As hard as it seemed to believe, another year had passed and it was my birthday again. I try to trip every year to celebrate my birthday, and this year was no exception. I wanted to do something special so I decided to try a new combination, 2CB plus LSD. I had heard some excellent things about this combo and I was eager to give it a try. The setting was a large rave with some of my friends and my girlfriend.
I arrived around 11:00 p.m. I took 20 mg of 2CB as we pulled up to the location. I was with several of my friends. I was supposed to meet my girlfriend at the party. There was a tremendously long line outside. As we walked down the line I kept an eye out for my girlfriend (we'll call her L). I didn't see her so we all ended up at the end of a dismally long line. We stood and waited for a while as the line crept along with glacial slowness. It was cold and it looked like we had a long wait in front of us.
After a half hour or so I decided to go look for L again. I walked along the line, looking all over for her but not seeing her. I stopped near the front of the line to survey it in hopes of spotting her. Unfortunately I didn't see her. I did notice that people seemed to be just sort of walking up and joining the front of the line without being challenged. After considering it for a few seconds I decided to give it a shot. I walked up and joined the throng of people near the entrance. Within ten minutes I was inside.
Which was a good thing, since I was starting to trip. My first alert that the bees were working was a positive, warm "glowing" feeling. It is hard to describe, but it is sort of a semi generic "high" feeling. Anyway, I went inside and moved up near the front to check things out. It was hugely loud inside and I decided to try out some earplugs I had brought along. I put them in and moved up directly next to a speaker.
Even with earplugs it was still quite loud. I leaned against a speaker and enjoyed the feeling of air moving against my body as the speakers pushed out huge waves of sound. I was watching several people dancing near me and enjoying it, but I felt a little strange. I was feeling a little tension as the 2CB started really to work, including some stomach unpleasantness. I thought I needed to use the bathroom but I wasn't really sure. I felt somewhat confined and also separate from my surroundings. I decided to walk around a bit.
As I moved away from the speakers I removed my earplugs, which almost instantly removed the feeling of separation I had. For whatever reason the earplugs made me feel a bit apart from everything. I walked up to the bar in front and bought some water. I ran into a rave acquaintance and we chatted for a bit. I mentioned to him it was my birthday and he gave me some LSD as a gift, which I thought was quite nice of him. I was still looking for L, with no luck. I decided to sit down and wait for her to walk by, which I figured had to happen sooner or later since I was close to the bathrooms.
Within ten minutes my theory was confirmed as she walked by with a friend. I jumped up and grabbed her as she walked by and we hugged. By this time the bees were starting to work pretty well. It felt really wonderful to see her and be close to her. This was at approximately T+1 hour.
We walked around a bit before deciding to sit down and chat for a while. We grabbed a seat against one of the walls and caught up on what our days had been like. I was starting to trip pretty hard, harder than I had expected on just 20 mg. It felt more like my 25 mg experiences. Whenever I closed my eyes I would get colorful visuals, and when L and I kissed it triggered cascades of synesthetic visuals that were very lovely.
A guy next to me struck up a conversation with me. Before long he asked what I was on, which required a bit of an explanation. He was rolling (tripping MDMA) and was quite talkative. As usual the 2CB had put me into a friendly and receptive mood and I was content to chat with him for a while. While we were talking L walked off to talk to a friend of hers. Before long, my new companion had introduced me to his friends and I had had to explain what 2CB was to a half dozen people. The guy and his friends were nice enough, but I began getting fairly bored and decided to go and find L after talking to them for about twenty minutes.
I wandered around for a while looking for her without much luck. After a few minutes I ran into my roommate M and we started talking. I was feeling really good and in tune with myself, so I started dancing a bit while we talked. It felt nice, but I didn't feel it was enhanced by my state of consciousness. I was very in tune with my body, but not so much with the music. After ten minutes or so of having fun moving without actually finding my groove I decided to look for L again.
By this time I was feeling much better. My earlier stomach problems had disappeared along with the tense feelings I'd been experiencing. I was tripping quite hard, especially considering the dose I had taken. I was seeing lots of pretty visuals with eyes closed, and a fair amount of trails and other typical low level visuals with eyes open. All in all I was quite pleased with the experience so far. It occurred to me that if I had better access to 2CB it would most likely be my preferred rave drug.
Before long I ran into L and a couple of her friends. We all stood around talking and chilling out. I gave the acid that had been given to me earlier to one of her friends, since I had brought my own. From time to time L and I would kiss. These kisses were beyond amazing. Not only was my tactile sensitivity turned way up, but each kiss was accompanied by swirling visuals that seemed to envelop me for the duration of the kiss. Wow.
After a while some of my other friends appeared, having just gotten in after a two hour wait in line. It was almost two a.m., which was the time I was planning on dropping the acid (T+3 on the 2CB curve). I figured three hours into the 2CB would be a good time to take the acid so that as the 2CB began slipping away the LSD would be coming up. In this way I hoped to have the 2CB set the stage and infuse the acid with its unique energy.
As the feature DJ came on I took three hits of acid I'd brought with me. We moved up near the front to try and dance, but that proved impossible. There were way too many people crammed in there. It was all but impossible to move. After ten minutes or so of trying to dance and failing, L and I decided to move back to try and find a spot where we could dance. We started back and kept going, going, going. There was no end to the sea of bodies. Halfway back we were finally able to move around just a little bit and we decided that would have to do. We danced for a while as the DJ warmed up.
L needed to use the bathroom so I waited outside while she navigated the considerable line to the ladies restroom. There were a huge amount of people in the hallway to the bathroom and it was hard to move. The whole atmosphere was somewhat stifling. I was beginning to trip on the acid by now. After she returned from the bathroom we stood and looked out at the huge crowd for awhile, enjoying the spectacle before rejoining it.
We walked around, stopping to dance from time to time. It was very hot, very crowded and very noisy. Overall the whole thing was a little overwhelming. We decided to move outside for a few minutes to get a breath of fresh air. We pushed our way through the crowd to the one tiny door that led outside, only to find they had just closed the outside area as we got there, due to pressure from the police to keep it low key and indoors. I was a little perturbed, but there wasn't a lot I could do.
We wandered around a bit more, looking for a place to sit. There wasn't really any such place to be found. I was still having a good time, but the crowded atmosphere was beginning to irritate me. Every time I would get into dancing I would bump into someone it seemed. I did manage to find a small space to get down in. Once I got going I was really fluid and smooth. The music found my soul and began moving me through forms.
By the time I was ready to rest again the management had decided to open another section of the venue up. I followed L and some of her friends to the back section of the venue, which was all sand. We sat down in the sand and talked for a while. L and I began kissing and got quite into it. In a normal public situation, it would have been quite inappropriate, but at a rave it was fairly standard. I was getting quite turned on and wished that we were somewhere where we could let things go further. By now the acid was really working, and I was zooming hard. The trip was very visual, with eyes open or closed. Considering how hard I was tripping I was quite centered and focused, which I believe was due to the 2CB. I felt very much in my body and in touch with L and the other people around me. My thoughts were concerned with my birthday, my friends and my new job, which I'd started only a few days before. I was having a fabulous time.
We sat and kissed and talked for a while. The music began calling to me and before long I had to get up and go dance some more. I went out and found a small space in the main room and began dancing like mad. I was really into it and dancing very well. As I danced I saw a couple (T and J) I had come with walk by. I hadn't seen them since I got in, so I grabbed them as they walked by. We hugged and talked. They hadn't been to any other raves so I asked them what they thought. They were having a pretty good time, but were tired and bit put off by the long wait to get in and the hugely crowded conditions. As we stood there and talked I was "caught" by the music again and started dancing. I was throwing down in a serious way, moving my body in all sorts of weird ways, really getting into it. My friends hadn't seen me dance for a long time, and they were impressed. I was impressed! I was doing things I had never even thought of doing before.
They hadn't met L yet, so I walked them over to where we were sitting and did the usual introductions. We all sat and talked for a while, sipping Gatorade and discussing the rave and the rave scene. T and I began talking and soon wrapped ourselves in a convoluted discussion about entheogens, raves, group mind, etc while J and L talked a bit and got to know each other. They both seemed to like L, which made me glad since these were two good friends of mine whose opinions I value highly.
Conversation was fun but it wasn't long before the music was talking to me again and I had to go and dance. In no time at all I was back into the thick of it, lost in the beat as I exploded on the floor, moving myself through strange and complex forms in time to the relentless beat. I really feel that I was in top form. The remnants of the 2CB left me very keyed into my body, much like Ecstasy does, and the acid freed my mind and allowed the music to penetrate to the depths of my being with utmost ease. I was getting seriously funky and it felt superb.
Finally the DJ ended his set. As we'd agreed I went and found two other people we had come with to check plans for the rest of the party. L and I were both getting fairly tired (we'd worked all day) and after some discussion and a little more dancing we decided to leave.
We were both still zoomed, so we decided to sit in her car for a little while before attempting to drive anywhere. She gave me my birthday present, which was a very cool Julian Cope record and a stereo with a record player to play it on. I was a little overwhelmed, not so much by the gift but by what she had written on the paper she'd wrapped it in. I was reminded of why I am with her and how in love with her I am and it felt terrific.
We sat there for a while chatting and kissing and holding hands. L needed to use a bathroom so we walked to a nearby diner and ordered some tea. We sat in this weird little diner for a half hour or so, watching the booths crawl and melt and breathe and laughing at what a weird place it was. That got old pretty quickly so we returned to her car and ran the engine for a while to keep warm. Finally, around 7:00 a.m. L decided she was ready to drive and drove us back to my house, an hour away.
We went to an after party that one of my friends had set up for me and hung out for an hour or so, smoking pot and being mellow until we thought we could sleep. Around 10:00 we went back to my house and went to bed. I wasn't really tripping much anymore. We talked for another hour or so, had sex and went to sleep around 12:00.
This was a spectacular trip. I had a really great time, even considering the objectionable elements of the night (overcrowding, long waits, harsh security, etc). The combination of 2CB and LSD was wonderful, exceeding my expectations. The whole evening was magical and special and all in all made a good addition to my history of birthday trips.