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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 13 of 13. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Ian on September 22, 1999, at 19:19:13
Your brain won't explode, but you've been Knocked out of whack. I had an experience 6 years ago in amsterdam with a spacecake. It rifled my cognitive a ablities and started severe thought cycles in me involving religion, self doubts wondering whether it was game over as my head was a waste of space. I've got back on track in many ways although I'm still adapting. One thing I found is that you have to get back to basics-
You can argue indefinately about the philosophical intricacies of life but the facts are
If you dont eat you starve
If someone hits you it'll hurt.
If you don't pay the bills they keep coming.
You need sleep
A sunny day will lift your spirits
You can probably still have a joke with a friend.I slowly started again from basics and have learnt to minimise and adapt round a relative cognitive haze in my head.
One of the most relieving moments around the time of me going to Amsterdam was when I went rowing.
Here I was on the river having to concentrate on keeping in time with the other seven in my boat just concentrating on pulling up to my chest then down to my lap and then out again. After that row I felt clearer than I'd felt for a few weeks. It had acted as a sort of meditation breaking the derealising cognitive cycle I was in for an hour or so. If you can find the time try and find your own physical meditation, something that requires your attention but not your intellect.
Paper thats the other thing, while your brains a mush write things down on paper then put the paper somewhere your not going to forget about it.
Hang in there your brain will eventually smooth out the ruffles induced by your 'trip'.Try to get bck to the bog standard indisputable basics.
Finally it may feel like it but your not aloneAll the best
Ian
Posted by dj on September 22, 1999, at 19:53:12
In reply to an offering, posted by Ian on September 22, 1999, at 19:19:13
Ian,
You've mentioned this incident & spacecake a couple of times. What is spacecake??
> Your brain won't explode, but you've been Knocked out of whack. I had an experience 6 years ago in amsterdam with a spacecake
Posted by Bob on September 22, 1999, at 22:55:31
In reply to Re: an offering -- spacecake???, posted by dj on September 22, 1999, at 19:53:12
I don't know about that spacecake thing, but I *do* know about that crew thing ... we called it "The Sweet". Eight people in perfect synch, the sound of the oars in the oarlocks, standing on the stretchers, the boat jumping out of the water, then slowly settling back in til the next pop, going for the passout ... taking the stroke count up ... and it didn't have to be on the Schulkyll or the Charles -- it could be any Sunday morning at six am, the water smooth as glass until you pass, the mist curling around everyone, and no sound but that rhythm of the catch, the runners, the oar in the oarlock ....
... rowing eights, those moments I was in the boat, were some of the most enjoyable moments of my life.
Posted by Noa on September 22, 1999, at 23:20:07
In reply to Re: an offering -- spacecake???, posted by Bob on September 22, 1999, at 22:55:31
I think the rhythm of exercise helps a lot, altho I don't do enough of it. When I do get myself out for a walk, it releases feelings, and I sometimes get a bit teary-eyed, tho not about any particular thought, more like a physiological response. I think there must also be something about the rhythmic movement. Look at how rocking soothes.
Posted by Ian on September 23, 1999, at 4:36:43
In reply to Re: an offering -- spacecake???, posted by dj on September 22, 1999, at 19:53:12
Spacecake is basicaly hashish in cake form. I'm in a bit of a difficult one here as the notion that that could have had any long lasting effects is not very credible. All I know is the struggle I've had with the cognitive haze since that time. I have this notion its something to do with the drug induced stress I couldn't let out due to a cauterising effect of a UK drug called dothiepin on my emotions when I was thirteen but now I'm using two debatable things to justify what happened.I've read that large amounts of hash can send people psychotic, there's a drink called bang in Pakistan that is essentially a hash in a drink that has been reported to send people into psychotic episodes. The accepted notion is that drug induced psychosis dies away in an inverse to time type way. What I had may not have been just hash but who knows, I messed my life up at the time for about £3. All I know is I'm still compensating but there again thats my subjective assessment, the further I have got from the event the more I have defined what is good and bad for me in terms of coping, doesn't stop me having lapses of motivation and optimism at times though.
Rowing,I wish I could have kept it going, unfortunately student days have to be relinquished and I'm no where near the Thames at the moment. Sounds like you never caught a crab Bob?
Posted by Phil on September 23, 1999, at 6:01:45
In reply to Re: an offering -- spacecake???, posted by Bob on September 22, 1999, at 22:55:31
> I don't know about that spacecake thing, but I *do* know about that crew thing ... we called it "The Sweet". Eight people in perfect synch, the sound of the oars in the oarlocks, standing on the stretchers, the boat jumping out of the water, then slowly settling back in til the next pop, going for the passout ... taking the stroke count up ... and it didn't have to be on the Schulkyll or the Charles -- it could be any Sunday morning at six am, the water smooth as glass until you pass, the mist curling around everyone, and no sound but that rhythm of the catch, the runners, the oar in the oarlock ....
>
> ... rowing eights, those moments I was in the boat, were some of the most enjoyable moments of my life.>>Bob,
Great writing!
Posted by Janet on September 23, 1999, at 8:00:51
In reply to Re: Bob, posted by Phil on September 23, 1999, at 6:01:45
> > I don't know about that spacecake thing, but I *do* know about that crew thing ... we called it "The Sweet". Eight people in perfect synch, the sound of the oars in the oarlocks, standing on the stretchers, the boat jumping out of the water, then slowly settling back in til the next pop, going for the passout ... taking the stroke count up ... and it didn't have to be on the Schulkyll or the Charles -- it could be any Sunday morning at six am, the water smooth as glass until you pass, the mist curling around everyone, and no sound but that rhythm of the catch, the runners, the oar in the oarlock ....
> >
> > ... rowing eights, those moments I was in the boat, were some of the most enjoyable moments of my life.
>
> >>Bob,
> Great writing!Fasinating. I think I can identify with the in sync rowing thing. I'm not an athlete, but used to be and got that meditative, regular,soothingness from long distance running. Janet
Posted by Bob on September 23, 1999, at 9:36:38
In reply to Re: Bob, posted by Janet on September 23, 1999, at 8:00:51
Caught a crab? Me?! NEVER!
... okay, maybe two or five times those first few months. [For those who don't know, "catching a crab" is when you bury you oar blade too deeply into the water. Unless you really have some good upper body strength and fast reactions, the least of your troubles will be loosing control of the oar handle, maybe getting a knock on the chin, and snagging an oar of your boatmates ahead or behind. In one regatta on the Marietta River in SE Ohio, I saw this poor fellow rowing in a novice (rookie year of rowing) eight catch a crab, get lifted straight up and out of his stretchers ("fasteners" for your feet), only to come straight back down to put both of his feet right through the bottom of the wooden shell they were racing in (wooden shells are extremely thin -- about 1/8 of an inch or so).]I've played a lot of team sports, but the synchronicity of rowing eights is unparalleled in my experiences. On top of that, you're doing 20 knots, butt on the waterline, this thin framekeeping you afloat, working every muscle in your body for 6+or- minutes (sprints) at 100% or higher, and you're doing it all backwards!
... and now, I'm living up near Columbia's boathouse ... I wonder if they have a club program .....
(dreamily),
Bob
Posted by Noa on September 23, 1999, at 13:51:12
In reply to Re: an offering -- spacecake???, posted by Ian on September 23, 1999, at 4:36:43
Have you ever read the autobiographical book by Mark Vonnegut (sp?), son of Kurt, the famous author. Mark is now an established pediatrician, in Connecticut, I think, but in his youth was diagnosed as schizophrenic. It was more of a drug induced psychosis that eventually remitted.
Posted by Noa on September 23, 1999, at 13:53:55
In reply to Re: Bob, posted by Bob on September 23, 1999, at 9:36:38
Mmmm...yummy, I bet the Hudson makes for fragrant breathing when you are out there rowing....
sorry so cynical....
Posted by Bob on September 23, 1999, at 14:32:32
In reply to Columbia's boathouse, posted by Noa on September 23, 1999, at 13:53:55
> Mmmm...yummy, I bet the Hudson makes for fragrant breathing when you are out there rowing....
heyheyHEY!! Thanks to Bobby Kennedy, Jr., the Hudson is doing just, well, closer to fine, thank you!
I've never seen them take their boats out, but they'd have to row through Spuyten Duyvil to get to the Hudson ... I imagine they might just stay on the Harlem/East River. How's that for aroma?
;^)
bob
Posted by dj on September 23, 1999, at 14:50:58
In reply to Drug-induced psychosis, posted by Noa on September 23, 1999, at 13:51:12
The book was called the Eden Express and I believe what then (about 20 or more years ago) was classified as schizophrenia was later determiend to be depression by today's standards...& though it's been awhile since I read the book (probably 20 years) I believe if it was depression it came from his disillusionment with communal living on the BC coast and there was little if any mention of drugs in the book.
His father Kurt once wrote an article called "Why they read Hesse" in Wampeters, Baffaloons... or something like that...which addressed the mores of the time and the underlying flaw in the search for heaven on earth which Mark and many others were seeking. Seems humankind are resistant to creating those heavenly conditions...
Posted by Noa on September 23, 1999, at 20:46:23
In reply to Re: Drug-induced psychosis & Vonnegut, posted by dj on September 23, 1999, at 14:50:58
Thanks, dj, I had forgotten the title, having also read it many many moons ago. It was my impression that there were psychotic features involved, and I thought I remember that there was a fair amount of drug use as part of the exploratory culture of nomadic, communal living that he was into. I am nowhere near sure, tho, maybe I should read it again.
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