So, two guys walk into a bar...

Aw crap....I forgot the joke. Anyway...just previewed all I wrote (grab a sandwich and a drink....it's a bit of a read) and realized this thing isn't formatting the way I want it to. Everything's fine except for the spacing between paragraphs. Sorry about the wall. So....
Mike here. I'm completely new to GrassCity.
In fact, pretty new to smoking grass. Well, okay, that's not true. I took a few puffs from a joint at one time or another when I was in my early 20s. 21 I think (Mihoacan and something called Purple Haze...). Never did any of the stuff before then. I was a total square growing up. My dad was a total stoner and semi-professional country/western singer, songwriter and musician. My mom....a little bit but she stopped a long time ago. My sister....stoner from early on. Me...I hadn't touched any grass for years after my first few times. Just never got into it, I suppose. And, of course, the stigma that went with it vs. the mage of my public life.
I was pretty straight-and-narrow for the longest time. Not even a real drinker though I do really like GOOD beer (not that Budweiser or Coors crap) and Mike's Harder lemonade (blood orange and mango more commonly faved), wine, etc. Because I was always the good guy, the professional (in fact, I'm a career emergency medic and fireman....you know, public safety and all), the gentleman, the good sober driver and the good host and whatever else I was to everyone not named Mike, I ULTRA RARELY ever had FUN and got shitfaced.
Or stoned.
Until recently. Like two years ago. Long story I'll spare you on. I'm 51 now. You can do the math 'cause I'm kinda high at the moment. But you get the idea. Aren't I awesome?? Anyway I shared a joint a few times then I shared a small water pipe many months later. Sure, my then-girlfriend and I got a little juiced up with beer and happy with some weed, partied together-just the two of us- in our living room and just had a blast. But I hadn't gotten more blasted in my life until we'd gone to her best friend's birthday party months later. Again, a lot of fun. I love to party but it's a special once in a while thing for me. That makes it all the more enjoyable. Fast forward two years until.....when Oregon legalized MJ for recreational use.
That's when I hit my first dispensary in Bend, OR. Awesome place. Like all the other dispensaries around the state (Bend has a bunch!!) they're medical. But the State has legalized recreational sales in these establishments until late next year when they need to start having separate operations between medical and recreational. Anyway, first weed I walked out the door with was OG Kush and Jack Herer. That was a little while ago. Now I'm trying different strains, re-learning and re-experiencing the world of weed. Next up: Northern Lights and Amnesia Haze.
OMG. How much I've missed out on over all the years.

Now I'm able to walk into an establishment and buy several grams of grass, walk out and drive with it in my car going home- just like going to Target and buying a toaster- and lighting up whenever I want. And feeling sooo relaxed, happy and able to get some serious thoughts in order (or not!! Giggle). Seriously, folks...how can anyone NOT like this???
I have had a slew of SHIT happen to me over the past few years, which I won't go into here. You're welcome. Suffice it to say I've met with some great successes as well as more than the usual heartbreaks and frustration along the way. A lot of that has settled down and I'm on to new challenges. But...at this point in my life , being a healthy 51-year old guy with a TON of passion for many things, energy, enthusiasm for the mission I'm on here....having now fully accepted grass as a part of my life at such a late stage...I'm at a little bit of a crossroads (or enlightenment??) now. Especially now that I realize that, for the first time in my adult life, I actually SLEEP SOUNDLY and for eight hours, not just five or six, waking up feeling GOOD and REFRESHED in the morning. I mean, not get up in the middle of the night to plink around on my iPad or mill around aimlessly. Solid sleep from start to finish. OMFG. Where has this been all these years??
I suffer from depression and anxiety. Plus a couple of other permanent things but nothing overly dramatic. But now that I am basically smoke every weekend and maybe once or twice in a week, I'm starting to notice my mood swings have tapered off and I'm not nearly as often depressed, frustrated, etc. as I had been. Smoking weed has helped me get another perspective on my life and other things. And my creativity has jumped up a little bit. And I'm a little less socially awkward. No, not "Where's Waldo?" awkward. Dude....stop wearing that stupid red and white striped sweater and hat if you wanna blend in and make it challenging for your fans to find you! It's like wearing jean shorts to the prom.
I suspect I'm just scratching at the tip of the iceberg of what I could discover. For my recent birthday, I bought a really nice zong (not the Zong name of lore, but made by Sour). and I've been pretty happy with it. Also recently I bought a gram of Keif from the strain called LSD. That was just before the State told everyone to pull it from the sales room. Some technicality about being "mechanically processed" though any idiot like me can make it with a decent grinder. In over a week, the State will start charging 25% tax on all MJ sales (medical card holders are exempt from the tax). Bummer but at least I can still go in and buy, try out some different strands before I find a good steady inexpensive source of some faves. I suspect that when the OLCC realizes the revenue they can get from sale of Keif, they'll allow it. Steep learning curve here for both Oregonians and the State but it's new territory in the modern age and legal weed is here to stay. I just wish freakin' CALIFORNIA would get on board, already. But I digress.
Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself, share some thoughts and let you folks know I'm happy to be here, happy to have discovered a whole new facet or two to my life and happy to just be lax for once.
Oh and I like cats.

 

Hey ICGreen. Thanks! I'm an avid life-long astronomer and I used to be a moderator at the largest astronomy community on the web: Cloudy Nights. That's like a family to me and I am happy to join this family, too!
BTW...how in the world do I get my post to keep spaces in between paragraphs?? Every time I add spaces, sometimes two, in between paragraphs, they don't stick and you get a wall of text.