sixthseal.com

Leaving Melbourne...

I'm checking out of halls now...will be meeting some friends and going to the airport soon. Bye Melbourne. It has been a fucking awesome 3 years.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 07:46 PM Permalink | Comments (8)

Tribedadelic Winter Party!

I actually posted this before I went yesterday but it somehow didn't get saved into the database. Anyway, I went to this indoor psy-trance event with a couple of friends. This is definitely the last rave I'll go to before leaving Melbourne, and it was great! Well, I'll post about that and put up pictures when I arrive in Sibu. I'm leaving in 12 hours and I'm gonna finish up some final (re)packing and try and get a 4 hour nap. Also, my 5 GB per month bandwidth allowance has been exceeded, so I'll have to pay for anything over that limit. Anyway, here's a photo from this morning. I just came back. It's blurry, but taking photos was no mean feat inside. The LCD viewfinder is totally dark and the optical viewfinder isn't that useful either, so it was a matter of guess and press. :) I don't remember who took this photo though, but it was a great attempt, considering the lighting conditions. The ones I took are nothing to write home about, most of them blurry too. How do you take photos in this situation anyway? Dark venue, unpredictable multicolored lasers, occasional flashes of strobe light etc etc. I've seen some great photos taken at the very same conditions.

P/S - I know my hair is a mess, I never did get around to cutting it and I promised my gf to come home without a haircut.

Link: Tribeadelic [tribeadelic.com]

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:56 AM Permalink | Comments (2)

Photo Friday - Angles

Photo Friday - Angles [photofriday.com]

Angles. This is a photo of Federation Square [federationsquare.com.au], a relatively new structure filled with angles located in the center of Melbourne (Australia) city. The picture only shows a very small portion of the whole construct. The construction of this large project was received with mixed responses [theage.com.au]. It was officially opened on the 26th of October 2002, but some features were not fully in place at that time. The most memorable comment I heard about it was this taxi driver who said "Look at this ugly building. I don’t know what the fuck the government is thinking. It’s ruining the city." One of my friends replied "Well, it does have a certain artistic quality to it..." and the driver made a "pfft" sound and said "I still think it’s terrible." :) Personally, I like Federation Square, it's unique and nicely built. This has the potential of becoming an "icon" of Melbourne like Sydney's Opera House. There's quite a bit of interesting features about it, the official site is a good read if you're interested. I took this photo four days ago in an attempt to document Melbourne in photos before I leave for good in two days. The weather was not optimal (drizzling + misty) but the focus seems unaffected.

The shooting data:

Focal Length: 8mm
Exposure Mode: Programmed Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern 1/372.5 sec - f/2.8
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Sensitivity: Auto
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-C
Saturation Compensation: 0

The post-production work was done in Photoshop 7.0 and involves:

Gamma correction: Gamma increased to improve visibility
Image Size: Size reduced from 2048x1536 to 500x375

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:49 PM Permalink | Comments (6)

I am still in Melbourne!

I didn’t miss my flight or anything, I just rescheduled it to tomorrow. Unfortunately, all the outbound flights tomorrow and the day after are fully booked. I’m confirmed for a flight out of Melbourne on Sunday the latest and I’m on the waiting list for Saturday, so we’ll see how that goes tomorrow. Well, the reason I rescheduled it is because I needed to get this letter from my faculty to testify that I’ve graduated, so I won’t have to pay back the surcharge (it’s complicated to explain). The surcharge is A$957 so I decided to get the statement tomorrow and avoid the surcharge. MAS is great anyway, they were more than happy to switch me around, with no “late notice” charges too – everything is free. Fly Malaysian Airlines. ;)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:20 PM Permalink | Comments (6)

Pill report: White Maple Leaf w/ grey specks (Melbourne - June 03)

The front of the pill has an imprint of a Canadian maple leaf.
The front is flat, there is no sign of a dome.
The back of the pill is beveled and there is no score.
The White Maple Leaf is slightly thicker than the White HQ pills, even when the latter’s dome is taken into account.
This seems to be a local pill as well, and it is rumored that both of these pills are made by the same manufacturers.

Marquis:

Slow to dark purple and retained that color. The reaction was faster than the White HQ, it probably took 7 seconds.

Conclusion: MDxA

Simons:

The sample turned blue almost immediately. Nice.

Conclusion: MDMA

Other stuff:

I’m sorry about the candyflipping trip report that remains unwritten. I’ve been really busy yesterday and today, and I don’t think I’ll write that one until tomorrow at least. I had such a glowing experience on it that I want to write a proper trip report instead of a half assed one. It was a great combination, very synergistic and euphoric and I’ll post it when I’m sober. I won’t forget the details as I’ve written them down. Yeah, I still managed to write notes when I’m walking around town. :) I just had some mushrooms + MDMA too, but that didn’t turn out very well. Heh. Will write about it when I’m back in Malaysia. Anyway, I’ve gotta go out now. Check back again in a couple of days and the candy flip and hippy flip trip reports would be up, and also a salvia report with 5X extract and a butane torch that I got from a friend [Edit: Request for anonymity]. Have a wonderful day everyone! :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 08:11 PM Permalink | Comments (4)

Pill report: White HQ w/ grey specks (Melbourne - June 03)

White HQ - front

The front of the pill has “HQ” imprinted shallowly.
That side is slightly domed (raised).
Imprint quality not very impressive.
The back of the pill has beveled edges and a single score down the middle. The beveled edges tapers off at the score:

The grey specks are consistent.
I think this is a local pill due to the lack of similar imprints popping up in other countries.

White HQ – back

Marquis:

Slow to purple and it retained that color (didn’t turn black). It probably took all of 10 seconds to achieve that reaction, but it is cold right now, so that could be a factor.

Conclusion: MDxA

Simons:

Mild bubbling and a very light orange color was noted. Very thin and nearly invisible blue streaks could be seen much later (about 12 seconds) but I really had to squint and look at it at an angle to see that.

Conclusion: MDMA and MDA combo? Methamphetamine and MDA combo? I'm making guesses here. Heh! This is speculation based on the previous results and the qualitative effects of that pill. It does seem to be a MDxA based pill though, so all should be good.

Interesting read: Color Test Reagents/Kits for Preliminary Identification of Drugs of Abuse [ncjrs.org]

[.pdf document – Right click, save target as]

It has the compositions of the 12 reagents (including Marquis, Simons, Mecke, Mandelin etc etc) so you could make it yourself. I don’t think the chemicals are controlled so it’s just a matter of walking into a chemical distribution company (the smaller ones that sells to high schools) and getting the stuff and putting them together. Nifty.

However, I also found out something unpleasant. Apparently it’s a bad idea to touch the reagents because most of them have toxic ingredients. I looked at the EZ Test Marquis reagent again and true enough, it has a nicely worded, skim over the details warning in Fine Print. The PDF document above goes into more detail. The Marquis reagent has formaldehyde and this is what the excerpt says:

Formaldehyde - TOXIC.
May cause cancer. May cause heritable genetic damage.
Toxic by inhalation, in contact with skin, and if swallowed.
Causes burns. May cause sensitization by inhalation and skin contact.
Readily absorbed through skin. Lachrymator. Combustible.
Target organs: eyes, kidneys.
Wear suitable protective clothing and gloves.

The easiest way to break up hard pressed pills. Syringes are just so versatile. The needle breaks the pill up with a fissure and the cap serves to move stuff around for the reaction. :)

Here’s another excerpt about the chemicals in Simons reagent. This is a real bag of laughs:

Sodium nitroprusside - VERY TOXIC.
Very toxic by inhalation, contact with skin, and if swallowed.
Target organs: blood.
In case of accident or if you feel unwell, seek medical advice immediately.
In case of contact with eyes, rinse immediately with plenty of water and seek medical advice. Wear suitable protective clothing, gloves, and eye/face protection. Do not breathe dust.

Acetaldehyde - EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE, TOXIC.
May cause cancer. May cause heritable genetic damage.
Harmful by inhalation, in contact with skin, and if swallowed.
May cause sensitization by inhalation and skin contact.
Possible risk of harm to unborn child. Causes severe irritation. Lachrymator. Photosensitizer.
Target organs: kidneys, liver.
May develop pressure. Keep away from sources of ignition. In case of contact with eyes, rinse immediately with plenty of water and seek medical advice.
Wear suitable protective clothing, gloves, and eye/face protection.

Needless to say, I was not very impressed at the lack of documentation regarding this in the EZ Test kits. Readily absorbed through the skin…I’ve been touching it with my bare hands while moving samples into and out of the solution and also mixing things up without gloves. It’s my fault for not reading the Fine Print. RTFM. Oh well, I don’t think the concentrations present in the reagents is enough to produce those toxic effects anyway.

/me sets up camp on the riverbanks of Egypt

Wow, what a nice view I’m getting.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 07:50 PM Permalink | Comments (8)

CSE2030 Postmortem

CSE2030 @ Caulfield Racecourse Ground Level

Right. This happened two days ago (Tuesday) but I was so busy with all the stuff that I couldn’t find the time to post until today. My apologies for the lack of posts lately, I’m heading back to Malaysia soon…it’s quite sad really. That is, if I had time to be sad, and I don’t. :) I have to run out again to get all other things settled before I fly back. Oh, about the exam, I think I did pretty well. Most of the questions were based on the past year exams, but unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to complete it. There was a 5 mark question that I didn’t have time to finish at the end. Oh well, other than that, everything went smoothly.

Expected Grade: Distinction

I couldn’t get the exposure settings right, but the window wall looks out into the racecourse. :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 07:13 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

My dials are pupilated

We interrupt this program to tell you that…

veritas is very busy and our regular programming will recommence tonight.

Drug’s awaiting, time's awasting…

Coming up at 10:00 PM (GMT +10): Candyflipping (MDxA + LSD) trip report.

Apologies to the person with the title of this post as his/her nick at bluelight. :) Next on the list - hippy flipping (MDMA + magic mushrooms). I have to run, gotta go out again and get things sorted before I go back. Thanks for all the feedback, I'll reply every comment when I get back.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 04:00 PM Permalink | Comments (5)

White MX w/multi-colored speckles - very strange

This is a veritas post.

White MX w/multi-colored speckles – front

This pill produced a very interesting test result. I’m quite puzzled at the reactions. The pill seems to be from a different batch than the White MX that was tested [sixthseal.com] close to two months ago. The previous batch did not have the kaleidoscope of speckles this new batch has. The White MX from that time did have visible colored specks, but it’s not so prominent and dominant compared to this batch. The logo is the same, and this pill also has slightly beveled edges on both sides, and a single score down the back.

White MX w/multi-colored speckles – back

I checked it against the previous photos and the cursive "mx" font is exactly similar. The only thing different is the abundance of speckles in this pill. It has blue, red, green, yellow and browns speckles all over the pill. It would be interesting to note that it was related to me that qualitative comments from a person who had this pill (White MX w/multi-colored speckles), White HQ and White Maple Leaf feels that this pill is strongest among the three.

Marquis

The scraping was tested with a drop of Marquis reagent. The color changed slowly to purple and then to dark purple/black. There was no bubbling or smoking, which I understand rules out DXM. The pill seems like an MDxA pill at this point.

Conclusion: MDxA (purple/black color change)

Simons

Simons Test #1

This is the puzzling one. One drop of Simon’s reagent and two drops of buffer solution was added to a sample scraping. The solution started to bubble noticeably (produced air bubbles) and the final color was a very light orange. I thought that I must have messed up the reaction somehow and scraped another bit off for a second test. The same result was noticed – bubbles, and a very light orange solution. It may be interesting to note Erowid has a photo showing an MDA reaction and an MDMA reaction [erowid.org] to Simons and the results seems to be similar to Erowid’s MDA result. However, I was under the impression that Simons only tests for secondary amines and MDA is not a secondary amine so it shouldn’t react with Simons. I could be missing something basic here though, I’m not very familiar with the more exotic reactions.

Simons Test #2

Conclusion: Not MDMA (no blue color change)

Robadope

I wasn’t really keen on doing this due to the low success rate I’ve had with Robadope in the past. The results have always been ambiguous, there wasn’t a reaction where a really strong and unmistakable color change occurred, even with known primary amines like dexamphetamine (Dexedrine) tablets containing 5 mg dextroamphetamine sulfate. This test also requires a rather large sample (EZ Test says 10% of the pill) and I wasn’t prepared to sacrifice that amount for a test that may or may not provide a conclusive result. However, curiosity got the better of me and I prepared a drop of Robadope with 3 drops of buffer solution before scraping quite a bit of the pill into the solution. I did not skimp on the sample, as you can see from the sadly mutilated and much less voluminous pill:

The large amount of powder was moved into the solution, but no reaction took place. I did notice a very slight bluish tint to the solution.

The solution’s borders have been outlined for better clarity.

I added more scraping, but the color did not change. I pushed a stray drop of buffer solution into the existing solution, which now contains a drop of Robadope and 4 drops of buffer. However, there was still no noticeable color change.

Robadope reagent’s original color.

I manipulated a stray Robadope drop into the existing solution, and that colored the solution somewhat (due to the natural coloring of Robadope), but there wasn’t a definitive noticeable color change to salmon/red. I thought I did see a bit of red when I looked at the solution from an angle, with some wishful thinking. :) However, the resultant solution (2 drops Robadope, 4 drops buffer solution) looks more yellow than red.

Final color.

I’m quite puzzled at the strange reactions. The EZ Test kit was purchased about two months ago and it has been kept in a dark and cool place. The reagents have been reliable until the strange results today. I’m not discounting the fact that there might be cross-contamination among the bottles, I could have screwed the wrong cap on the wrong bottle. I’ve always been careful to wipe stray drops from the cap and bottle before screwing on the cap, but it could be a possibility.

White MX w/multi-colored speckles (scanned) - front

That said, assuming the results are correct, what could the substance possibly be? Personally, I’m leaning towards MDA due to the positive Marquis reagent test and the Simons color change that is similar to Erowid’s. However, if it is MDA, the Robadope would have tested out too, and it didn’t. I must state though, I have had a lot of trouble with Robadope, so I’m not putting too much weight on that result. What do you all think? I would appreciate any educated guesses and speculation. The scanned pill images above and below has more accurate color reproduction than the digicam photos. Please let me know before noon if it could be something that I would regret taking. I know this doesn’t sound like a very smart thing to do, but I’m not a very smart person. ;) Thanks!

White MX w/multi-colored speckles (scanned) - back

Disclaimer: The pill has been disposed of and is no longer in my possession. Request for identification is for informational purposes only.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 04:21 AM Permalink | Comments (10)

State dependant learning

It’s quite simple. Study on meth, do the exam on meth. :) That’s state dependant learning in a nutshell. Does it work? It does for me. There was this stoner movie (forgot the name – I’m a stoner too, but if it helps, most of the cast are African Americans) where the guys smoke weed while studying and then go to the exam blazed and breezed through it. I’m quite doubtful about the efficacy of their drug of choice in an exam environment though…I’ll stick to stimulants, thank you very much.

Lets talk about logistics. I do it by using an empty novelty candy tin which works perfectly for crushing, storing and transporting stuff. I used to be very scared of carrying illicit substances in my personal effects, but I don’t seem to have the same fear anymore. *shrug* In the tradition of giving paraphernalia names, I call this The HD Offerings Chamber. You put meth in and (hopefully) HD's come out. HD = High Distinction, the highest grade you can get in Australian universities (correct me if I’m wrong). Uh, don’t ask me how many HD’s I have in my academic history.

The construction of this portable stash tin is very simple. I’ll hesitate to use the word "construction" since I didn’t do anything remotely resembling that. :) The crystal meth is pre-crushed (so you won’t have to fumble around in the toilet) and a (truncated) straw is packed into the tin. I only carry enough to get me tweaking. The tin is double bound with sticky tape to prevent it from opening and spilling it’s contents (a Very Bad Thing).

5 minutes before the exam, I excuse myself to the toilet and lock the door. The tape is removed and a line of appropriate size is racked up using the straw. Insufflate. The guy taking a shit in the stall beside you might ask what you're up to. The correct reply is "It's winter, I have the flu. Now go about your business and stop listening to me." Bind the tin again with sticky tape if you didn’t consume everything. The meth should hit you as you walk out of the toilet and stroll (don't walk, stroll) into the exam hall. You should be peaking by the time the examiner says "You have 10 minutes reading time, READING time only". Alert: Neurons firing! Now go and ace that fucking exam! :)

This is a public service announcement brought to you by veritas.

The fine print:
veritas does not condone the use of drugs.
Illicit substances can land you with possession charges.
No claims are made on the efficacy of this method.
sixthseal.com is not responsible for police intervention, freak outs, Acts of God, paranoia, failing grades, habituation, spilled meth or anything resembling or not resembling the descriptions above.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:22 AM Permalink | Comments (9)

Shooting in the rain

I went to the city this morning to update my plane ticket. Just three more days till I leave Melbourne for good. I went on a photo shoot around the CBD area and got most of the landmarks. Memories. Unfortunately, today’s weather was bad for photography. It was cloudy and drizzling constantly. I had to keep on wiping the lens to avoid droplets of water getting into the frame but the foggy weather still made photos blurry at the horizon. Surprisingly, I saw another person taking photos at Federation Square (the relatively new weird looking building opposite Flinders Street Station). She saw me before I saw her though, and grinned. It is funny, quite coincidental to have two people taking photos while it’s drizzling at Federation Square. Dedication. ;)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 09:32 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

Script shenanigans (Dexamphetamine Reloaded)

*wipes tear away from eye* I thought I’ll never see you again.

Would it be possible to cash in a dated dexamphetamine (Schedule 8) script several weeks EARLY? I was wondering the same question myself, and I decided to try after reading a caveat in the pharmaceutical dispensing guidelines regarding Schedule 8 substances. It was in a pharmacy site, but I forgot the link. I remembered getting there from the “australia schedule 8 prescription” search string though. Anyway, if you’ve been reading about my “narcolepsy” and the legal speed I was prescribed to manage the symptoms, you’ll have read my final farewell to dextroamphetamine sulfate [sixthseal.com]. That farewell seems to be premature though. Don’t you just hate that? ;)

32 days have passed since the last time I refilled my script (including today). I had thought that was the last time I’m going to see my little white friends, because the good doctor upgraded (supersized?) my dexamphetamine prescription by trusting me with the responsibility of 200 x 5 mg dexamphetamine (Dexedrine in the US) tablets upfront with a refill in 50 days instead of the usual 100 x 5 mg every 25 days. The nice doctor did not increase my dose, but he allowed me to get 200 tablets at once, which is not standard prescribing procedure for a Schedule 8 drug.

I have 2 repeats left on the script (time based, only valid if 50 days have passed since the last refill) and I’m not due for a refill until 10th of July, which is next month. I would be back in Malaysia by then so I thought it was the last time I’ll be having pharmaceutical quality amphetamines. However, I decided to use one of the methods in my Tome of Doctor Shopping (available for the low, low price of A$0, I’ve documented everything on this site) to see if I could just eek out one last refill before I go back. It just might be possible, and I won’t have to lie to get it. I just have to be economical with the truth. ;)

I’ll be going back soon for my holidays and my tablets would run out before I come back, so can I please have an early refill?

There is no untruth in this statement, everything is TRUE. Isn’t that great? =D I just didn’t mention that I’ll be going back for good, as that would invalidate the script (it still has a repeat) which is supposed to be inherited by CT. I also neglected to elaborate that I won’t be heading home that early. My tongue slipped and that made me erroneously emphasize the word “soon” with a particular tone which might be misleading to chemists, leading them to think that it was a date like tomorrow. Sorry! ;)

I haven’t been to any of the pharmacies I went to today. I didn’t want to use the regular dexamphetamine one, since the pharmacist clearly told me about the 50 day refill timeframe. I can’t use any of the pharmacies near my place because I have either filled benzodiazepines or bought fit kits and other injecting paraphernalia there, and I didn’t want to risk my script. I decided to trawl the pharmacies further away from my usual haunts. We’ll see how it goes:

Pharmacy #1

This medicine may increase mental alertness and/or co-ordination. If affected. Do not bite lower lip or smoke too many cigarettes.

I walked in and gave the pharmacist on duty (a nice looking old man) a big ass smile and said “Hello” cheerily. :) “Could you possibly help me with this? It’s not due for a while, but I’ll be going home for the holidays soon and my prescription will run out before I come back, so would it be possible to get this filled today?”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, I’ll get to it right away. It would take a couple of minutes.”

“Sure, take your time. I appreciate your help.”

I tried to be nonchalant and pretended to read a book while in actually fact I was watching the pharmacist out of the corner of my eye. I saw him make a phone call, no problem, he’s probably just validating the script, 200 is an extraordinary amount for dexamphetamine. He came up to me after that and said: “I’m sorry sir, but I only have 100 tablets in stock now. However, if you come back at 4:30 pm, the prescription would be all ready for you.”

It was slightly before 9 am in the morning then. Hmm…this is a definite go, I thought, I’ll be happy to come back at 4:30 pm if that means I would get the refill. However, it bothered me that such a large pharmacy did not carefully maintain the stock levels to avoid situations such as these. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful, and I’ve learnt something important in my years of recreational drug use: When in doubt – bail.

I did not plan to be untruthful, but circumstances dictate that moral issues should be shelved and contingency plans initiated. “Oh, that would be great, but unfortunately I have an exam later so I wouldn’t be able to come back at that time”. Pharmacist: “That wouldn’t be a problem, we close at 6 pm, so if you just come back anytime before that, the prescription will be ready for you.” He was still holding on to my script. I wanted it back. “Well, my exams are in Caulfield so I wouldn’t be heading down again, since it would be out of the way. Thanks for your help anyway.”

“That wouldn’t be a problem, you can just come back tomorrow or another day, and it’ll be all ready for you.” He was still holding my script. Subtlety will not work here. “Thanks, but that won’t be necessary. I’ll just get it another day. I’m sorry for bothering you.” I hold my hand out for the script. He handed it back rather unwillingly. “Have a nice day” I say as I walk out. I walked to the traffic lights about 25 meters from the pharmacy and stood there while the pedestrian lights were red. I happened to glance beside me and saw two police officers smiling at me in a manner I thought was predatory.

Paranoia? Or did the pharmacist call the police? He wouldn’t would he? Even though prescription fraud is punishable by a 1 year jail sentence, I didn’t do anything wrong by asking for an early refill (at least I don’t think that’s breaking any laws). It’s such a minor infringement anyway, but why are the police looking at me like that? I am dressed well and conservatively, like I always do when doctor shopping or filling scripts. I nodded at the police and said “Hello officers.” I looked back at the pedestrian lights. It turned green. I walked.

It’s probably just a coincidence but it was disconcerting.

Pharmacy #2

Keep a supply - …

Okay, it seems that refilling scripts before the due date is possible under certain circumstances, like the one I’m experiencing. I just need to tweak (no pun intended) the statement a little bit to optimize it. I walk into the second pharmacy and said “Good morning, I was wondering if you could help me out with this. It’s not due yet, but my exams are over and I’m flying back home tomorrow. The tablets would run out before I get back, so would it be possible to get this refill earlier so I don’t miss my medication?”

“Okay, just a minute, let me ask the pharmacist.”

The pharmacist (who happens to be another old man, but not as kindly looking as the first one) looked at the script, looked at me and walked over. “I’m sorry, but we don’t stock these. Why don’t you go back to the original pharmacy and get it from there?” “Okay, thanks for your help.” No go. I don’t believe for a second that this large chain does not carry dexamphetamine. The pharmacist probably just though the script was a bit odd, considering the amount and the fact that I’m filling it at a place which is really quite far from the one who issued the repeat authorization and didn’t want to fill it.

Oh well, since I’m bending the truth a little (okay, more than a little), I have no right to comment, but does the pharmacist think I look stupid? That’s such a lame excuse coming from this well known and large pharmacy chain, but he’s probably thinking the same thing too. :) “Does this guy think I’m stupid?” Heh. No harm, no foul, I’ll just move along.

Pharmacy #3

…don’t cease…

I optimized the statement again. I decided I wasn’t going to draw attention to the due date unless the pharmacist asks about it. Hey, maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll miss the fact that the due date is next month. “Hello, can I have this filled please?” I say while smiling my “I’m just an innocent student, a nice guy” smile. Cheery and polite, what a hoot I am. :) Unfortunately, this pharmacy does not carry dexamphetamine. I did believe him, because it was a small, hole in the wall chemist, with a tiny prescriptions section. The pharmacist was kind enough to point me in the right direction too. “Hmm…let me think of the pharmacists in (deleted) who stocks these. There are two at (deleted) Street that would most likely have them in stock. You could pop over and see.”

“Thanks for your help!”

Pharmacy #4

…without Dr’s advice

I modified the statement again. I implemented the lessons learnt from the first three pharmacies and decided to experiment with an additional sentence to add authority to my statement. I put on my best shit eating grin and applied my friendliest tone with overtures of “Oh, I feel sorry for all the hard work you do that goes unnoticed. I really appreciate your self-sacrificing service to the community.” The pharmacist was a man in his early 30s, he looks young and I somehow feel that this would be the one.

Me: Good morning! Rainy day huh?
Pharmacist: Yeah, it’s been raining the whole morning. It’s quite cold eh?
Me: Indeed. The weather has been rather dismal these days. It’s going to be good for the alpine though, I hear there’s some nice snowfall up there. Too bad I’m going to miss snowboarding this year.
Pharmacist: Oh, that’s too bad. Where are you going?
Me: I’m heading back for the holidays. Just finished my exams, oh this reminds me, this script is not due yet, but unfortunately, I’ll be going home for a month and half so the tablets would run out before I come back. I called the doctor and he suggested that I get a refill before I go back. The doctor’s details is here.
I flip the repeat authorization over confidently and pointed out the original doctor’s script, while taking care not to overextend myself and expose tattoos. It doesn’t hurt to be careful, even a shave to look clean cut helps.
Pharmacist: 200? Oh, wow.
Me: Yeah, I’ve been prescribed this for narcolepsy. The doctor gave me a larger amount so I won’t have to get it filled so often.
Pharmacist: I see. Sure, this is no problem at all. It’ll just take 10 minutes for me to get this filled.
Me: Thanks! I appreciate your help.

I pray that he won’t call the doctor, because the part about me consulting the doctor for advice didn’t exactly happen.

I pretended to browse around the store and decided that a display of hair coloring is very interesting and stared at that with a half smile, all the while keeping my ears cocked for phone conversations. This is dangerous territory…if he calls the doctor, all would be lost. The doctor is under the impression that dexamphetamine is cheaper in Malaysia so it wouldn’t make sense for me to collect the script here, and he’ll certainly remember if we had a conversation about early refills, and we didn’t. Malaysia didn't even approve dextroamphetamine for anything! It's not available for prescribing in Malaysia. I shouldn’t have said that. Lady luck, show me some love!

5 minutes later... (it felt like 50 minutes)

Pharmacist: Hey!

I pretended that he didn’t made me jump. I was on methcathinone (I’ll write about it some other time) and it doesn’t take much to make me jump when I’m tweaking. Thankfully, a column of hygiene products obscured me, so my startled response didn’t get noticed.

Me: Yes?
Pharmacist: It’s (deleted) right? Is that how your pronounce it?
Me: You’ve got it spot on, that’s my name alright.
Actually he didn’t pronounce it right, but going into semantics would just slow the process down, so on with the show!
Pharmacist: Are you still taking it twice daily?
Me: Yeah, that’s my dose.
Pharmacist: Okay, thanks!

*phew*

There was sounds of fast typing, and my paranoia imagined the pharmacist talking to the doctor online. He was just typing the new repeat authorization. :)

Pharmacist: Here you go buddy. Do you want a receipt?
I hide my grin.
Me: Yes please, that would be great.
Pharmacist: Here’s everything. I also put in a leaflet about generic medicines, it’s a good read. This is your repeat authorization, there’s one repeat left, 50 days from now. And this is the 200 tablets of dexamphetamine, two tablets to be taken twice daily.
Me: Thank you, I appreciate your help.
Pharmacist: Have a nice trip!
Huh? What is he insinuating? Is he trying to tell me that he knows I’m scripting and he filled it anyway? What would be the appropriate reply then? Oh wait, he’s talking about the trip back home. Duh!
Me: Thanks, have a nice day mate.

/me walks out with 1 gram of dextroamphetamine sulfate in the form of two bottles of dexamphetamine containing 100 tablets of 5 mg each.

Remember: Keep a supply - don't cease without Dr's advice!

That's doctor's orders. ;)

Posted in Pharmaceuticals by Huai Bin at 09:20 PM Permalink | Comments (17)

Photo Friday - Critters

Photo Friday - Critters [photofriday.com]

Critters. This is a fairly broad interpretation of the theme. I just came back from dinner with my friends today at Wah Kee in Clayton (Melbourne, Australia). This is probably the last time I’ll be eating there as I’m having my final exam paper next week and then I’ll be flying back to Malaysia. This is Combination Mun Fun, a rice dish which includes prawns, squid, cuttlefish, BBQ pork, fish, mushrooms, chicken, chestnuts, and vegetables in a bland egg sauce. It tastes good with a (very) liberal sprinkling of vinegar, soy sauce, salt and pepper.

The shooting data:

Focal Length: 8mm
Exposure Mode: Programmed Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern 1/3.5 sec - f/2.8
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Sensitivity: Auto
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-C
Saturation Compensation: 0

The post-production work was done in Photoshop 7.0 and involves:

Image Size: Size reduced from 2048x1536 to 500x375

Posted in by Huai Bin at 12:08 AM Permalink | Comments (8)

Interested in joining Project Petaling Street?

Calling BETA testers!!!

This is an open call for BETA testers for Project Petaling Street [petalingstreet.org] version 1.5.

Project Petaling Street (PPS) is a blog-tal that seeks to aggregate Malaysian content into a single space. Learn more about PPS by visiting the About PPS Wiki [yat.ch]. Currently, PPS aggregates content from a limited number of Malaysian bloggers; we started with the core team submitting their content and that is what you see on PPS today.

This will change very soon. In line with the vision and objectives of PPS, it will begin accepting content from across the Malaysian blogosphere. The development team has been working hard to make this happen since the launch on 12 June 2003, and now we are ready to test the system. For the test to proceed, we will need a team of 20-30 BETA testers who will be willing to devote some time and effort into making it happen. All BETA testers will receive public credit for their contribution when the next version is launched sometime in mid-July.

We are looking for a cross-section of Malaysian bloggers (or non-Malaysians living in Malaysia are also invited to apply) to make up this team. When you email us your application to be a BETA tester, please include the following information:

Full name (real name please, no pseudonyms)

Email address

Your blog name

Your blog URL

Age

Gender

Location (you can be a Malaysian living overseas, no problems)

What type of blogging tool you use? e.g. Movabletype, Blogger, LiveJournal

In a word or two, who would you describe the majority of the content of your blog e.g. current/affairs news, personal journal, technology

Approximately how long have you been blogging i.e. we want a cross section of new and long-time bloggers - the new version has some technical aspects that we want to make sure everyone of all levels of blogging experience and technical capability will be able to use

All appllications should be written to beta@aizuddindanian.com. The closing date for applications is 26 June 2003. Successful applicants will be informed 28 June 2003. BETA testing will commence 30 June 2003 and last for 7-14 days, depending on how long it takes to iron out all the bugs.

Thank you in advance for your applications and support for Project Petaling Street. We expect a large number of submissions for this test. Please understand that we won't be able to accomodate everyone for this round of testing and we sincerely apologize for any possible disappointment that may result from an unsuccessful application.

For further information related to PPS, join the Kota Raya egroup (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kotaraya/)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:38 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

CSE3151 Postmortem

CSE3151 @ Caulfield Racecourse Level 2

I did not have enough time to complete the paper. I could not remember a lot of things (damn *mumble*, always messing with my memory) too. Here’s hoping that:

Expected Grade: Pass

Candidates may now leave the room QUIETLY.

It has a nice view of the racecourse. Too bad we weren’t facing that direction. Ground Floor exams face that direction, but not Level 2, for reasons unknown.

sixthseal.com just got re-reviewed by The Weblog Review [theweblogreview.com]. Thanks obz! [dyndns.org] I was given 4.5/5 this time. I got a 2.5 in the first review. I was still using the old layout then. It looks like this:

Here’s the review:

This is a re-review of sixthseal.com

It started with:
"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Revelation 6:12-17" ...I knew it was going to be a trip. And oh what a trip Sixth Seal is.

What a crazy read Sixth Seal is. The writers complete candor makes for a engrossing yet disturbing read. The blog consists of entries from hbpoh and veritas (a.k.a. Mr. Foaf) and the content from both is VERY different. All of veritas’ entries reveal his strong drug experimentation, of which he gives great detail. He talks about various drugs in his ‘trip reports’. They are very disconcerting but it does make for great reading. It was like reading ‘trainspotting’. Unbelievable stuff!

Hbpoh is a more typical blogger. With entries about: restaurants, wrestling, trips, vacations, depression, Monash University Clayton Campus, Melbourne, school , SexPo, bills, urinal photos, tennis anyone?, Explosive Diarrhea, Magnum Ice Cream bars and of course his girlfriend. I really enjoyed his writing. He documents his events well with photos, some are rewarding, some disgusting, some artsy…photos say so much. A Funny entry was entitled “Proof that candy bananas are evil”. Want to know why? Read the blog. :P

My favourite quote:
“Unix is the only thing I know of that can reduce a grown man to tears. Manly tears, that is…”

The author also experiments with substances:
"I was in the mood for some weed so I decided to sample some Australian hydroponically grown cannabis sativa to determine the THC concentrations present in a typical gram bag. All for the furtherment of science of course. I'm selfless that way. *preens*"

Veritas on Heroin:
“its the feeling of picnics and reading books and eating cheese cake and nice weather and mom taking care of you when you're sick and i've got it! its the feeling of being a kid, where there are no real problems, only little ones, and you don't need to do anything, you just hang around and feel comfortable and they're parents there to take care of you. damn, thats what it feels like. return to childhood. its the feeling of waking up on a saturday morning to the smell of french toast and you just lie around in bed waiting for your mom to call you down to eat breakfast and you've had a great nites sleep and the only thing you want to do is read a good book, a safe book where there are no great problems and everything turns out to be okay in the end. jesus, you just don't get this feeling anymore after you grow up. no wonder people get addicted to this shit. it's really comfortable” .

This blog is an experience. Never before have I felt such a deep impact from reading a blog. If a blog is meant to share an experience then Sixth Seal delivers.
This site was reviewed on 2003-06-19 by obz.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
obz felt that deserved a rating of 4.5.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:27 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

Meth IV Part II - Hitting the vein, synergies and the comedown

veritas in the process of IV methamphetamine, taken by trip sitter (doesn’t want to be named). Liberal use of smudge to well, smudge details.

IV seems to make meth more like a "fun drug" than a "work drug". That’s my thoughts anyway, as always, YMMV. YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary. Having to type that out defeats the purpose of acronyms, but oh well, just in case anyone doesn't know that. Well, back on topic, I did get supervision this time, since I wanted to IV 70 mg (crystal meth). I wouldn’t have blinked at insufflating twice that amount, but this is IV so I wanted someone to look out for me since I already had quite a bit and I fear the dose-response curve would be different for IV meth.

Hitting the vein:

These two are probably my last experiments with IV meth, unless there is a reason to continue. I appreciate everyone's concern, but I do have a "safety net" - I'll be going back to Malaysia (for good - graduating) soon, and my access to recreational substances there is very limited, due to family obligations, legislation that strikes fear into the hearts of man and other factors.

IV meth #2

I got another fit pack and this time it only had 2 cotton filters! Wtf??? Why doesn’t it match the number of syringes? It can’t be all that expensive, so it would make more sense to have 5 filters inside instead of a measly 2. I didn’t know that only a small bit of filter is required, no wonder I lost some meth solution to the filter (which I always ate after the shot anyway, so it doesn’t matter :p). The real problem to the fit kits is this – the sterile water isn’t resealable. There’s 10 ml of water, and each syringe will fit only 1 ml (but no one in their right mind uses that much anyway) so the leftovers become…unsterile. The top is a twist off plastic seal and once it’s open, it’s open. I didn’t want to risk using "sterile water" that has been sitting opened for many hours coz bacteria and other stuff might have started a family in there. Being aware of this, I asked for sterile water in smaller single packs and got this:

Astra Water for Injections BP

These comes in a much more sensible 2 ml and it’s in glass ampoules. Very nice. These are the snap top vials, you open it by “bending” the glass ampoule at the thinnest point (the yellow line) with one hand on the top and one on the container. It makes a satisfying snap too, and it’s a fun thing to do – this belongs in the same category as popping bubble wrap and pressing the round things that your McDonalds drink cover has. I mean the ones that say “Diet”, “Regular” and “Other”. I can never resist pressing those things, they’re just begging for it! :)

Astra Water for Injections BP back

Well, I don’t know how much I did, it was 8 shards but that doesn’t mean anything at all, considering the wide range of different sizes crystal meth comes in. I gave the spoon a wash with detergent and left it under running hot water for a minute. That’s about as close to sterile as I can get, but I think using disposable sterile spoons (do they have these things?) would be better in the long run. I made things more sterile this time. Anyway, I have to be quick so here’s the summary:

Opened everything that needs opening without touching the inside:
Pealed syringe wrapper back so I could take it out with my clean hands without touching the wrapper.
Snapped top off the glass ampoule.
Opened box containing meth so I could get them by just touching the crystals.
Went to wash my hands with soap and hot water.
Checked that the spoon has no traces of water (I washed it with hot water and I didn’t want drops of that in the spoon)
Used left hand to pick up meth shards and drop into spoon.
Used left hand to pick up glass ampoule and pour an appropriately small amount into spoon.
Used left hand to agitate spoon to make meth dissolve faster.
Used right hand to pick up filter and drop into solution.
Picked up syringe and loaded it through the filter.
Held syringe with left hand (pointing upwards) while alcohol swab pack is opened.
Used right hand to take the alcohol swab and swipe intended injection area. I know my hand is not sterile at this point, but I used the “other” surface of the swab ie not the one I was touching, so that should be okay.
Used left hand to inject solution into right inner elbow.

It’s practically begging to be snapped. Go snap it! :)

By the way, the reason I didn’t use a tourniquet is because I can see my veins, so there isn’t a need for one. It does help though, so I used one in third IV experience, for reasons I will explain later because I have a feeling I’m going to digress again so I’m going to focus. I think I got the medial cubital vein this time, I was aiming for that and there’s only two veins I could see in my extreme inner elbow (the part closest to me) so I went for the second one as the picture in Getting Off Right shows. I still have shaky fingers though, and I found that what really helped is taking a couple of deep breaths and then resolutely position the syringe while steadying your hand with the little finger against the arm you’re injecting into. Personally, it was much easier to inject with my left hand into my right arm, even though I’m right handed.

I also found that it’s better to IV into the veins that are closer to your body, not only because they’re easy to spot, but because it makes solo injection easier, due to the way you can steady your fingers against the arm. My trip sitter is only there just in case something bad happens. I do not feel comfortable at the thought of having someone inject me, unless it’s a medical doctor or a nurse. :p I’ll much rather do it myself, coz I have more control and can modify settings based on sense cues and just for paranoid hypochondriac reasons, I don’t want someone sticking a syringe into me, even though I prepared everything myself.

You asked for it…

Anyway, this time I only needed two tries and although my trip sitter isn’t going to be awarded Photographer of the Year anytime soon (just kidding hehe!) he managed to get some decent photos out, but most of those would not be posted and the ones that are will need liberal use of the “Smudge” tool in Photoshop. I meant for them to be personal memorabilia only anyway, so the unmodified form are staying in my photo archives. I have photos of myself in the act of consuming/insufflating/injecting most substances, and while they are for my own viewing only, I do sometimes wonder if keeping that is a wise idea. While I don’t think anyone would bother to hack my box (my net connection is always on), the possibility of that happening (remote as it can be) exists and the ramifications could be unpleasant.

I would not like my offspring seeing those photos and think that I’m either condoning drug use or lose their respect for me. Do as I say, not as I do. ;) Shh…but I also harbor grand thoughts for my future, so I would not appreciate those photos coming back to haunt me when say, I’m running in an election. Of course, I don’t think I’ll go into politics, but the same applies to corporate culture, it would be damaging photos, unless society’s views on drug use becomes more tolerant, like the way alcohol is viewed now. :)

See what I meant about digressing? I even bore myself sometimes. Anyway, I found it easier this time, the first time I thought I got a vein (it was visible and I stuck right into it) but the plunger test did not produce blood, so I withdrew and stuck it in again on the same vein, but higher up. I pulled the plunger back and *swoosh* (that what I imagine the sound is like :)) blood entered the syringe body in a beautiful way – coming up through the left side and hitting the top of the liquid and swirling back down. Nice! I pushed the plunger and felt the rush almost instantly. It’s going to sound cliché, but I’ll have to use the word “orgasm” as a point of reference since everyone knows how an orgasm feels like so they can relate to it better. I pushed the plunger and the meth went into my veins and I immediately felt a “building up rush”, it actually feels like an orgasm building up, to the “point of no return”, and I was so excited, that before the syringe could be emptied, my hand jerked and yep, part of it was shot outside the vein.

IV #2: Swelling when some of the solution was accidentally injected outside the vein towards the end.

I didn’t think much of it though, since the rush was much better this time, more “tangible” if that makes sense. However, after that subsided, I noticed that there was a bump forming at the needle entry point. I put a warm (hot at first – ouch!) compress on it, but it the swelling did not subside. I thought that it was going to form an abscess, but it didn’t. The swelling went down after a few hours and the only thing left was two very small red marks, which is barely visible now, definitely much more successful than the first try’s mutilation, which isn’t healing well. The marks are still here today with not much difference in visibility. There seems to be a large bruise around that area too, but I wouldn’t worry about it unless I get any other signs that something is up.

IV meth #3

IV drugs is bloody business.

This one involved 70 mg and a minimal amount of water. It seems that the least amount of water necessary should be used because that makes the rush stronger. I did notice a stronger rush when I used less water, but whether that is because more crystals were used or because the solution was less diluted is not known. I’ll just quickly go through this one…I prepared the shot as above but the saturated cotton rolled onto the left side of my table which is the dirtiest part of the room!!! This was right before I could draw the solution into the syringe and it should be noted that my trip sitter protested (thank you for your concern) but I put the meth saturated cotton back into the spoon and drew the solution up again.

In hindsight I should have just drunk the solution. I had no filters left except cigarette filters (Marlboro reds) and I’ve heard contradictory reports on the safety of cigarette filters so, I disregarded the fact that the filter just rolled into the dirtiest part of the room and decided to bang it anyway. Yes, I am Responsible Use personified. :( That was very unwise indeed and it is worrying me. Anyway, I got the vein with just one try this time, using a tourniquet really does help even if you can see the vein, because restricting the blood flow makes the veins bulge so you can gauge how far to inject in. Just remember to UNDO the tourniquet BEFORE injecting.

I didn’t tie myself up, but I used a quasi-tourniquet. I think this is pretty handy, basically it works with any T-shirt (and maybe long sleeved shirts too, but why would you be wearing that when you’re injecting stuff?). I just bunched up one side of the sleeve (I find the bottom is the best place), “collecting” all the cloth into the side and grabbing it really tightly and then pull while continuing to “grab” more material. When you’ve grabbed all you can (obviously, don’t grab so hard that you rip your shirt unless that’s part of your plan), PULL the bit down and keep on pulling. This works like a tourniquet too, it constricts the blood at that point and makes the veins all bulge up. Very nice. I got my trip sitter to hold the cloth till I registered a vein, but you could probably do this solo if you wanted to.

I didn’t use that much water. My methods of removing the water (spirited agitating) just got it everywhere except the spoon.

Anyway, I inserted the needle and drew back, and yup, *swoosh*. ;) I depressed the plunger and whoa, this was really too intense! The rush was bordering on uncomfortable, but the stimulation was so intense that I couldn’t find the right word to describe it. I looked at my trip sitter and said (shouted) “Yee fucking ha, motherfuckers!!!”. =D No, I wasn’t swearing at him, the tense isn’t right if that were the case. Inappropriate as that sounds, that phrase suddenly came into my brain (for reasons unknown since I have never said that for many, many years) and I just HAD to say it. Guess what my trip sitter said? “You have a wild look in your eyes.” Heh. I kid you not! Great guy. I proceeded to listen to music REALLY loud and singing along (another substance involved – see Synergies below) until the rush faded and some semblance of decency returned to me. :)

Anyway, I’m now more confident with IV drug administration and have learnt quite a few things from the experience. 70 mg of crystal meth was too much though, I saw a white/dark light soon after I injected it, it feels like taking a really long blink in bright light. The dose was very “fun” but I don’t like the idea of using meth just for goofing off, I prefer to think of it as a “study/work drug”, and that IV dose was just unnecessarily high for studying. I do need more than 70 mg when insufflating though, but that doesn’t make it less cost effective, since it lasts longer. Regarding injecting techniques I found that that I have to stick the needle in quite far (about 3-5 cm) but this is done at a very low angle. I did it at about 15 degrees, that’s a very wide ballpark figure, since I basically eyeballed it. I just inserted the needle at an angle which is produced by steadying my hand with the smallest finger on the arm and slightly rising it to an angle that “looks right”. The figures could be totally wrong as I forgot how much a centimeter looks like, and it’s different for anyone anyway. I have found my personal insertion values though, it gets easier with practice.

IV #3: Practice makes perfect. Neat and clean needle entry wounds.

Back to the Bad Stuff, I was worried about this shot because it seems to be sore even after a long time. I noticed that my heart hurts as well, but that’s pretty common for me on meth. I have hypertension so these shenanigans should probably be avoided. That’s not what I’m worried about though – it’s endocarditis [emedicine.com] (requires an operation to change the heart valve!) and septicemia [nlm.nih.gov] (bye). I have thought that IV drugs is pretty forgiving since my first try involved needles and cotton that is not sterile and yet nothing bad happened. However, it seems that some symptoms only manifest itself after days or weeks. Now that third shot is definitely dirty (dust, cigarette ash, food remnants etc), should I be worried? The more I read the more symptoms I see in myself. I would love input from experienced IV users.

Synergies:

N2O + meth = INTENSE!

Inhaling…

Still inhaling…

I inhaled a cartridge and half of nitrous (approximate – filled balloon with two cartridges and managed to inhale 3/4 before my meth assisted increased perceived lung prowess quit) while still feeling the rush of meth. Wow! Jesus Christ, that really is something! The nitrous sound distortions are much intensified, hey sounds like “HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY” from the wrong direction. It was bizarre and slightly disturbing. It lasts much longer and intensifies the body high too. You know that buzz your whole body gets on meth? Nangs make it much more noticeable that even sitting felt too intense! The contact of my ass with the chair was buzzing, the sensors were triggering! Nitrous oxide goes so well with the meth rush (and even after the rush) that I feared the two is contraindicated and thought I would stay in nangland forever from brain damage! No, I didn’t check beforehand, I seem to be getting irresponsible and impulsive as of late – definitely something I need to reflect on. Lose respect for drugs, and they tend to fuck you up.

The comedown:

Anyway, that is something that I need to think about personally, here’s what I typed during the comedown later that night when I had cannabis, salvia (finally got something out of it! :)), nitrous, benzodiazepines and alcohol. The file was found on the desktop today and was entitled (of all things) "very intportant .txt":

on the 5 ccombo coming off meth, actually just tweaked 4 hrs ago, ad ten took 2 g clona plus a benzos i can't tell. not allowed to say. but i haven't had food for 3 days. eveyrthing hit me, nearly forgot the neighrbour is making scart clanging clanging noise lik about to make a complaint. my bong PACKED FULL OF SALVIA tipped over, fuck!!! that was the last bit i wantewd a huge one evern thoguh i'm farly fucked up reite now already! heheheheheheh!
oh ya i keep om forgetting stuff, i wanted to tell yo usth but i forgot i doulbt i can act sober rite npw too and damn ineed to reheat my food. oh i suddden;ly remembered watned to tell you salvia5x extract is sticky. :)
hmm i can't find my balloong for n2o and found it hiding under cannabis sherrederm the cardi keep all my shredded weed on, i suually shread enough for anite only though, i keep on forgetting thins so no point to correct spelling . oh ya scrolled back and found that i was supped to tell you the missing balllong for n2s was hiding under the card i shred mj on, the card is nifty greeting card, i usually shred enough for a day or two max
:)

i burned my thumb quite badly (blisters) while smoking salvia coz i wanted to take a huge fucking ass hit and didn't realize until 30 sec later that the flame is flickering into my head. i saw a dead woman (but not scart's face and head seleeping on my pillow i burt my hand just now coz the lighter was under it and all my reactions s lowed so i dunno until my brain says "says ouch" our brian controls us instead of the other way round. show them burnt hand pic
pics will not be good quality coz bvery blur now and can't be bothered taking pics
bye
ohj i know why it buned me now its coz when i dun inhale the flame is directly burning my hand, duh so stupid and didn't realize it and now i will have blisters on my thumb, wanted to smoke everything out of that bowl. alll the salvia i mean, coz you can predict was i'm going to say and suggest it to me
ie just burn the flamer, i amd so out of it now
not seconds later i just had this convo with my friend:

Friend (11:18 PM) :
wanna go 2 maccas at 12 later?
veritas (11:21 PM) :
ah sorry i am terrible so much out of it that i cannot evyerhting is a blur and filled with red spots now bizzare
veritas (11:21 PM) :
would love to eat though
but cna't present myself to the public with all this red spots, very consistant, covers whole viewfield i'm seeing
veritas (11:21 PM) :
sorry dude
Friend (11:22 PM) :
hahaha alrite dude!
veritas (11:22 PM) :
hehehe
see ya later buddy
hafve a nice good eat for me at maccas
:)
Friend (11:22 PM) :
haha have a nice time too
veritas (11:22 PM) :
hehehe
yeah lasst break b4 serious study have to be dome
Friend (11:23 PM) :
yeah
beter get some studying done
veritas (11:25 PM) :
yeah
gohgta study too
good luckl mate!
Friend (11:25 PM) :
good luck too!
veritas (11:25 PM) :
thanks buddy
:)

bizzare as man and one of the catridges are duds
damn now i only have one left
i thought this was icq coz got ppl talking to me right now and i press controk plus s to send and thought hmm how come nothing happen and dudh reakuzed i amm= in notepate
bye see ya

very biaaaro conversation i felt quite a lot of things now and oh the bulk was alright after all, i think it just needs to be pierced harder i am so sleepy now oh got a depression at the n20 catrg head and it wasn't broken, just "pressed into and the someone msg me and confused me yes just pressed ito it but not breakng it and the bulburater confused me so hard i dunno how to work it out yet typing is like second nater. was planning t osleep now aftre days of no sleep. :)
man i lost the fcraker top and found it in all places a pizza box

i am seriously tihinking wat the neo whao this is the fucking best fmost fucking barrae!!!! fcikiung seriously!!!!!!!!!!!!! ui am like numb all ove and everttguing is red and i feel like i am center of universe of a place with no people , so i fly in solitute sadly over a city of no peaople
luckily i saw this last post, i mean i was seriously thinking wat the neighbour must think of the strange noises coming from my room. first the bong sound of partkating in mj , and that sound is quite distinctinve wit ha bong, and then sounds for forced inhaling and holging it in for a long time for the nos, reli gave a twist on everything, remind me to tell you that n20 is fucking awesoe on meth!!!! like you're having an orgasasm but even better coz this includet the ENTIRE body!!!
shit i think i lsot hte plot, i mean i wonder wat the neigh will think of the strange noise, mhj smoking with a bong, a very distrinctive sound, and the forced inhaling from balllons and breathing back for recycling really loud and it must sound like someone is needing medical attn and the doors did shut and close hmm oh ya one final post, the "dud" catrdige is not dud after all, just need to apply harder than usual pressure. okay -end-
n i forgot typiny w 1 ha nd now forgot about, oops myt ballooniis leaking gas i meab wat da neigh will think at the disctinctive sounds of nitrous relasing from a cracker, the fillng of ballong and me inhaling it but oh well ,reli hungry now and gonna heat up my meal mmm...this is the first solid food in 3 days and i prep multivite already (it is in front of me at the kb) so i'll eat now bye everyone!

Everything is left intact and unedited, except for the chat log (only names have been replaced) and the three photos are not part of the original file. I think it was the nitrous oxide and salvia divinorum that made me incoherent since I’ve had the other 3 together plenty of times before during meth comedowns and they never made me sprout such retarded stuff. :) I just lost the plot over there.

Related: Meth IV Part I [sixthseal.com]

Posted in Best of sixthseal.com by Huai Bin at 01:29 PM Permalink | Comments (41)

"How to make a cracker" by CT

This is written by CT:

OK Guys,
This Is Easy Peasy, follow me:

1. Get one bulb, take it to Bunnings. Go to the plumbing section and find the copper fitings the look like those in the photos.
2. Find a Cap like the bit that unscrews (make sure its just the right size for the bulb to fit in)
3. Find the "middle bit" from the photos here (male to male adapter) make sure its the same size as the cap so they screw into one another. (also check the bulb fits into this snug (not so snug that it doesnt have a little clearance on the sides).
4.Finde a "Male to Male" reducer (the bit on the end in the photo) this should fit the bulb in it at one side but reduce to a smaller size at the other end.
5. Now buy some nice sturdy screws with wide bottoms (the bit you stick a skrew driver into) make sure they are not to long
5. Buy some epoxy glue (you know it looks like a double syringe) Also some plumbers tape (the white stuff in the photos.
6.Put a screw in the base of the cap, put a bulb in the tube (male to male addapter) like the screw up so that it consides with the part of the bulb that you need to pierce. NOW DO NOT MOVE IT (blue tac helps here) Now get your epoxy and fill the cap about half up with it. BE VERY CAREFULL not to get the glue on the thread of the upper half of the cap or you will reck the cap and need to get another.
7. Let this dry.
8. Get some wire (reasonable thick) and twist into a circle. Cut half this so you have a half circle of wire (maybe even just cut a quarter of the wire.
9. Force this down the male to male reducer (it allows the gas to pass the end of the bulb. (i realy need pictures here, will talk to veritas)
10. Once dry you have a working cracer. "The Nanganator 3000" heheheh

Thanks for all the comments regarding my first time IV use. I'll reply everyone when I get back, I need to do something now. I'll also write Part II (of course there's a sequel ;)) later - stay tuned! :)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:07 AM Permalink | Comments (42)

The Weblog Review - minishorts@urban-flirt

Original review for The Weblog Review here: minishorts@urban-flirt [theweblogreview.com].

minishorts@urban-flirt

Before I begin this review, I have to state that minishorts is a blog I have been reading
regularly for quite a while, and the owner is on my ICQ contact list. That being said,
I’ll try to offer a review that’s as unbiased as possible, and one that may offer
additional insight into the site which is afforded by knowing the author. Minishorts
has been online since September 2002 and the first post involves three pieces of
poetry which the author wrote. I particularly enjoyed the one entitled “Dearest
Mother” which manages to be touching without being clichéd.

The weblog is a mix of the author’s thoughts about everything and also her
personal issues, with occasional posts which provides a very intimate view into the
author’s life. An example of this is the January 14th 2003 post which has pictures of
her bedroom, complete with photos of the bed, her wardrobe (with clothes) and the
author herself. Minishorts is a 23 year old Chinese Malaysian doing her Masters in
Linguistics and the blog is representative of what personal weblogs in Malaysia are
all about. The author aspires to be a writer and she occasionally posts bits of
ongoing stories in the blog.

The entries are updated consistently, and the author manages to post even while
on vacation in Hong Kong, using the hotel’s business center’s net connection. The
posts have a nice smattering of photos at appropriate intervals and this manages to
prevent the monotony in reading an all-text blog and provides a window into the
author’s world. There are plenty of pictures of the author’s and her friends and one
can’t help but feel like they’re with the author as she goes through her life. There are
photos of her trips, her convocation and so forth and reading the blog feels like
watching one of those time delayed footage of a plant going through the growth
process of a bud to a flower. This and the always entertaining posts is what keeps me
going back for more.

The design of the site has recently been changed into one featuring a Matrix
layout, with a non-standard horizontal scroll bar. The content of the blog is featured
in a window of the left side, followed by a large Neo, and leading into the tagboard.
The tagboard is dynamically replaced by things like minishort’s bio, links, credits
and so forth when one of the navigation buttons is clicked. However, the links are
images which doesn’t provide anything to suggest where it leads to, except when the
hover text comes up. This “mystery meat” navigation does not seem to be a good
design strategy.

Someone pointed out in an email that there are essentially two kinds of weblogs
– the personal ones and the ones that provide social commentary on current issues
and news. This blog belongs to the first group and if you like those, you’ll love
minishorts. If you don’t, well I guess you won’t, but click on the link anyway and
see if the site will change your mind. I’m giving it a 4.5 because I honestly think it’s
a very interesting site. This would be interesting for you too if you'll like a voyeuristic
look into the life of a 23 year old in Malaysia.

This site was reviewed on 2003-06-14 by sixthseal.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
sixthseal felt that minishorts@urban-flirt deserved a rating of 4.5

Link to site: minishorts@urban-flirt [urban-flirt.net].

The link is on the sidebar too.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 11:55 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

Intravenous injection (IV) methamphetamine

veritas Meth IV - mainlining

This is my first time injecting a drug. I once said that I would try everything once – except needles. Syringes and IV drug users seem to have a bad reputation even amongst recreational drug users. It would be funny if it didn’t sound slightly hypocritical. However, I have absolutely no right to pass judgment as I previously subscribed to the "everything except injecting" school of thought too. What happened? I can honestly say that it’s the pursuit of knowledge and experience in my favorite past time that lead me to experimentation with IV administration of recreational substances.

Remember, possession of an illicit substance remains illegal

I have been thinking about this for a while and the catalyst was S (not her real name) – talking to her finally got me determined to IV something before I head home. Cross out one of the “Things To Do Before I Leave Melbourne List” items, there’s only 5 left now (the last one is the mega mega super duper ultra drug binge to end all drug binges – stay tuned!) . ;) It’s easy to get syringes and other paraphernalia here – they’re all sold over the counter at pharmacies. Most pharmacies also stock "fit kits", a pack containing everything that is necessary for safer IV drug user – syringes, filters, sterile water, antiseptic wipes and a disposal container for used syringes. It’s harm reduction, a good practice to avoid the unnecessary and totally avoidable health issues that tends to manifest itself when clean, cheap injecting equipment is not available.

Unfortunately, Malaysia seems to have adopted the opposite stance – syringes are not freely available, leading to drug users reusing dirty syringes and causing the transmission of disease through this vector. Sharing used syringes leads to the transmission of blood borne diseases and this can easily be avoided by providing new syringes to everyone, but no…the current legislation keeps those things out of the hands of drug users, leading to a stigma associated with IV use. The parliament seems intent to concatenate a H to IV drug use by barring the users from access to clean equipment. It’s really sad that the government back home does not think this is a good preventive measure in the interests of public health. Anyway, ever since the chat with S, I’ve been reading up and researching about intravenous drug use and finally decided on two substances – IV meth and IM ketamine.

The high grade methamphetamine crystals

I have since decided not to IM (intramuscular injection) ketamine, after receiving advice that doing that with street ketamine powder will likely result in abscesses. I have access to pharmaceutical grade ketamine in vials, but the price is prohibiting, so that leaves IV (intravenous injection) methamphetamine. I was looking into syringe driven micron filters [tas.gov.au] (also called wheel filters, pill filters) – these are devices that filter out the impurities and bacteria that tends to call recreational substances home. However, these things aren’t cheap and they’re single use only, plus I have to travel quite a distance to the nearest place that stocks them (normal pharmacies do not carry specialty injecting equipment) so I didn’t obtain the filters – justifying that the crystal meth I get is about as pure as it gets.

Anyway, I went to the local chemist today and bought a “sharps kit” for A$5 in preparation for my IV adventures. The kit contains:

5 x 1 ml Terumo U-100 single use insulin syringes (29G)

29 gauge – all the better to prick you with. ;) A larger gauge number means the needle diameter is smaller, so a 19G needle is thicker than a 29G needle, which is in turn thicker than a 30G needle.

5 x antiseptic wipes

These are alcohol swabs – contains isopropyl alcohol

10 ml “Water for Injections BP” in a nice plastic bottle

Pharmacia & Upjohn branded sterile water. I feel so spoilt. ;)

3 x cotton filters

What is the logic behind this??? 5 syringes and 3 filters? Reusing filters is not a good practice!

1 x mini sharps container

Biohazard - Sharps Bin

This is a container you put used needles in for disposal. Do not reuse syringes! Do not share syringes or equipment! That holds true even with yourself ie don’t reuse your own syringe too. Anyway, this container is very nifty. I thought the design was odd at the beginning since I had to push hard to get the syringe’s “wings” into the disposal container. After a while, it just hit me (yes, I’m slow) that the design is intentional, it’s to avoid syringes from falling out from the disposal container, that isn’t possible because the “wings” are too big to come through without some pushing from the other end, and the other end is sealed! Thoughtful design, makes it less of a safety concern.

Used syringes can't fall out

This is a great pack for just A$5 – it has everything you need (except for micron filters, but that’s nitpicking) for safer injecting of drugs and I think it’s something all countries need to have. A lot of the serious health issues surrounding IV use can be totally prevented if users have access to these equipment. Personally, I don’t understand how some IV users can bear to share and use dirty equipment – the same way I can’t understand how some people can go to brothels and have sex with prostitutes. I’ll tell you the truth, I’m hypochondriac and I would never risk contracting a disease, so the patterns of thought these people seem to have is foreign and interesting (in a morbid way) to me.

Classic 90 degree spoon for preparing the shot. I just bent the handle.

But then again, some people would think the same way about me and my recreational drug use, which may seem self-destructive and risky to them. This is an interesting issue if you think about it, everyone has different ideas about what constitutes risky behavior and nothing would change their minds. I realize the futility in getting an anti-drug person to look at the issue from my point of view – the same way that no one can ever convince me to go to a brothel because the risk is unacceptable to me. Punters can sprout all the logic and statistics they want about the relative safety of condoms, but would I ever take the risk? No, and nothing can change my mind. This is probably true for the anti-drug people too. Will they ever see it from our point of view? Probably not.

Meth crystals dissolving in sterile water - squint and you'll see it

I’m sorry about digressing so far, but in my defense I have consumed 350 mg of meth in two days so I may be slightly talkative here. Slightly. :) Anyway, back on topic, I see now that there’s no point in trying to get anti-drug people to relax their hard stance…it just isn’t possible. I used to think that this is because they are ignorant about the facts concerning drug use, and that might be true in some cases, but not all. Back to the analogy, am I aware of the safety data regarding condoms? Yes. Would I take the risk? Never. I see that the issue is not always one of ignorance, but of what we’re raised to fear. I fear the diseases that can be transmitted through high risk sexual intercourse, because I was born in the year HIV came into public consciousness, so I will never take the risk nor will I ever see it from their point of view. They fear the dangers (whatever that may be – brain damage? overdose? who knows?) which comes with recreational drug use, so they will never take the risk nor will they ever see it from my point of view.

Cotton filter dropped in to absorb the solution

Okay, I’m done being Plato, I’m going back to the main post now. Stop me if I digress again. :) Anyway, I decided to inject myself with some crystal meth today. I have done much research before making the jump and I suggest you do the same if you are considering this method of administration, as the risks are greater than other routes of consumption. I found that the best resource out there is this guide by the Harm Reduction Coalition:

Getting Off Right – A Safety Manual for Injection Drug Users [harmreduction.org]

I suggest that you read everything in there since it is a very good manual with balanced and unbiased facts about the risks of injecting drugs. It has a whole chapter devoted to this, and I’ll be lying if I said it didn’t give me pause when I first read it. Septicemia, endocarditis, necrotizing fasciitis, wound botulism etc etc. This manual really does give you all the facts straight out, no bullshit or propaganda to color their agenda, and that gives it a lot of credibility. Invaluable.

Drawing up the solution through the cotton filter into the syringe

Anyway, after reading through the manual several times, I compiled a list of techniques which would provide the safest way for me to administer crystal meth intravenously. Here’s the information I gathered:

Disclaimer: This is a FIRST TIME INJECTING user’s account of his experience. I am NOT experienced at all in this route of administration and the methods I use might be totally wrong and dangerous. I’m only documenting my experience and I’m NOT experienced enough to give advise. This is just a compilation of techniques I’ve researched about and used myself. It is NOT ADVICE so don’t treat it as such. I say again that the methods I’m using could be WRONG and DANGEROUS. Please don’t inject anything until you’ve sufficiently researched the subject and analyzed the risks involved.

Use the alcohol swab to swipe ONCE and ONCE ONLY. The reason behind this is that if you keep swabbing around in circles (like I planned to do) is you’ll be moving any bacteria around and around so it’ll still be on the point of penetration. Swiping ONCE is what I’ve read to be the best way.

Use alcohol to sterilize your fingers before you touch anything! That includes the spoon, the filters (don’t roll the cotton beforehand), the syringe etc.

Get “sterile, medical grade” cotton. Make sure that the first filter (cotton filter) is rolled up in a tight ball. I read that this makes it more efficient in filtering.

Methamphetamine dissolves easily in water. I’ve read that heating the substance increases the chance that the cuts will be dissolved, so don’t heat it, just wait for it to dissolve or use the “cold shake” method.

Sterile water ampoules only! This can be bought at most pharmacies, they will sell it to you no questions asked. The same goes for syringes, so there’s no excuse for not using a new syringe each time, even with yourself!

PRACTISE FIRST! I stuck myself with the syringe several times and practiced drawing back to check if I’ve hit a vein. You can also experiment with injecting sterile water to get the technique right. DO NOT reuse the syringe even though you’re just practicing on yourself. You can introduce bacteria and other things if you reuse syringes. Syringes are designed for single use only. Needless to say it’s FUCKING STUPID to share syringes. If you can afford the drugs, you can afford the syringes!

Vein = blood when you draw slightly back.
Artery = gush of blood when you insert the syringe. DO NOT PROCEED!

Check the barrel of the syringe to see if there are any visible particles. Do not proceed if you see anything visible to the naked eye, either re-filter or drink the shot. :p

Inject in arms only (safest site) and direct the needle TOWARDS your heart (not away from it, like in the movies). The needle should have the bevel opening facing up, inject at the correct angle and site – refer to GOR.

Try to remove all air bubbles from the barrel of the syringe before injecting.

I thought I was prepared. I didn’t realize that IV is much harder than it seems! It’s not as easy as sticking the syringe into your arm and depressing the plunger. You can see the visible track marks of my unsuccessful attempts in the photos below. I was at a loss regarding the injection site since every single vein seems to have been punctured and I harbor a superstitious thought that injecting in that one will result in the solution squirting out again at the previous puncture wound. Heh. I know, I know, it sounds silly, and experienced IV users will be tempted to laugh at my superstitions, but everyone was new once. ;)

Anyway, my first time was riddled with mishaps and other entertaining (to you, but unfortunately not to me) shenanigans and I ended up disregarding the safety framework that I had planned. Please, do not do what I did, I’m just documenting my first experience with IV drug use, which involved a lot of unwise decisions. The first one is the lack of a trip sitter. I had arranged for CT to trip sit me, but that will have to take place at my room, where there would inevitably be incriminating conversation going on, which might be overhead by the neighbors (damn those thin walls) and could result in unwanted consequences.

Thus, I decided to go on this quest alone, which in hindsight was a very stupid thing to do, but at least there were some safeguards in place ie I was going to meet him in an hour so it wasn’t totally stupid of me. I guess this is what tends to happen with illegal substances – sometimes the fear of being legally prosecuted is greater than the thought of any possible threat to self due to unsupervised first time IV use. The thing I was worried about was not an overdose or unexpected reaction, but the possibility of a neighbor overhearing our conversation and possibly reporting it, resulting in a conviction just 2 weeks before I’m due to leave Melbourne for good. That would be terrible indeed! I have been lucky so far, and I hope it doesn’t run out before I leave.

That said, the second unwise thing I did was to disregard all sanitary precautions after the first few unsuccessful attempts. I’m not afraid of needles, so I feel comfortable sticking it into my flesh, but that doesn’t mean I’m not nervous since it’s my first time. My hands were shaking, and that resulted in a lot of aborted injections eg sticking the needle in and then withdrawing it accidentally again due to trembling hands. The first time I attempted to inject, I realized that I had totally forgotten about the alcohol swabs! The needle was already in my skin, so there’s nothing much that could be done by then.

I had a bit of trouble even before that due to my inexperience with syringes. I had a lot of trouble drawing up liquid into the syringe and was puzzled by this lack of pressure despite the insistent plunger manipulation I was doing. Well guess what? I stuck the needle through the cotton instead of into it. I didn’t even realize this and kept puzzling over the plunger until I thought it was broken and opened up a new syringe to try again, with the same results. Duh! I only realized the mistake when I touched the cotton (wet so it’s not the source of the problem) and saw the needle sticking THROUGH the cotton. I overshot the mark, no wonder I wasn’t getting any liquid into the syringe body.

I find that the cotton does steal quite a bit of meth solution too. The amount I drew into the syringe is inconsistent with the amount I put into the spoon. The first time I put 4 largeish crystal meth shards into the spoon and dropped a small amount of sterile water onto it. I did not heat up the solution, since meth dissolves readily in water. I only had to shake the spoon around a bit to make it dissolve faster since I did not crush up the crystals (didn’t want to introduce impurities) beforehand. Meth = very water soluble though, and the crystals dissolve readily. However, the solution I drew up into the syringe isn’t as much as I put in and I had to keep adding drops of water to the cotton to make the syringe draw more liquid. There seems to be a certain saturation point though, where the syringe will only get more air and the remaining moisture of the cotton could not be recovered this way so I, ah…ate it. It’s not poisonous (I hope) and it would be a waste to throw away a still moist cotton so, yeah I just chased it down with some Ural and water. :p

Anyway, the first few attempts to locate a vein were not easy. I could see the veins, and I could insert the needle into it, but the needle always came out when I pulled the plunger back due to my unsteady hands. I have to pull the plunger to confirm that I’m in a vein, there would be blood flowing into the barrel if I was and I needed that visual confirmation. Every single time I pulled back the plunger, the needle came out as well. I changed the syringe every time that happened to avoid blunt needles, but I was down to the last two and I couldn’t be bothered anymore. I just wanted to hit a vein, bang it and get it over with!

Increasing number of puncture wounds

It was easier said than done though, due to my shaky hands (nerves, nerves). By the end of the session, I had 8 large puncture wounds and 6 smaller ones. It wasn’t the pain that bothered me, I don’t feel much pain at all since I think I have a fairly high pain threshold. It was the damned frustration at consistently fucking up every shot. I had thought IV was a simple matter of finding a vein, sticking the syringe in and pushing the plunger. It wasn’t so. I spent half and hour changing syringes at first, draining the solution back into the spoon and loading another syringe up for a new try, taking care to use the alcohol swabs, but by the end of it, I was ready to give up and just wanted to HIT A VEIN, WHY IS IT SO HARD?!?!?

I missed a shot too, due to my impatience. I was terribly frustrated at this tediousness and decided to push the plunger anyway, no need for confirmation. I picked a vein, stuck the syringe in and pushed. Ouch! No rush, but the skin surrounding the area swelled up. Fuck, I missed the vein and wasted the shot. I was very pissed off at this point since I was angry at my inaptitude at doing something that seems to be easy in theory. I rubbed the swelling site as S recommended, but that did not reduce the swelling. I didn’t want to touch the open wound with my fingers too, since by this time, all precautions to maintain sterility has been abandoned and my hands were bound to be dirty since I was handling other things as well (like the digicam).

I was getting very frustrated and regretted not having CT come over and trip sit me, because that would leave both my hands free and clean since I won’t have to touch the digicam in my attempts to document my first experience. However, the missed shot made me all the more determined to hit a vein and I prepared another solution for injecting. It should be noted that even though I missed the vein, I did feel the meth from the missed shot. There isn’t a “rush” but I was noticeably getting tweaked after a while, it seems that meth is active when administered via injection by “skin popping” too.

The tweaked condition didn’t help with the shaky hands, if anything it made it worse, but it did make me more focused and resolute in getting an IV shot into me. I will tell you some of the hygienic precautions that were discarded at this point. I won’t even pretend that the syringe is sterile anymore, and neither is it sharp, since several failed penetrations have been made and I accidentally hit the bottom of the spoon with the tip when I drew the solution into the barrel. The shot was definitely not sterile because:

The needle went through my shirt (!) by accident
I wish I was kidding. I only had one syringe left at this point so I had to pretend I didn’t notice this happened. The incident occurred when I reached for the sterile water to add to the cotton. I somehow managed to stick the needle through the right hand side of my shirt while fumbling with the water. It didn’t pierce my body, but just went through the front of the shirt and penetrated out the back. Okay…I’ll just forget that happened, ho hum. *cough* Yeah, I did proceed with the injection with the very same needle. Please don’t do this.

The needle dragged on a chair (...)
Yes, this is the same needle that got the shirt treatment. I’ll give away a spoiler here, the needle is also the same one I managed to successfully hit a vein and bang that shit. ;) Whatever ramifications this will produce, I will find out tomorrow, but currently, the puncture wounds are swollen and they seem to be painful when touched. Anyway, the needle dragged over my chair while fumbling with a spoon. It made a screeching sound too, so even though I could pretend I didn’t see that happen, I couldn’t pretend I didn’t hear it. But I was very frustrated at this point and thought “Fuck it, no one sits in this chair except me anyway”. Welcome E.coli.

The cotton fell off the spoon and rolled onto the chair
Despite my articulate attempts to bend the spoon so that it can remain erect on a surface without any aid, the laws of gravity got the better of me and the spoon tipped to the side and the cotton rolled onto the chair surface. Luckily, the solution has been absorbed by the cotton so no spillage occurred, but the wet cotton was certainly not sterile anymore. I did not really care at this point since the needle wasn’t sterile anyway, so I just noted that it rolled onto the surface of the chair, nonchalantly put it back and drew up the solution like nothing out of the ordinary happened. :p

Not very pretty, that's for sure

However, this syringe was the lucky one. 10 units (0.1 ml) of solution was inside the chamber, with a very large air bubble, which I could not manage to dislodge despite my best attempts. I shook it, I tapped it, I turned the syringe upside down, I even squirted some solution out and refilled the chamber, but nope, the air bubble insists on being there. Oh well, the “air bubble causes pulmonary embolism/stroke” is a myth anyway, so on with the show, I said. Please don’t quote me on this, it’s just something I remembered reading on bluelight, and I don’t know if it’s a fact or it really is a myth, but I’m still very much alive if that tells you anything. I think it’s an unsafe practice though, so read up on it before you decide whether or not this poses a significant risk.

Preparing the shot

Hmm…is anyone still with me? This is getting very long. I appreciate you reading so far, thanks for sharing my experience. :) Anyway, this one is the lucky syringe, I finally managed to enter a vein and pulled the plunger back without the needle falling out. I think it was either the Medial Cubital Vein or the Basilic Vein. I pulled the plunger back and I was elated to see a flush of blood entering the chamber! This is it! I’ve hit the vein and the needle is still firmly in, the bevel opening is facing upwards and I’m injecting towards my heart. The stars aligned!

The shot that finally hit a vein! The angle is wrong, I injected the syringe towards me, but it shifted to the side when I finished injecting and moved my hand away to take a photo before drawing the needle out. Look at the bottom of the syringe barrel - there's some blood clotted there. That's my visual confirmation - I pulled the plunger back, blood flooded in. We have a vein! :)

I took a deep breath and pushed the plunger slowly but smoothly, emptying it in about 3 seconds. What does IV meth feel like? It felt like a slap in the face. :) I have been tweaking for two days and had consumed 1/4 gram of meth the night before, and this shot couldn’t have been more than 50 mg maximum (crystal meth) but it hit me alright. I was desensitized (as one tends to get) after the previous night’s tweaking, but fuiyoh, the rush! The rush from IV meth! I felt like I was being reanimated! I would say that the amount is too much, because I think my brain nearly exploded. :)

My blood clotting on the needle bevel

It feels like…a slap in the face in the middle of an orgasm. Clichéd as it sounds, the rush is a real rush. It felt like the first time I had insufflated a really big line of meth, it hit me like a ton of bricks and I was dizzy for a while. It was worth every puncture wound I made throughout the night, this experience is something that needs to be experienced to appreciate. Did I just make a personal demon (I love meth) even stronger? Would I end up in poverty and die all alone in the cold, cold streets of Melbourne?

Well, no. I loved the rush, it’s fucking amazing and this is one of the rare times when profanity is justified and even required to enlist as a potentiating adjective. :) What I did not like was the duration…what a waste! I would say I was tweaked (my scale might differ from yours) for 3 hours. Insufflating usually lasts 6 hours for me and oral meth with alkalanizers can provide me with the mental stimulation I crave for 10 hours (albeit a lot is required for oral use). The disappointing duration (but the rush exceeds my expectations :)) together with the fact that my left arm is a fucking mess would not make this method a favorite with me. The swelling has since gone down after a warm compress was applied but the puncture wounds are still very much visible and probably would not heal until a couple of days has passed. I was afraid that the sterility issues would produce an abscess which would require medical attention, but it seems that the worries are unjustified. I checked again and it seems that the healing process is proceeding nicely, though a bit too slow for my liking. Hmm…does anyone notice that I have fits of “old skool” type sentences once in a while? I blame that on H.P. Lovecraft, it’s all I’ve been reading on my commute lately.

Anyway, I have put two Band-Aids over the puncture wounds, which I got from CT, many thanks for that. CT has never failed to be helpful and he’s a great friend indeed and at the risk of sounding not completely hetero (not that there’s anything wrong with that), I would miss him when I go back because it’s not easy to find someone that shares the same interests and is a nice guy to boot. I sure have learnt a lot from him and we’re currently working on probably the last collaborative project (Codename: Project M.C.) before I go back. Project M.C. is top secret, off the record, on the QT and very hush hush so I will not be blogging about it. I will be writing it for a personal archive, and I will post that once the “statute of limitations” pass. That has been agreed to be 3 years, so if you really want to know, remind me to post about Project M.C. today in 2006. I assure you it will be an interesting read. ;)

Well, back on topic, I would try IV meth again when my wounds heal, maybe once or twice max. It’s not that I’m scared of the potentially all too lovable rush that IV meth provides, the rush is good, hell, it’s fucking great, but the hassle involved in preparing the shot and the short duration (dammit) would not make this method appealing for me. Two minutes of feeling like God and 3 hours of feeling like a Saint. That is my experience with IV meth. Insufflation gives me 5 minutes of Demi-God status and 6 hours of Sainthood. I would go choose the latter over the former.

Besides, I’ll have a lot of explaining to do if the track marks from my amateur jabbings do not heal as quickly as I hope it will. ;)

P/S - Part II of methamphetamine IV here [sixthseal.com].

Posted in Best of sixthseal.com by Huai Bin at 07:26 AM Permalink | Comments (150)

Lies, damn lies and drug vilification

Erimin (nimetazepam) packaging - front

This ill researched, sensationalist tabloid story here is another example of how the media is contributing to the bad image recreational drug users have to put up with. I will not link it - not because we’re competing for SERPs on “Erimin” (I don’t compete for keywords, I just try to get mine out there), but because it’s pure, steaming bullshit. The article is about Erimin-5 pills, but it is written more to sensationalize than to provide concise facts. What do you expect from a tabloid? I mean for fucks sake, do you really need to put caps in the title? Does that really sensationalize the thrashy “article” all that much?

Erimin (nimetazepam) packaging - back

Just so you can check it out, here’s the link (start from http and paste every other line, including the numbers until html), you have to do a bit of cut and pasting coz I do not link to poorly researched anti-drug propaganda:
http://newpaper.asia1
Hello, I’m Joycelyn Wong.
.com.sg/to
I do not know much about benzodiazepines.
p/story/0,4136,
but I’ll like to write an article about it anyway.
26703-10
because you know, I have a Phd. in Sensationalist Writing (Applied Tabloids)
546559
and my research was on How to Sample a Population 101
40,00.html
It’s not that hard really, just pick (or invent) some random guys called Nicky and Ryan and get them to make sweeping statements and pass on personal experiences as fact.

No, there is no room for words such as “may”, “seems”, “feel”. Those words leave room for alternative views! They are bad! My doctorate taught me that it’s much more effective to pass off opinions as facts. Fuck the truth, no room for that here, people want to hear about third hand “experiences” (the more sensationalist the better!) like “addicts stealing from a shop” coz we all know that drug users are fucking scum, they are liars, they are thieves and they are no better than dogs. No, we won’t be touching any of that stuff. Now, let us have promiscuous unprotected sex and pass HIV around because sex is good and drugs are bad, mmmkay? Mmmkay.

Flunitrazepam = bad

Dangerous substances like flunitrazepam should be avoided, okay! They have been found in the fake Erimin-5 pills and they can make you unconscious, and I must bring up the date rape issue, because we all know that drug users do that! Evil corrupt fucks! Stay away from the dirty junkies, hang out with the frat boys and the pretentious clubbers because they won’t do that to you. No, not them, they’re the Good Guys.

Be careful of benzos okay! They cause convulsions!!! What? Benzodiazepines have anticonvulsant activity? They are marketed as anti-epileptics? I see...so it's withdrawal after long term benzo therapy that may cause convulsions, oops I got it the other way round. My bad. I don’t know anything about that, I didn’t do any research actually…shh! I don’t even know that Upjohn is a pharmaceuticals company, I thought it was a drug name. What’s that? Upjohn merged with Pharmacia and the merged company got acquired by Pfizer? I don’t really care about all that, it’s just history. But hmm…isn’t Pfizer the one that made Viagra? Now that I know, that’s good stuff indeed. Benzo = bad, sildenafil = good. You know…I thought the imprint is the drug name! Hmm…there are many benzos out there with the Upjohn imprint you say? You’re confusing me, please stop, I only know that drugs are bad, mmmkay??? Mmmkay!

The Famous Five (by Enid Blyton)

Benzodiazepines cause hallucinations too!!! Yes, full blown opened eye visuals, I’m not fucking kidding you, they are bad ok! Ricky told me so. Er…I mean Nicky. That’s what I wrote in the tabloid article right? *double checks* Yeah, Brian told me so, oh sorry, I mean Ryan. Note to self: Keep the names consistent. Okay, now I’m going to write about Death! Dr Brian Yeo, who is a well respected general practitioner, says that nimetazepam causes DEATH (!!!) when taken in large amounts. He’s a doctor so he’s always right.

What? The Merck Index says nimetazepam has an oral LD50 of 750mg/kg for mice and 970mg/kg for rats? Who the fuck is Merck? Come to think of it, what is the highest dose per tablet for Erimin-5? 5 mg of nimetazepam is the strongest preparation you say? Humans seem to have a higher LD50 than mice/rats on benzodiazepines [inchem.org], but just for statistical purposes, let us assume the LD50 for mice is the LD50 for humans. Now then…that hypothetical human (as unfortunately benzodiazepines are very safe when taken alone even at high doses) would have to take 150 tablets at once to have a 50% chance of dying.

[Edit: Curse my poor math...why didn't a more gifted person pick this up? :p A human would need much more than that, since it's 750 mg per kg, so following the mice LD50, a 60 kg person would need 9000 mg or 1,800 pills! (I have mastered the art of selective use of bold for text too) If you really have that much, please consider suicide using an alternative method, since it would be quite painful to consume that many tablets at once.]

That is assuming that the nimetazepam is all absorbed at once. Brian, did you skip one too many med school classes?

That is the Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals logo and their internal code – 028

Erimin is made by Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals [sumitomopharm.com]

This took a damn long time to search for, so please thank me. :p I’ve always wondered who made Erimin, and information is scarce and unreadable (Japanese) on the net. I’ve heard it attributed to Landsen etc., I know it’s made in Japan, but I don’t exactly know who made it…until today. Sumitomo don’t actually have nimetazepam or Erimin listed in their products catalogue, but look at the Sumitomo logo and look at the Erimin-5 pill. Mystery solved, feels good to get to the end of this at last!

Anyway, the tabloid article isn’t without merit, as I did learn two things today. That is assuming that this source can be trusted (and that’s a very big assumption, when presented with the current data):
1. Flunitrazepam was taken off the market in Singapore in 1998.
2. My poor secluded state (or maybe it’s just me :p) is getting shafted with Erimin-5 prices.

The end of the article states that 55,000 Erimin 5 pills were seized fairly recently, and the street value was quoted at S$440,000. That means each pill is going for S$8, and we all know how the media and the law enforcement elements like to inflate the “estimated street value” of drugs, so let’s half that price to S$4. That’s RM 8 per pill and the street price in my town is RM 15. I mean, I just heard and all, not that I’ve been partaking in anything I don’t want do. <-Loaded statement. Thankfully, diazepam is still RM 0.50/5 mg tablet and alprazolam goes for RM 7.50/2.5 mg. Prices are from veritas and they are OTC prices, unregulated pharmacies ;). Read veritas’s post on Erimin-5 here:

Erimin 5 [sixthseal.com]

S$ = Singapore dollars = slightly higher than A$ but for easier conversion:
S$1 = A$1 (1 Singapore dollar = 1 Australian dollar)
RM = Ringgit Malaysia = 1/2 for A$