It’s Good Shit! A First-Time Stoner’s Tale

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That first pull fills and expands in your lungs, and you hold it in like it’s the key to some ancient, mystical power. The reality? Your lungs are staging a violent uprising. Within seconds, your chest feels like someone lit a bonfire in your ribcage. The smoke spreads through your soul like a wrecking ball carrying enlightenment, or so you think. But then your body betrays you. Violently.

You exhale most of the hit in a choking eruption, launching spit and smoke into the air like a busted sprinkler system. Your friends dive for cover, cackling as you hack up what feels like half a lung. Your throat burns, your eyes are Niagara Falls, and you’re contorting in ways that make you wonder if yoga’s in your future. Someone hands you a bottle of water, and you clutch it like it’s the antidote to your misery. You’re alive, technically.

Desperate to save face, you lean back and throw on your best “I do this all the time” swagger. “I don’t think I’m high,” you mutter, your voice betraying the panic bubbling just beneath the surface. Your friends exchange knowing glances, the kind that says, Oh, you sweet summer child. One of them smirks and delivers the ultimate stoner prophecy: “Give it a minute.”

And then it hits. Not all at once, no, this is a slow burn. The music transforms from background noise to a full-blown spiritual experience. Every note feels like it’s being broadcast directly to your brain. You’re convinced you could compose an entire album right now. Hell, maybe you’ll start a band. But as the warmth spreads, so does the weight. The couch morphs into a black hole, pulling you in deeper with every passing second. Standing up feels like an impossible feat, a cruel trick played by the universe on your stoned, helpless body. You stare at the Solo cup in your hand as if it holds the secrets of life itself. Why am I still holding this?

Your thoughts wander into uncharted territory, where every mundane question becomes a philosophical crisis. Who invented Solo cups? Was it a committee? Did they argue over the color red? Someone’s talking, but their words dissolve into static as you fixate on the texture of the carpet. Is this carpet breathing? Holy shit, it’s alive.

Just as you’re about to solve the mysteries of the universe, paranoia crashes the party like an uninvited drunk uncle. Your heart pounds. Am I blinking too much? Not enough? You glance at your reflection on the TV and are horrified. Why do I look like that? Do I always look like that? Someone asks if you’re okay, and you nod too aggressively, immediately regretting it. Shit, they know. They all know.

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And then, there’s the joint licker. The villain of every smoking circle. They pass back what was once a perfectly rolled masterpiece, now reduced to a soggy, disfigured abomination. You take it reluctantly, pretending not to notice the glistening saliva coating the paper. Why are we even friends?

Before you can spiral further, the munchies hit like a freight train. You’re raiding the kitchen with the determination of a raccoon at a dumpster, assembling a chaotic masterpiece of snacks: peanut butter on Oreos, sprinkled with Froot Loops, and a dash of shame. It’s disgusting. It’s divine. You take a bite, certain you’ve unlocked the next culinary frontier.

The laughter comes next, uncontrollable, unstoppable. Someone tells a joke so dumb it shouldn’t even register, but you’re crying like it’s the funniest thing you’ve ever heard. For a brief, shining moment, the world feels perfect. Time stops, and all that exists is this absurdity, the connection, the sheer joy of being a stoned idiot with people who get it.

As the high fades, reality creeps back in. The music becomes background noise, and the room feels a little smaller. You’re left with a sore throat, an ache in your ribs from laughing too hard, and the unshakable sense that you just experienced something sacred. You didn’t just smoke weed—you were baptized into a secret club. One where the password is laughter, and the initiation involves coughing until you see stars. And that? That’s the good shit.

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