THE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO ADULT HIGHS - Part One

What gets you high?

NOTE: When I say "comprehensive" I mean it. This topic will include all the various ways adults get high. Some clarification of what I mean when I say "adult". To use tobacco, model nude, view adult nudes one must be 18 years of age or older. To consume alcoholic products one must be 21 or older. To commit murder, rape, or any kind of assault to get off - get high on hurting others, and be considered an adult, you would generally be age 18 or older. To be an "adult" you are therefore between the ages of 18-21, or older.




When comparing cats and humans, getting high is vastly different. A cat gets high hunting prey that it instinctively eats, or they get high from catnip, or that tasty morsel of chicken or tuna you may provide to them. A black cat for example does not get off on crossing your path and scaring you because you're superstitious... they have no idea they're scaring you. 


Humans get off, or high, on a myriad of various activities, some legal, some not. The human mind itself is essentially a high. Waking up in the morning can get one high... and consider that our own bodies manufacture THC, the chemically controversial psychoactive chemical found in cannabis that is a high to many politicians and the DEA. Yes, our own bodies manufacture THC... look it up yourself - it is an essential part of our existence. 


When I say this is a comprehensive list of human highs, I mean the following will examine all of them. I will also attempt to describe the reasons why they are a high to humans. 


The list is not in alphabetic order, nor in order of legality, harm, risk or any other type of sorting. This is a blog, not a dissertation. I will attempt to be as organized and objective as possible. I figure to cover all the various ways human-beings get high will take around 5 posts. So get yourself prepared for everything you always wanted to know about getting high, but never dared to ask!


1) HARM TO OTHERS:
If there ever was a topic that could be considered a "can of worms", this is it. There should be little doubt there are those persons that get off hurting others, dominating others, threatening others. There are bullies... there are those who truly believe they are superior to others, that believe their influences and control of others is just. And they get high from it. To further explore this high, or understand it would require a single post alone. For now I'm going to simply going to list it. Other sub-categories exist, which I may deal with independently, such as "sexual intimidation". This type of high is very complex and insidious; essentially it is a consequence of the societies belief that "man dominates women". It has Christian origins in that in the Bible, in Genesis, Eve seduced Adam, and Eve was double-cursed by God, thereby making Eve subservient to man, and subject to his control. But that is hardly the whole picture, as other religions have similar histories, validating man's control over women. There is little in the way of controversy as to man getting off on the domination of women, and the reasons that validate this control. The fact is, no amount of validation justifies man's dominion over women, nor harmful acts towards women. 


2)  Being of superior race, family, ideology.
The obvious root of this high comes from the believe that "whites are superior to blacks", that again, "men are superior to women", that wealthy and politically elite are superior to the average person. It's a "high" that needs further investigation. It is evident in the fact that certain government agencies get off on the fact they have "powers" beyond established law and often in violation of an individuals personal rights. Again, an entire post could be devoted to this high.


3) Laws are Made to be Broken
This is a topic of ironic proportions. Simply put... individuals decide what laws to obey and what to break. The most obvious is exceeding the speed-limit on the road, talking on a cell-phone where such an act is illegal, not wearing a seat-belt when the state law requires it. People get "high" breaking such laws... I commute 3 and 1/2 hours a day M-F and I see it all. Few people conform to laws they feel are conditional, and speeding with a object weighing in at one ton or over is not considered a crime... they get high driving at a speed they enjoy.


4) Executives involved in safe-guarding and protecting the investments of client.
Yes, I talking about Wall St., corporate executives, and banks. They get high ripping off their consumers. Credit card companies, pay day lenders, get high charging excessive rates for credit, and encouraging and enticing consumers to fall prey to their predatory acts. Example: I got a deal with a credit card company with a 2% percent balance transfer option. I have good credit, that's why it was offered to me. To make a purchase however is in the range of 16.9%. So I have simply not made any purchases, but rather have been paying off my balance transfer. Recently I received a invitation to use the credit to make purchases at the 16% rate and earn "cash-back" when using the card to make purchases. The catch - it's 1% cash back until I charge over $4000 in purchases, at which point my cash-back jumps to 4%. 


No thank-you!!! I'm sure the credit card company would get a rush if I charged up that much money... but I surely wouldn't. 


Part One Conclusion: 


Maybe you thought "THE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO ADULT HIGHS" would be about "drugs". Sorry if I initially disappoint you. The key here is "comprehensive..."


There are many ways adults get "high".


Getting stoned on cannabis is the least of the highs.


Next time: Wait and see...

WHY ARE WE HERE? PART SIX (Conclusion)

Another late night! I should be in bed by 10; instead, Thursday nights especially, I watch "Fringe", on TV, so I'm up until 10 already.

Next, charged from an hour of "Fringe", I realize I haven't eaten. But first, I have another beer, and play a game of online Texas hold'em... I place first, out of 10.

Nice!

Now it's 11PM. I finally put my dinner in the microwave. By 11:30 I'm eating and working on this next installment of "Why Are We Here?"

In my last post on this topic, a comment from a reader implied a reader"s religious faith would influence their opinion. He's correct, I believe, but it's not something I consider writing.

I'm open to thoughts on the subject, but with this "truth" comes the question: "What is Faith?"

Why are we here, and with all the faiths there are, how to accept each other? May seem impossible if you consider it. IF, you consider it!

My one moral is "Don't Hurt Others". Wonder what that means?

I wonder IF believing that would have made me ineligible for the draft back in the 1970's, IF the Viet Nam War had not ended? I doubt it. Back then, being gay wasn't even remotely a subject one would admit to. Instead, back then, I know people who cut off fingers and toes so as to be ineligible. And much worse.

Just something to think about... again, I'm not gay; but I empathize with their plight. Just as, my being a cannabis affentionato, makes me - a closet case. (Notice to the DEA and local LE - I'm 56, and a recluse... where would I get my pot from? I wouldn't. So don't waste your time. Go after some college student smoking pot in their dorm... SWAT team recommended, as you never know what those "pot-heads" are capable off - they may be zonked out. Bring assault guns!)

Reality Check...

Last I knew I was a "slimy slug"... well, you know, I have those days.

I get to read the news on my job... probably not supposed to, but I do. Sure is a lot of tragedy, crime, missing persons, terrorists, fanatics, murders and war... tragedy.

Given my experiences, my education, it puts me in a difficult position.

I mean, here I am writing five posts now on the topic of "why we - WE are here?" I mean, what could I know about that? For years I used cannabis... my mind must be "fried" by now. Most of what i say must sound like babble, or rantings of a madman. How odd I'm still employed, making a decent income while around me millions are faced with a brick wall! Yeah, I complain. My job was once my greatest hope, but it, quite frankly sucks now. There are overwhelming obstacles to advancement... something 5 years ago that wasn't there, only I didn't know it then. Like everyone else, I took my environment pretty much for granted. Not completely, but pretty much.

The truth is, I don't have a clue as to why "we're here." I can only write about why I'm here. And it's a story I'm not sure I can tell... see, it really does come down to "FAITH". I can tell my story, but it's likely to be interpreted based on your "faith".

It goes back to what I was saying about reality, and how it is subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, yet we constantly compromise. That's life. Compromise, or not.

Live Free or Die... ?

A question we all have to answer within ourselves

WHY ARE WE HERE - Part Five

As I contemplate (and write) this next part of "Why Are We Here", I can't help but come back to "me, myself and I".

Afterall, in case you don't know, reality is subjective. That's a fact. And so, I have no idea why "we" are here. I'm not sure I really know why I am here.

It's nothing mystical, no trick - this "reality is subjective" clause to our existence. It's simple fact. Everything we believe, everything we learn, take in, experience is interpreted subjectively. Within ourself, subject to our own disposition to an experience.

Fortunately, us humans possess the ability to think objectively, however, it is something we learn to do. It's popularly called "thinking outside the box". Easier said, than done, I might add.

It usually starts out as an insignificant event. For example, let's say we vote strictly Republican. Yet, during an election there is a Democrat that we find we really like. We may torture ourselves with the idea of voting for the person, we may imagine what others might think of us. We end up voting for the person...

1) the person loses. We are disappointed, yet we breathe a sigh of relief a Republican was elected, even though we didn't vote for the person.
2) the person wins; we feel both a rush of success, and a pang of guilt. We realize we helped the person win.

In both cases the fact is we thought outside the box. To many a very scary, self-deprecating act, initially. We get over it.

Life goes on.

But for many people, "thinking outside the box" is the norm. They may be called names, like "liberal", or immoral, or misguided. Or they may be admired... the latter of which I am fortunate enough to be a member.

Yet, I feel it's a no-win situation. The last Presidential election is one such example. By extraoridary popular vote not only is "a Black man" elected to be President of the US, but he's elected because the majority of "The People" find his "Message of Change" powerful and desirable. The PEOPLE want the change. The majority are tired of the "good old boys" style of politics. It's the 21st century, and the populace believes and acts on the realization it's time for a change. They'll begin with a new, charismatic, intelligent, sincere man who provides the message/change they have wanted for a long time.

The result. No change. Period.

To backtrack a few thousand years, remember our heritage... and no, I don't mean Colonial America, I mean the age of Kings, of Nobels, of us common people.

In previous posts I hopefully enlighted my readers of Genesis... from the Bible. I clarified first came Earth, then animals, then "man". Man went through some confusing changes. God created man to, according to the Bible to "dominate all creatures". Then God put man to work. Man was depressed without a help-mate, so God tried giving man a pet. That didn't work. So then god put man into a deep sleep (drug induced, in my opinion), and when he awoke, he was missing a rib and looking into the eyes of a woman.

Quite a romatic story. But that aside, man found a mate. Trouble is, there were more than one woman around. And there were "drugs" (in the form of an apple, we're told).

Now man was for whatever reason burdened with tilling fields and doing hard work. Why, I have no idea, other than it's a metaphor for the simple fact our ancestors had to raise crops and cattle to become an agricultural society. A community with roots.

But we know the future... Eve consumed the forbidden drug, and surely they had sex. Without a Catholic Church to guide them, most likely both Adam and Eve had sex with multiple partners, gay sex included. We know Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden, into a hostile, unknown land.

Well that's what happens when one is confronted with the unusual... a conflict - when the Republican votes for a Democrat. That is what it's like to think outside the box... you not only "think it", you experience it.

What the Bible in Genesis is reveiling is becoming self-aware, and based on decisions we make, we find we make objective decisions. Doesn't mean reality is no longer subjective, as it is, but rather, it means using our hearts, minds and souls to make a decision, come to a conclusion that doesn't fit within our normal form of thought. We become "radical thinkers". Or revolutionists thinkers.

Grant you - we/you are HERE if you're reading this blog. But I can't tell you why we're here. And i can't fully explain why I'm here either. What i can say is my being here has not only had a big effect on my environment, but also the many people I've known within my environment.

I also know the same is true of you.

WE are you and I. So the real question is why are you and I here?

Why are we still tilling fields, still common folk or Kings and nobels... why do we have a government with promised change, that is locked in a battle of their own design, without regard for "We The People".

Why does it matter that a Pentagon report found 70% of the military finds no problem with gays serving openly in the military, yet the 30% with a problem are scaring them to postpone any action in changing current laws. And why is it that if 47% of Californians voted to legalize cannbis, that a mere 53% opposed carries so much weight?

Why? I already told you. Reality is subjective. It's only when one can think "outside the box" that reality takes on new meaning... the fact is, outside of our own self-determined view of reality, there is a world out there. A world in trouble. A people many of whom are suffering. And in many ways, for no practical reason, other than we have governments that don't know what or how to govern.

I give President Obama credit for trying, but he's not the person I thought he was. I see no real change, and although I know his hands are somewhat bound, there's much he could do to show the American people he meant what he promised. Change, transparency, science.

He has let himself to be drawn into the power game - Wall St., global conflicts, continuations of the Bush legacy, continued denial of the rights of the American People, their pursuite of happiness, their calls for justice, and for commonsense to prevail.

President Jimmy Carter was a far more powerful president. Under similar odds and barriers. Yet historically, he did provide change. He provided leadership; he provided Americans with a person in government, who cared, who tried to create change.

President Obama is compared to republican President Ronald Regan; as far as I know Pres. Obama embraces the connection. It's beyond me to understand why. He's nothing like Regan... but if he wants to act that way, who am I?

I'm just an American who can't pursue happiness any longer. I'm blocked at every effort. And there are millions, far worse off than myself.

I am a slug, a snail, bathed in slim, sliming my way through my day, working the job of 3 people, and I'm suppose to be thankful. And I am. I have no choice. My government failed to govern... they fail to think outside the box. They fail at comprehending and understanding the most basic things.

To be continued...

WHY ARE WE HERE? PART FOUR

Here I sit, a natural born American, "enjoying" my Thanksgiving vacation.

I had Thursday and Friday off. Now I'm into Saturday...

As part of the "Why Are We Here" series I will provide an update on how I feel at this moment. I'm sure many of us wonder at this moment why we're here, now... ?

Is it to be happy? Successful? In love?

Kind of depends, doesn't it? Fact is, why we're here may not have anything to do with being any of the above. Fact is, where we live determines "why we are here".

I'm not going to into the "where" of where we live, I'm just saying, where we live has a lot to do with the "WHY"?

I live in the USA. I was born here. My parents were immigrants back in the early 1900's. My mother's side is pure Swedish. My father's side - now that's where it get's interesting: German, French, Dutch, Bohemian, and more. Good mix. Genetically speaking.

50% Swedish, and my other side a 50% mix.

The Swedish side of my family had expectations. It's with that side of the family I grew up. Near as I can conclude, children never grow up to become independent in that environment. It seems, children are expected to continue the status quo... extensions of the family. After reaching the age of maturity, be it 18 or 21, the "child" is expected to do as the family expects. Whatever the "child" does is a reflection on the family. There is the sense that one does not have "free-will", except as approved by the family.

This is not particularly uncommon. Look at many Muslim countries and you see a great discrepancy between the freedom of a male family member, and that of a female. Again, I'm not going to expound on the differences, other than to suggest, in many countries, females are very much subservient to the family rules, and the expectations - to the point that in many countries, if the female doesn't abide by the rules, incarceration or death may be the consequence. In some cases, moving to another country where laws are less stringent makes no difference. The "child" is subject to family rules.

On my father's side I can attest the "rules" were much less stringent. I recall a great deal of support to be myself from my relatives on my father's side. Unfortunately, growing up, I had that support every other year, maybe at Christmas time. Vacations. Holidays.

Why are we here?

In my case it was to get away from the family control. It took many of my most productive years to do so. Between the ages of 20 and 50+ the family influence was a constant. Ultimately, I had to declare a form of personal exile. Not an easy thing to do or accomplish. One doesn't exile oneself by desire, but rather, it's by necessity. It's painful.

One's family doesn't comprehend the action; can't see justification. Doesn't even recognize it as an action.

The world is changing... there is much ado about the break-down of the American family. There is much in the way of criticism, that our country has lost it's moral foundation.

Fact is, we value "education", yet disregard the results. The "typical family" expects results that are in line with family expectations. The fact is, education and knowledge are far, far beyond any expectations.

One reason we're here is to "push the envelope". The first college I attended had a motto - "Let Each Become All One is Capable of Becoming..." That was the goal I accepted ... much to the dismay of my family.

I became educated. I became self-aware. I became cursed!

Why are we here? Maybe all I can share is why I'm here. Maybe I can provide more.

I can firmly suggest, we're not here to be pigeon-holed. We're not here to be subservient to others, whether family nor government. We're not here to hurt others, but we are here to encourage change, and equality. We are here to promote freedom in pursuit of happiness. If we can make our families proud, great. If we incur the wrath of our family, so be it. 

We have a right to exist... to be ourselves and to live our life as we chose, as long as we don't hurt others. In the case where our actions portend to hurt the family, it's a judgement call... a decision to make. In my opinion you have no obligation to conform to family rules once you've come of age to make your own decisions. If what you choose defies family, too bad. As long as your life choice is not to hurt others, it's your option in life to live as you choose.

In my family taboo was being involved sexually with a woman of color, including Asian women. It was to not make marriage and children a priority. It was not to get a job, in just any field - there were "approved" jobs, and those that were unapproved. At age 20 I got one of the latter...

I was cursed as a result of that, and the fact I liked women. I didn't pursue college in the fashion expected of me, and I didn't dress, nor grow my hair as expected. The "perfect storm" ensued.

I am here today, suffering from my personal choices. The only remedy would be to go back and live my origin over again, something I cannot do.

Life is difficult... that is a given. I made my own decisions, and lived my life as i felt was personally acceptable. That I suffer today as a consequence - so be it. I have no regrets, other than there's no going back.

We are here... to be ourselves. Whatever the cost.

We won't live forever, so it's my opinion, with what time we have, live our life being true to ourself.  Family is important, but family does need to accept us as an individual when we come of age to use our education and experiences to become ourselves.

Why we are here is our own business!