What a change, from alpine to flat nothingness. It was hot here but there was a pool at the apartments where we stayed. That’s were we spent the first summer before school started up. It was good having a brother, someone to play with all the time. On my first day of school all the teachers called my Rice, it was rather annoying. School was pretty standard for another country. I didn’t really make any friends for a while, just had my brother.

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I played little league it was fun I had a blast. We got the internet and I decided I wanted my own website to post game cheat codes on. I ask the questions and teach myself to make a basic website. I get into it. I make a few more. I was getting my geek on. I even recieved an email from a guy wanting me to make him one! I wasn’t ready to accept the offer, I felt too young and inexperienced. The internet was great, what an invention.

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Then I moved to High School. It was rather daunting at first. I kept to myself for a bit and tried to figure this place out. I made a few friends, we were pretty nerdy. They talked about wrestling a lot, so I started watching it too, an American thing to do. I got good grades things were looking bright for me. American history was awesome. All the stories about colonizing, the civil war, the industrial revolution, it was a great read. I had made friends with a couple guys called Jesse and Daniel. We were like the 3 goons. They were more gooney than me though, but I learned off them pretty quick. It was normal for a lunch break to turn into a food fight. We could be found at the bowling alley, down by the bayou, or impersonating Beavis and Butthead. 

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Then I turned fifteen and my world turned upside down, made me really depressed. There were a couple things that brought me down. One is a secret that I don’t tell many people, but it’s rather funny and I would like to share it with you. When I was born one of my testicles didn’t descend and they had to remove it. This really brought me down, I thought I was half a man and wouldn’t hack it. It was stupid really, and the chicks don’t mind. I also developed bad acne. There’s nothing worse for a self esteem than bad acne. I never talked to anyone about my problems, just kept it in and tried to figure it out.

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I went goth on it for a bit. I’d even use eye shadow around my eyes and paint my nails black with marker. There were fights at school all the time. Mexicans on blacks, hill billy vs hill billy,and other disputes. Even  the odd brawl. I started to talk like a Texan. The chicks dug me less. Losing my virginity was great. It felt like a great life achievement. It happened at a party. We’d been drinking and doing a little coke, yes I was doing drugs, I’ll go into that shortly. It was at the end of the night and everyone was asleep. I was on the floor trying to sleep also. She came and lay beside me and asked if I wanted to had sex. We didn’t use protection, didn’t have any. It didn’t last very long. I couldn’t believe it, wait till I tell my friends!

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So I was experimenting with drugs. I’m sure a lot of you have been there. It all started when this guy on my school bus asked if I wanted to go back to his. I agreed and off we went. He started to smoke this substance, I didn’t think anything of it. He offered me some, I thought why not. I didn’t know anything about drugs. I tried it and nothing really changed. I tried it again a few other times but couldn’t get high. Some time later Mum busts me with cigarettes, and makes me smoke a whole pack. A few ciggies in she notices I’m not inhaling properly, and tells me how to breath in properly. I choked a bit. She lets me stop smoking. The next day I go to my mates and get so fucking high!

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The first time was intense. My whole world was spinning and I ran out of the garage to the garden to get some fresh air. The initial buzz wore off pretty quick and I went home to play some video games.I was into Age of Empires 2 at the time. I was pretty paranoid about Mum catching me. As time passed I started experimenting with other drugs. My first acid trip was at school. I took two hits of black gel, it was freaking weird. This was way more intense than weed! My mate who gave it to me had long hair and I thought we was Jesus. Gym class was crazy, dodge ball tripping out. I liked this drug.

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Drugs were cheap here, even cheaper than booze. $5 for an acid tab, $20 for extacy, $50 for an ounce of weed, it was shit weed though. We’d never heard or seen of skunk. Once I was on the school bus and this girl in front of me offered me a bag of coke for $20. I took the $20 out of my pocket, rolled it up, snorted the whole bag, and passed her the note. It was heaven. I was off my chops, I was wrecked! For 20 whole minutes I was in love with everyone. I was telling this guy we have to get to know each other better. It was great. I came down halfway through first period. What a buzz!

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One day mum came up to my room and she reeked of weed. I said, “Mum, you smell of weed!” she looked startled and left my room without saying a word. From that day on my feelings completely changed for my parents. I loved them more. I couldn’t believe it. I could smoke pot, and get away with it! I started smoking in my room, mum didn’t say anything. I could have mates around, get high and listen to music. Life was sweet!

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I went to some good gigs as heaps of bands passed through Houston. My first gig was Coal Chamber with Type-0-Negative. I also saw Marilyn Manson, Deftones, and Tool to name a few. LSD and marijuana became my druga of choice. It was cheap and it was gnarly. I took 5 hits of liquid acid once straight out of the vial, 30 minutes later me and Jesse were going bonkers. We were watching Pink Floyd “The Wall” and when a scene of a guy in a bathtub of blood going crazy appeared my mate lost it. He said he was going to hell. I lost it with him and walked out of the garage into the house and was yelling jumble. The guy who gave it to us had left and come back and I told him he better leave things werent good. Mum took me to hospital. I was fascinated on the drive by the traffic lights, saying “Red, yellow, green” over and over. They put me to sleep at the hospital, it all gets a little foggy. When I wake up it was just a white roof and I thought, how did I get here, where am I, I’m still tripping, I’ll close my eyes and wake up somewhere else. It didn’t work.

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It was a bit awkward at home for a few days. I thought I was going to be in big trouble. I stayed off the acid for a while. I tried a few other drugs. I always thought you should try everything once. I tried heroin one time, didn’t have much and it didn’t get me wasted. The driver and co-driver also shot up. As we were cruising along the driver starts throwing up out the window. This make me sick and I vomit into a bag. We had to stop and clean the car it was a little messy. Not my fondest moment of experimentation.

Methamphetamine. My mates were smoking some, so I took a hit. I didn’t really enjoy it compared to acid or extacy. I couldn’t sleep, and I liked my sleep. Not my favourite drug. The girl who sold me coke on the school bus started to come round to my house after school and give me free meth. I wondered why, in hindsight, she was probably trying to get me hooked and take my money off me. Once she put a crap ton of meth on a piece of tin foil and said I could smoke it. I was wired to hell and back. I went to a party later that night and drank a lot of booze, keg stands included. I got real paranoid and freaked out. I was sitting out in the gutter when a female friend offered to drive me home. I wasn’t a big fan of this drug .

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I bought a sheet of acid for $300. I'd been pinching $20's out of mum wallet in the morning on the way out. I’d often take one or two tabs and go to school. I’d write poems and listen to music, try and get some work done. I was over school at this point. I needed some direction. It really buzzed me out one day, I’d taken some acid and was peaking on my trip. I went to my next period and I sit down. The teacher pulls me out of the class. I’m pretty nervous, does he know I’m tripping? He says to me, “One day you will be a leader”, and that was it, nothing more nothing less. I didn’t say a thing and went back to my seat. It tripped me out big time. I’ve often thought of this as some kind of sign.

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Some of my mates were into playing music, and some had bands. It was fun hanging out and jamming. I wasn’t that good at guitar, but it was fun nonetheless. It was good to have a hobby. We dad a great party at my parents house, they went out for the night. It was a celebration of being able to smoke weed at home.  We had their band gear set up, the hot-tub cranking and plenty of weed going round. The tub was black with dirt the next morning. I left normal high school and joined a charter school. You could get the work done quicker, and there was less hours required than at normal school. I achieved good grades here, better than before. Then the word came that we were moving back to New Zealand.