A long time ago…
This was going to be the night where I learned that techno music may be enjoyable to listen to, but that getting glow sticks shoved into your face by a guy with orange pig tails sucking on a pacifier is distracting when you want to dance. This was also the night where I learned to avoid people in corners with their hands down their pants and where I learned to accept the harsh reality that bottled water costs more than a kidney transplant at certain events.
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”I think we’re here,” she said as she parked the car in the empty lot near the marina. We looked around and saw other confused drivers slowly roll into spaces next to us. For a while we just sat there listening to the humming engine and wondered if the rave tickets we bought a few days ago were just another scam to get money out of us-the young, naïve freshman on campus. But why send us all here…to an abandoned lot in Berkeley? I started to feel taken advantage of. I still had to deal with all the credit cards I’d happily applied to after walking out of a lecture hall, wooed by the ridiculous salesman with his promises of free T-shirts and mugs.
We decided to get out of the car and walk over to a group of people standing around waiting for something to happen. While staring into space, someone nudged my shoulder and hissed into my ear,”exxxxxxx…”.
”what?” I feigned confusion and he wandered off towards more experienced looking customers, leaving me to stare at another dealer who had patiently been waiting behind him.
“I knew you didn’t want any beans…”
I stared at him with the same dumbfounded expression as the first, but he wasn’t as easily deterred. He reached into his back pocket and held out a tiny zip-lock bag with two sad looking shriveled up mushrooms.
”Twenty bux,” he said smacking the bag with his other hand.
Why was everyone always trying to sell me something? and now drugs?! Can I pay for them with the credit cards I just applied for?
An unmarked bus eventually pulled into the lot, giving me a reason to walk away, and took us all to the rave. The same bus ran back and forth along a gravel road all night, filling a huge building with masses of people sweating out the ‘exxxxxx’ they had bought earlier by writhing around like zombies to blaring house music.
Methylenedioximetamphetamine (aka bombs, X or ecstasy) supposedly tastes like crap, so I can only imagine how much fun dealers have at home when they want to make fake versions of the foul tasting stuff. Pills were in fact passed around like tic-tacs at this rave, and I don’t doubt that many tablets sold as ecstasy did leave a few rave-goers with peculiar breath: It is pretty easy to sell fish tablets, smoothed out aspirin pills and smarties to first-timers who think they’re buying something that’ll induce a high. In the end, customers are left burping up bubbles that smell sort of like a mix between tums and a dirty aquarium.
But, this definitely beats the alternative: Sure, ecstasy makes you feel good for a while and you may even feel invinsible, but it leaves you humping random peoples’ legs as your inhibitions disappear and your heart rate goes haywire. Your body temperature changes unpredictably and in some situations, you may even lose control of your muscles. People start grinding their teeth (hence the helpful pacifiers) while their eyes wiggle around crazily in their skulls. It’s not very attractive…that’s why raves happen in the dark.
Fake dealers are there to protect you by selling you products that don’t work. If you’re really lucky, a creative chemical chef (catchy!) may also include ingredients that are sure to induce indigestion and atrocious fish breath. This means that instead of dancing around like a seizing zombie and dying of hypothermia, you’ll tire out fairly quickly and go home to relax on the couch. Not only that, but the horrible breath oozing out of your mouth ensures that you go home alone. Think about it: Taking home someone from a rave could leave you with a couple of unnecessary STDS. Not only that, but in exchange for providing you with a night of fun time, Mr.Sweaty McSpeedfreak may relieve you of your brand new electronics. There are always exceptions, though: I met a lovely European cross-dresser at this rave who was nice enough to introduce to the grandparents.
If you’re going to a rave, just save yourself some money and bring tic-tacs from home (you’re going to spend your life’s savings on the water there anyway).