I had been curious to try ecstasy at a rave for some time. Although my previous experiences hadn't led me to think that a dance party was the best place to take it, it's obvious popularity at these parties implied there might be something there. After several failed attempts to locate it at earlier raves I finally managed to talk to the right people and find a hit of X.

The girls that pointed me in the right direction were even kind enough to recommend a "brand" of X. I took the pill, slightly larger than an aspirin, and washed it down with Gatorade. I tasted it for just a second before I swallowed it and the bitter taste was familiar enough to help reassure me I had the real thing.

While I was waiting for the effects to manifest I stood around and talked to the people I had come in with. One of them had a bag of marijuana confiscated at the door, the first time we had ever seen anything like that at a rave. The security at this party was particularly onerous. Besides the incident at the door I had also seen a security guard yelling at some girl for calling his friend a bitch (it turned out to be mistaken identity), and another security guard grab some attempted gate crashers and shove them around so violently I momentarily thought I was witnessing a fight. All this led to a certain tension.

Within a half-hour I was starting to feel a vague sense of alert. I began to feel elated and calm. Within another ten minutes I was coming on to the X strong. I was feeling euphoric and definitely "high". I decided to go out and dance.

Out on the dance floor I had a lot of energy. It felt good to move my body to the beat and I felt relaxed and flowing, though not to the degree I had anticipated. I didn't feel the MDMA significantly enhanced my dancing or my enjoyment of it. On acid I often feel compelled to dance, unable to resist the temptation of the beat. On X my mind was as much on curiosity about what my friends were doing as it was on my dancing.

After a while I went to see what my friends were doing. Two of them were people from work that I had invited along. We started talking about raves and entheogens. The MDMA made me talkative and I spent a while chatting about my feelings on entheogenic potential. I mentioned several times that I was feeling really good. The night air on my skin was a wonderful sensation, and even breathing felt nice. I was at peace, calm and happy to be where I was.

After a while the DJ I had come to see came on and I went back in to dance. He was tearing it up. I got out in the middle of things and started dancing. I felt even more relaxed and flowing than I had earlier. I was wearing an ear to ear grin and having a grand time. Still I thought that LSD was better for dancing. Although the ecstasy made me loose and gave me energy, it didn't put me into a trance like LSD often does, and I really missed the visual element. I did notice some patterning behind closed eyes, but nothing I would really call visuals.

I danced for maybe half of the DJs set and then decided to go outside for some air. Again I ran into one of the guys from work and we started talking. This time we talked about work and the technology behind it. I really enjoyed talking to him and getting his views on different situations at work. At some point during our conversation I started feeling better about work in general and my job in particular. This was nice, since I had been feeling a lot of job related stress over the past few months and having doubts about whether I wanted to be doing what I was doing. In some way our conversation reminded me what I like about my job and refocused my attention on the positive aspects instead of the negative ones I had been focusing on. In addition, I felt a lot closer to him after having talked.

In addition to the people I came with I also chatted with various people around where we were standing. Although I always enjoy talking to people I often have a hard time starting a conversation or having much to say once I do start a conversation. On X this wasn't as much of a problem. Although I didn't have a lot to say to anyone in particular, I enjoyed talking to all of them, and found it easy to keep conversation flowing naturally.

I was having a great time talking as the sun was thinking about coming up. I was still feeling the ecstasy, although I was definitely off the peak. We got together all the people we had come with and consulted, deciding it was time to go home.

One of the people who had chosen not to partake drove home. On the way back my friend A brought out some nitrous cartridges and filled up balloons for those who wanted them. I did a balloon as we drove, the hum of the motor and the road melding into one wavering flanged tone, then splitting back into discrete noises again and again. My visual field became wavery and colorful, but not nearly as interesting as nitrous charged visuals on a more visionary agent like mushrooms or 2CB.

As we drove home I continued to talk. After dropping everyone else off and hanging out with my roommate I continued to be quite chatty. I felt almost compelled to speak. Although I wasn't necessarily intoning words of cosmic truth I wasn't babbling either. I was perfectly coherent, just very talkative.

Around 9:00 a.m. I went to bed. I slept into the early afternoon. I felt kind of worn out when I awoke, but not as bad as on my previous trips. I even went out and went dancing again that night, at a local bar. I came home and went to bed around 11:30 and felt pretty much normal the next day.

My overall experience of ecstasy at a rave was positive. I had a good time, enjoyed dancing and hanging out with my friends, and as a bonus worked through some work stress. Still, I wasn't as impressed by MDMA as a rave drug as I have been by either LSD or 2CB. I wouldn't be particularly interested in doing it again in at a rave, unless I was going to try mixing it with acid or 2CB.