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Absinthe in Japan
Absinthe
Citation:   Crossslash. "Absinthe in Japan: An Experience with Absinthe (exp1036)". Erowid.org. Jul 16, 2000. erowid.org/exp/1036

 
DOSE:
7 shots oral Absinthe (liquid)
To start off, I'd like to say that I've only really heard of Absinthe in obscure stories about American writers drinking it during the twenties and forties (although not the thirties, tho' I don't question this). That and in Bram Stoker's Dracula, which really only made me want to do it more. The fear that most people seem to have was never really instilled in me, so I basically treated it as a hallucinogenic alcohol. Also, it's legal here in Japan, so at that seemed to take the edge off of the horror stories I've heard and never believed.

I tell you that Absinthe tastes like black licorice with a hint of kick-your-ass. Just looking at the stuff instills a need for peer pressure to drink it in me, but I guess that's what I get for drinking it straight. This has been the case the first and third times, and each time I started off by drinking about two shots, followed up by two more drinks of about two shots each. Here, the stuff is 116 proof as well, so I guess you're bound to get messed up.

The first night, I drank a little more than I really should have. I don't remember everything that happened, but I was told that at one point, I rammed straight into a wall. Just dead on. That the wall was there, I was walking, and I saw it, but apparently didn't decide that I needed to evade or anything. I remember swaying around a lot while sitting on the floor...just revolving to my fullest ability using my pelvis as a pivot. This is awfully fun for some reason. Later on in the night, after having a long talk with my friend who also drank a bit of Absinthe, vertigo ran me over like a ton of bricks, and I puked twice before going to bed.

Absinthe tastes better coming back up.

The second night I tried it, I had plugged myself full of a coupla shots before heading out to a bar. My friend Justin and I brought a couple of Japanese people back to our place, and we hung out with them rather late. I continued to drink the Absinthe, all the time not really feeling too much of the supposed 'hallucinogenic' effects. The girl that we had met, Shizuka, felt awfully nice when she got close to me for the pictures we took. I didn't do anything really outlandish that night, apart from the revolving thing. No puking, no nothing. I should also mention that anyone else that even sips the stuff expresses how terrible it is, seeking to put anything else in their mouths that isn't the 'Green Faerie', or what-have-you.

The next morning was different. I woke up feeling like I was still drunk, which I was sure wasn't the case as I had a good seven, eight hours of sleep. If anything, I should've just been tired, but my balance was pretty much destroyed. This is particularly odd for me as I have excellent balance. It took about an hour or so, including a hot shower and things, before my balance was restored. I was somewhat shaken by that, as I felt like some horror story about Absinthe was about to come true. But it didn't, so it was just another day.

The last night I drank it was the most insane by far. I had taken a long nap when a bunch of people showed up at my apartment, one of them being my roommate. They were just gonna be drinking in his room, so I decided to join them with my evil green bottle. This is the night I remember the most vividly. There was a girl Yumi, a guy Peter, my roommate Corey, another guy Suzuki and myself. I think/thought that Yumi is really cute, so I told her so after drinking a bit...she made it clear that she didn't like me like that. Then I asked her about Peter, because apparently she like(d) him, but that didn't go over to well. I should mention that I was using as little of my walking ability as possible. Eventually people left, as it was very late, but I stayed around. Just me and Corey. At this point I wasn't even really being very social...just dragging myself around with my arms, facing up. Corey had taken away my drinks (Absinthe, Coca-cola, Sprite) and was just staying with me, probably trying to keep me safe.

Yes, so I slithered out to the kitchen, and took another shot even tho' Corey had told me not to. Then I promised not to take another shot, as if he hadn't meant the one shot that I had just taken. I continued crawling back into Corey's room, and stared at his curtain. It was breathing at me, or at least that was my perception. It freaked me out. After that, anything looked freaky to me. The way my fingernails turned pink/white at the quick freaked me out, and everything was nuts. Corey eventually wanted to get out, as he felt that if he didn't, I'd stay up and do crazy things. So he took me to my bedroom, put my bed together, got me a blanket and things, helped me get undressed, and put me in bed. He left to preserve my well-being, I think. After a bit, I wasn't feeling so good, and I realized that I hadn't eaten anything. So with no inhibitions, I walked out and found some bread (which wasn't mine). I started to eat it, then realized that I was doing something wrong, stealing Corey's bread. So I decided to write him a note in red ink.

The note started out by saying that I was eating my pen cap. I don't really remember this. I continued to say that I was sorry for stealing his bread, as I was trying to keep myself alive. I also mentioned some other things...the note was really messed up. It ended by saying that the bread was really spiky (as it had bacon in it). 'Damn this bread is spiky.' I left the note on his bed, and returned to my own. When he found the note, he couldn't read it at all...Hell, I could barely read it when I got back to it...and he came to my room to see what was up. I was sleeping with my eyes open, mouth open full of half-chewed bread. He told me to close my eyes, eat my bread and get to sleep, so I did. The next day was more of the lack-of-balance, and just plain misery. I dumped out the remainder of the bottle (not much) due to my negative emotional state.

So...to end things, if you actually focus on something, things really seems to trip out. It is an alcohol, so there are those basic effects as well. It's drunk with a big taste of effin' crazy. So there we are. I think that I'll have to experiment more when my body isn't so abhorring of the idea...

Exp Year: 2000ExpID: 1036
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jul 16, 2000Views: 18,222
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Absinthe (4) : Small Group (2-9) (17), Retrospective / Summary (11)

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