I’m honestly a little worried that I don't have a clue what I'm doing here. The quality of ecstasy on the American market is super sketchy right now. You aren't going to find any pure MDMA... there'll probably be just about everything else stuffed in there instead.
One person starts spiraling into total paranoia, someone else is running naked through the hotel halls, and then there’s the person trying to scale the walls... honestly, that's just how it goes. Once you're tripping, all that hidden madness finally decides to surface.
A very small number of people actually manage to use it for some kind of self-discovery, but for most folks, that’s not even the point when they decide to partake.
As for ecstasy, I have nothing but bad things to say about it—it usually feels like nothing more than overpriced junk. To be fair, I've never personally tried it so I can't say for sure, but it definitely doesn't strike me as a "spiritual" drug to me...
The only other substances I think might actually help someone on a journey of self-discovery are LSD and mescaline. But honestly, they aren't for everyone—it’s definitely a high-stakes dance if you don't have a safety net...
Paul Campbell3 said:After my first rebirth session, I realized there’s definitely something beyond this world. Then, after taking that Excalibur course, it hit me that the physical world is just one way of perceiving things—it's not nearly as rigid as we think it is. Going through sexual abuse taught me that sadness and pain are just part of being alive, and showed me how deeply the body and spirit are linked. When my dad ended up in the hospital, I realized just how relative all my own little problems actually are. Whenever I fell into an existential funk, I finally saw who my real friends were... and I actually started finding myself kind of hilarious. When long-time friends walked out of my life, I learned that you just can't lie to yourself. Getting hit by a car while I was out on my bike made me see how fragile life really is. And meeting my current boyfriend? That was when I truly realized how much work I still have to do on my own rigidity and how much more I need to learn about myself.
I've always found the link between Thalassemia Major and malaria absolutely fascinating. Basically, in regions where malaria is a constant threat, being a carrier of those genes actually provides a layer of protection... it’s pretty much the same deal with sickle cell anemia and the absence of the Duffy antigen.
At the end of the day, it’s all just natural selection at work.
Noah Anderson, where do you think we should move this thread? I felt like it fit right here, but maybe it belongs in Health instead. It definitely doesn't belong in General... Let me know what you think, then the moderators can move this over to Health and clear out this post.
I don't even remember the actual symptoms from the one time I had pneumonia back in elementary school... I mostly just remember those brutal shots they had to give me twice a day.
And you know what the absolute worst part is? You can't even see anything... When my parents used to take me to the beach when I was a little kid, I’d just be screaming on the sand, and they had no clue why. Even the doctors were stumped. One former doctor actually told me I was just making it up—said it couldn't be an allergy because there wasn't a visible rash. She barely even gave me a medical note to skip gym class so I wouldn't have to be out there in the mid-afternoon heat, especially when it was hitting like 95 degrees; she basically just thought I was being dramatic. During the worst stretches, I’d go to school wearing long sleeves. The only thing you could really tell was how sensitive my skin got... if you even ran a fingernail over it, a red mark would stay there for like thirty minutes. (I'm serious... I actually managed to sneak out of school for coffee a few times after showing my teachers my hands, which would be bright red because I'd scratched them up a bit first 😁).
copperridge912 said:What kind of light is actually used in tanning beds?
It’s mostly UVA rays and just a tiny percentage of UVB.
Basically, UVB is what causes those nasty sunburns (you get way more exposure to those when you're out at the beach compared to a tanning salon), while UVA is responsible for the tanning effect—but it's also linked to melanoma.
You really have to be careful with tanning beds. I indulge myself maybe a few times a year (never more than 4 or 5 sessions) for about ten minutes each, mostly because I haven't been able to handle natural sunlight for years. Ever since I was a kid, the sun and I just don't get along. The worst part isn't even a rash; it’s this sensation where it feels like thousands of tiny needles are pricking my entire body all at once. If you haven't experienced it, you honestly have no idea... No amount of lotion helps with that feeling. It just means four or five days of pure agony and feeling completely mentally drained. Rubbing ice on it helps a little bit just to numb the sensation...
I'd love to figure out exactly what's happening to my skin and which specific rays are triggering this reaction...
I think I just went a little overboard, and honestly, I was using a pretty powerful machine too. Anyway, I went about three or four times the year before last and didn't have any issues at all since I was only going once a week and ended up with a perfectly normal tan...
I'm honestly terrified of breaking out in an allergic reaction from the tanning beds again. Last year was such a nightmare... I'm just so done with having to go three separate times just to get a "normal" tan. I might end up going more often, but I'll stick to ten-minute sessions with plenty of time in between. Maybe start with just five minutes for the first round...
Is there any way to just turn off the face light or maybe cover it up with something?
I’m thinking about heading out for two or three tanning sessions sometime before May. I have my 5th anniversary high school reunion coming up 😁 and I really want to look my best 😁