Challenge is being held in Colorado.  Lance Armstrong never failed a drug test; he never tested positive for any banned or illegal substance.  But now, several years after his last Tour de France win, other racers say he was "doping" - and he has been stripped of his titles and winning records only by hear-say evidence from other athletes who were beaten by him.  It seems a little fishy to me....
  Three silly teen aged girls are in critical condition after "experimenting" with prescription drugs and large doses of Tylenol in Virginia.  They all took varying doses of prescription Xanax, Zoloft, codeine, and an unidentified drug used to battle Parkinson's disease, as well as 20 to 50 tablets of Tylenol apiece.  After two of her friends passed out, the third was barely able to call 911 and tell the dispatcher that they had taken "lots of drugs..."  It just amazes me that anyone would do such a thing - with so many side-effects warnings being shown on the TV when drug companies try to garner new patients for their prescription drugs.  As a kid on Chincoteague, I wasn't aware of a drug problem, but since the mid-1970's, it seems to have exploded exponentially.
   Today I have a Redskins game to watch, and tomorrow is a double-header, with the Broncos first and the Jets following.  At least it's nearing the beginning of football season, again!