OK. So yesterday I decided to start the process, once again, of quitting smoking.
The best way for me has always been to use nicotine patches. I went down to an Apotheke (pharmacy) in the little town I live in Germany to purchase some patches. In the USA the strongest patch you can get is 21mg but here in Germany you can get them as high as 35mg. I like to live a bit on the wild side but I decided to be a little safer with the 25 mg version.
I started the day with a properly applied patch and about an hour later it started to take affect. I got the sensation of the nicotine without the added tars that come from cigarettes so it began to really curtail my need for a cigarette. Everything was going good.
Just before going to bed I remembered that you’re not supposed to where the patch when sleeping because they can cause hyper vivid dreams that last for hours and feel terrifyingly real. This is because the nicotine you absorb while you sleep suppresses something called PGO waves that spike before you enter REM stage. Without these, your brain mixes up its awake and asleep signals, causing “micro arousals.” That basically means you maintain daytime awareness and recall when in the dream state(1). I remember I had some brutal ones in the past.
Well my wild side said, ‘Ah let’s leave it on tonight and see what conjures up’. The dreams can come out of nowhere and sometimes scare the shit out of you. So I went to bed with my dream machine on. In the past I called these experiences MikeMares.
Earlier in the day I was turned on to a video from the Defqon.1 Festival in Biddinghuizen the Netherlands(2) last weekend. The absolute best light show I have ever seen.
Image is a screengrab from (2)
I went to bed. In the past the dreams had no connection to anything that was going on in my day at the time. This time it was different.
I was at the show and when it was over I was invited to the afterparty with the promoters and crew. It was in an old warehouse in a shady part of town. Everyone was having a great time drinking and smoking a lot of pot. As the party reached a crescendo and began to wind down, people were saying their goodbyes and hugging each other. I hugged a couple of friends from my past hanging around the rock and roll business. Then I spotted a good friend I hadn’t seen in a long time and went over to give him a big hug. When we pulled apart he reached under his long coat and pulled out a t-shirt sized slab of the finest Marijuana Fruit leather(3) I’ve ever seen. He handed it to me and I was ecstatic. I thanked him with vigor and we parted ways. I tore off a chunk of the leather. I rolled up the rest and tucked it away for later. I continued with the goodbyes and proceeded to give everyone else a chunk as they left. Next thing I know, I was left without a ride back to my car. It was raining and I didn’t really know my way back. I looked up directions on Google maps, my car was a good distance away. So I just ate a large chunk of the leather and hit the road walking. Everything was good, then I woke up. It took me a good 10 minutes to realize that this was a dream and not reality.
After coming down from my chemically induced virtual reality I proceeded on with my day. That patch was wearing out so I removed it and applied a fresh one. I get up quite early so I generally take a nap after a few hours.
I fell asleep while watching Straight Outta Compton(© Universal Pictures).
![straight outta compton.png]
Soon I was hanging out with a bunch of gang bangers in south L.A. It’s a bit vague to me now but somehow we all got on a bus and proceeded to the back. Then all hell broke loose and a fight ensued. I managed to get out unscathed but found myself lost in south L.A. There was an old beater VW bug on the side of the road with the keys in it. I jumped in and took off in a hurry looking for a way out. I drove up a steep hill and then one of the tie rods broke and I went off the road. I managed to get the car back on the road and it still steered, barely so I took off down the hill. Somehow, on the way down, the whole front end of the body came off and I lost control again. This time it wouldn’t go any further without the frontend body so I got out and proceeded back up the hill to find it. I looked around for a bit but never found it. Then I woke up!
These dreams are so real that it takes a few minutes to get your feet back into reality. I don’t recommend it but if you have a wild hair up your ass you might want to try this chemically induced version of virtual reality. It’s way more vivid than any computer generated virtual reality.
Look for more MikesMare coming soon I’m sure.
Credits
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/avn39p/nicotine-dreaming
https://defqon1.nl/en
http://triiiches.blogspot.de/2014/06/MMJ-Fruit-Leather.html