Shine on you Crazy Diamond

Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd Co-Founder And Psychedelic Pioneer, Dies At 60

My heart sunk when I read this news but we all pass through that thin veil, eventually entering a dimension ignored. Knowing Syds early reputation, he most likely danced between these worlds. Our contributer JahJahFue, also a good friend, gave me a tape of Ummagumma in our high school english class. He used to always bring me tapes that he made the night before while he was peaking out on acid or after he just got back from a Grateful Dead show. These tapes would always have little surprises in them. These little surprises were always high potency blotter acid with cute little pictures on them. I think he gave me Ummagumma on a Friday afternoon and when I opened the tape case, sure enough, two hits wrapped in foil. That night I remember my mom was out with her boyfriend or something. She was always gone in one way or another. Actually my sis was gone too so I had the whole house to myself. I dropped one of the hits and sparked up a roach I had laying around. In about 20 minutes everything was sparkling and happy, dripping in that ultra technicolor hue. I layed back and enjoyed it for a long while then the inspiration hit me to start drawing some sketches. I grabbed the tape and popped it into the tape deck. It was fucking mindblowing! CAREFUL WITH THAT AXE EUGENE!!! Fucking hell! And that eagle like scream split open my mind spilling crazy images onto my pad of paper. JahJah... you rock my brother!! R.I.P. Syd! Can I get an amen!

But this news comes at a strange time. It's my seventh day of sobriety. I decided to quit drinking the day after 4th or July. I celebrated my 4th of July alone, eating tri-tip and drinking heavy. I was pounding gin and tonics, beers and eventually I hit the Wild Turkey in honor of Hunter S. Thompson and myself. The next day I awoke and decided that was it. I'm done drinking. I'll never preach to anyone not to drink, but I'll always be there help someone along if they need the support. I stumbled upon this site because it talks about just quitting. Screw the meetings and the 12 step program. It all boils down to you. I thought that was cool. So here I am talking about drugs and death and change. And change is the only constant in life.