Yes. I'm not sure I can tell you about those experiences via text, though.

Yes BP, it requires interpretive dance.

ANOTHER portobello mushroom thread?

I think a good bit of the damage I did to my heart occurred the last time I did mushrooms.

I've done them a few times, but the person who gave them to me suggested a different approach than I'd heard previously. Most people eat a gram (or more) and then wait for the fun to commence.

I ate maybe 1/4 gram, and it was really fun. I didn't get too messed up at all, but the next 2-3 hours really sparkled. I've done this maybe 3 more times since, and I've had mixed results, from no effect to the sparkling effect.

I suspect that when you lower the "dose" as I did, you increase the likelihood of having a dud in the mix.

I took some once, but they had no effect, or else their effect was cancelled out by the interminably tedious Hawkwind gig I went on to afterwards.

Shrooms, no. Blotter acid, yes. It was fun, but didn't live up to the hype. Of course I had also smoked a lot of pot and drunk a lot of beer and rum that night, too.

Several times. E-mail in profile if you want more details.

Not for a long time.

What tr33hggr said.

Have you checked out Erowid? The site has lots of information on recreational drugs, and allows users to submit reports on their experiences with various drugs.

You can e-mail me if you want details about my own experience.

Yes. Shrooms are fun, unless you get sick and some people do. I prefer mescaline, myself, which makes you laugh for 10 hours straight, or, for serious reality adjustments, good old fashioned LSD. The statute of limitations has long since expired on my heavy hallucinogenic using days, so, um, what exactly do you want to know about? The time that I saw a giant cartoon bird on Savannah Highway? The time I got kicked out of the Sand Dollar because the clock was melting and the bartender figured out I was only 16? The time my friend Rick and I decided we were going to get all the sports glory we were denied in high school since we were freaks and not jocks so we played kickball with winos in Patterson Park from 3 to 6 in the morning? The time I walked from one end of 10th Street to the other in the middle of the night and didn't even get bothered by anyone? The time I met a black goat with yellow eyes on a trail in Mallorca and then heard what I swear was a dinosaur in the next valley over and then got stuck on an ancient stepping stone in the middle of stream?

When you're tripping, it seems that every moment is changing your life forever, altering your mind, changing the entire world, but then when you come back it usually turns out that not all that much has changed. I had a lot of fun but I'm not sure I'm all that different than I would have been without it. Maybe a little more flexible, a little more open to different kinds of experiences and cultures and beliefs. I have no regrets though and hey, my kids turned out normal (hee, one of my long time acid companions from back in the day is now the president of her PTA) but it's been a long time since I had 24 or 48 hours to do a bunch of drugs, or, really the urge to do it. Pity in a way, but then I think maybe I learned everything I needed to know.

On the practical side, if you are contemplating expanding your mind, I always found it's best to allot like 48 hours (includes recovery time) for any hallucinogens. As in, 48 hours where you don't have to really DO anything and especially don't have to interact with anyone you don't like. It's good to have companions you trust and care about. Figure out where you want to be - I'm partial to the woods, myself. Don't drive. Stay hydrated, and not with beer because although you won't feel it when you're tripping, when you come down every single one of those 16 or so beers you drank without noticing it will hit you like a ton of fucking bricks. You'll be very tired the next day anyway. Oh, and if the cop says to pour out that mushroom tea? Just do it. Even if half an art school is waiting for it. ;-)

Oh yeah, that was the other thing I meant to mention. After such an high, reality can be REALLY FUCKING DEPRESSING. Be prepared for a heavy come down. Not every I know gets it, but enough do that it warrants a mention.

Yeah, yeah, the statute of limitations.

Okay, so what muddgirl said about Erowid--more tripping stories than I could imagine anyone wanting to read. It's quite a resource.

mgl, not surprisingly, also has good advice, especially the middle paragraph (I'd love to go on a bender with her). 48 hours is a good figure--basically, you'd like to have the next day free to recover. The older you are, and the more infrequent and/or large-scale your drug binges, the more time you might want to allow. If you were a big pothead, or a big drunk, you'd likely spend that recovery day half in the bag. You, though, will probably want to eat rich food and lay around.

Another caveat: there's a situation that sometimes comes up with drug use, where you use a little bit, and then you say 'Geez, this stuff must not be very good,' and then you use a lot more, and then the stuff kicks in and you're, like, knocked on your ass. This type of thing is especially common, it seems, with hallucinogens and alcoholic punches.

Also, have you seen Knocked Up? There's some shroom treatment in there.

I spent a rainy afternoon with a friend gathering shrooms up on the moors. We kept getting chased off land by farmers. It was fun. Later on, he cooked up some tea and we drank it. I fell asleep. The entirety of my trip (as I recall) was waking up to go to the bathroom and it being a very, very long way away.

woo hoo

Yes. Liberty caps. From the cowpastures of Western Oregon.

Very fun.

My rule for psychedelics was to do them out in nature during the day time. Alone, or with very trusted people.

(Quick story -- Once went to Jerome, AZ to pick up two gunny sacks full of fresh peyote buttons. Hid them under the back seat of my VW bug. Funny part was stopping at the Ag inspection station and being asked by the CA officers if we had any plant products from AZ. . .nope!)

I think maybe I learned everything I needed to know.

That's the key. If you do them at all, it only takes once or twice to grasp an essential point - reality isn't as solid as you think it is. Once you realize that, you've learned the lesson. If you already know that in a concrete way, you may not even need to try shrooms.

If you do decide to try it, start with familiar settings (e.g., your home) and have a good, trusted friend around who has has done it before. Having someone like that with you (even if they trip with you) beats going solo your first time out.

Hey! My mum, her sibs and her mum were all born in Jerome, AZ. Mum's dad was born in Camp Verde (just a wee bit from Jerome).