DOSE: T+ 0:00		oral	Alcohol - Hard	(liquid)
T+ 0:00	10 mg	oral	Pharms - Zolpidem	(pill / tablet)
T+ 0:34	10 mg	oral	Pharms - Zolpidem	(pill / tablet)

BODY WEIGHT:

155 lb

My dad goes out of town frequently for work and, as do many slightly paranoid people, he likes to have someone watch his house while he's away.

That honor usually falls to me -- which is fine. I certainly don't mind having a nice, comfy, house to lounge around in for a few days at a time.

Typically he leaves the house well-stocked with food and drink.

Not so this time, however, and I'm left more or less to fend for myself eating some increasingly skeezy leftovers. Alas.

But I digress.

Earlier this evening (~7pm) I started drinking a bit of vodka I happened to have lying around while watching a movie ('Before Sunset' -- quite a lovely little film, actually...much better than expected). The combination of libation and entertainment left me feeling quite nostalgic, especially when coupled with a surprise encounter with a certain girl a couple days back (nothing to speak of...it was just a start to see her again after so long).

I think briefly about just killing off the remainder of the vodka -- more than briefly actually -- but decide that the motivation just isn't there (or that maybe, just maybe, I've been doing a little too much drinking alone of late). Still, I'm not interested in spending the rest of my evening on the downhill slope of a dying vodka buzz, so I start rooting through my dad's medicine cabinet.

This isn't the first time I've gone through it -- and there's usually something pretty decent in there. Oxycodone. Hydrocodone. Hmmm. I must admit to being a fan of prescription narcotics (though I can certainly see why some people strongly dislike the things), but a similar malaise affects my attitude towards both substances tonight.

What's this in the back? Ambien, hmmm. I've heard interesting tales of the stuff (e.g., that it possesses vaguely DXMish qualities and occasionally exhibits mildly hallucengenic traits), and worst case scenario is that it just puts me to sleep (which might not be a bad thing).

I take one 10mg pill at 9:50 PM (designated, 't').

The following is an account of the experience (as it stretches out):

T+0:13: I'm expecting a relatively rapid onset of effects, but having nothing to report as yet. I'm reminded of a story from a friend who claims to have felt no effects for over two hours before it hit him 'like a motherf@#$ing sledgehammer'. He's the heaviest stoner I've ever met in my life, however, and is therefore an unreliable source in my book.


T+0:16: Whoops. That's slightly odd: I just lost three minutes writing the above (t +13) entry. I looked at the clock and it said 10:03 PM and looked back what seem like five seconds later and it said 10:06 PM. Meh. My imagination is messing with me, I think.

T+0:24: I'm going to change up the music here, maybe Pennywise doesn't fit the desired mood.

T+0:26: Still, essentially, no change in my state of mind or my perception of reality. I'm reminded of the axiom, 'A watched pot never boils'.

T+0:27: Well, maybe things seem slightly distant and my fingers feel a bit clumsy typing on the keyboard -- though that could still be residual from the vodka. I am somewhat drowsy -- not surprising considering the combination of depressants in my system.

T+0:34: I regret to report that boredom has eventually overcome caution, and I've taken another pill. Time was I used to be more reticent to ramp up the doses on my first experience with something, but all signs indicate that 20mg of Ambien won't be an especially high dose.

T+0:42: Definitely moving along into the main attraction now. Probably should've waited on that second pill. I'm kind of cold for thing, when I wasn't before. Not sure where my coat is. Oh right next to me, right. Lightheadedness. Typing becoming harded all around -- physically and forming coherent thoughts. Very uphill battle.

T+0:47: Occasionally tracers are entering my vision. It's suddenly difficult to remember that computer screen is a computer screen, and not a window to an ancient roman city.

T +0:51: I'm amazed to discover something that does vaguely resemble a dragonfly in the workings of my cell phone. I don't know what it does, or how it got there.

T+0:53: Motor control is suffering wildly. Second pill = poor planning.

----

Now it is the next morning (around 7:15 am).

After the last entry above I decided to lie down with a book and some music, since I seemed incapable of much else.

I have only the haziest recollections of the rest of the experience -- sort of a feeling of 'Wow, the world never felt like THAT before', but I can't remember any details.

So, under the circumstances of my use, at least, I'd give Ambien a very mixed rating. It's effects took, in retrospect, thirty-five to forty minutes to onset, then escalated for an (indeterminate) while -- no doubt intensified by the second pill.

Was it enjoyable? Not precisely. The resultant loss of motor control near the end of the experience really dampened my spirits. I had the feeling that something neat was happening if only I could make my clumsy body turn precisely enough to see it.

I do vaguely recall being urged on to various nonsensical actions by people who don't exist (either completely false, or literary figures in some cases). I have no idea how long that went on for, but it was very curious.

Well, not much else to say really. Would I do it again? It's possible that I might, if the appropriate situation presented itself, but I have no overriding desire to try it again.

Exp Year: 2005	ExpID: 43737
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Nov 23, 2006	Views: 90,569
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Alcohol - Hard (198), Pharms - Zolpidem (143) : Entities / Beings (37), Combinations (3), Alone (16)