Musical Jammin!

Last night was a normal day like any other,
I went to the lab, got some work done on my thesis, and decided to head on over to my favorite place in Leiden, The Leidseplein. When i got in the place was quite packed, so I decided to head over to the SamSam next door. The place is a bar which has a smoking room where you can smoke a j and enjoy a beer. When I went in I noticed on the wall there was an advertisement for the leidse rock company... a semi-newly formed musicians group were playing that evening.... I decided to head home, get some dinner... load my pockets with harmonicas, and head on back to the bar... I get back around 8:15 before the festivities started... rolled up a fatty and puffed away as they set up.

Until now I had thought this was a proper show... until they said "anyone else want to play up here?" I asked around and realized that it was an open Mic night!

So after a while I jump on stage and grab their guitar and play a few songs for the crowd... It was a bit rough to start out with.... seeing as I had no intention of being musical that evening... I had only brought the harmonicas on the off chance of collaboration.... Played about 4 songs then the main group came on and played some of their songs.... it was a very good set...

later in the evening I spoke with the person running the group and we set up a jam with the guitars, fiddle, mandolin and me on my harmonica... It was a musical night of fun!!! so much fun....


peace,
hippy

It's been nearly 3 months since I've updated here on my "daily" blog.... hehe yeah right....

Life has been to be honest.... batshit crazy! I've all but finished my classes and All that's left is the writing of my thesis... I've been in the library the past 4 days deeply immersed in the intricacies of Archaeology and modern technology. An intriguing subject no doubt, but incredibly technical...

So there I sat, hour upon hour pouring over books and articles...... slowly forming thoughts into coherent concepts..... and slowly creating 2 essays.....

But i didn't find it boring.... I didn't dread going there day after day... (at least not until the end ) because half way through my day I always had my break. I'd pack up, ride my bike a few blocks down the road... 3 minutes at most... and walk into my favorite Coffeeshop.... as I've said so many times before... the Leidseplein... my home away from home... Each day I'd stroll up there precisely at 4pm... the minute they opened... and invariably i'd be waiting outside with all the others waiting for the doors to open.... Once inside I order a cup of coffee, a gram of the white widow, and slowly roll a nice joint..... sometimes i'd sit with friends, asking them about their day... discussing politics and random subjects..... and other times i'll sit there alone, reading a book or a magazine... but sometimes just sitting there.... watching the world pass by as I drift into my haze....

Some days it's one.... others its 2... but I'm usually back to the library nice and buzzed... With nearly 5 hours before they close... I slowly ease back into my work.... my concentration returns and I finish....

but nowhere else in the world can I get that freedom.... that I can escape and enjoy my favorite herb free of consequence...free of persecution....

I just wanted to say how lucky I am to be here... and I remember that every day....

It's a cold morning wind

its mornin here in Leiden... mostly cloudy and the sun has yet to rise.. theres a slight shimmer on the horizon... The wind is fierce and strong, with a bite that tells you winter is coming...

I'm enjoying the early morning alone...smoked a j outside in the cold and now i'm inside puffing on the iolite vape....

Sinterklaas came to town on saturday. Such a gathering of families and kids to see this character with his Zwarte Piet helpers (black pete) It was a massive event.

I decided to start this blog to post some of the past stories and current ramblings of an American Cannabis connoisseur in The Netherlands. I'm closing in on my first year here in this unique country.. with such liberal laws on Cannabis, but it's impossible to buy a bottle of Nyquil!. A flat land where bicycles rule and the roads wind in every direction.

It'll be a busy day of classes and research. But i'll probably make time for a trip to the coffeeshop... perhaps play some chess or cards... Life is good

peace all,

Hippy

Turkish delight and architectural marvels in Rotterdam

This past thursday was my anniversary with my other half. We've been together 9 years... quite a while for people as young as us... We decided to book a one day trip to Rotterdam to see the city. Actually she found this crazy turkish/middle eastern themed hotel that she really wanted to go to...
it's called the Hotel Bazar and I'd highly recommend it. The rates are a quite good... they start at 75 for a double... ours was a bit more at 115, but still a nice splurge. The rooms are lavishly decorated with crazy intricate rugs and tiles. It was an awesome experience...

www.bazarrotterdam.nl

Check it out.
The restaurant is really good as well. and the portion sizes are gigantic.

We set out the first evening and I ask if we could make a quick stop at a coffeeshop. She isn't a smoker, but is alright with me partaking.

We head on over to the Coffeeshop Sky High http://www.coffeeshop.freeuk.com/SkyHigh.html
and I roll up to the counter... They have A few weed choices, Edelweiss, white widow, bubbelgum, and amnesia. A few hashes as well.

I opted for a 15 euro bag of bubbelgum.. which was about 2.2 grams. The buds are really nice.... very tightly packed......

we settled in and I rolled a joint... smoked it and we peaced out... not the most hospitable coffeeshop... a little dark and smokey (not well ventilated)

The taste is quite nice... definitely has a smooth hit... sweet tinge to the taste... The high is quite strong, but not overwhelming.... and it's a bit of a forgetful weed.... numerous times I had to repeat myself and ask again... hehe...

The next day I ran sober, just to enjo eachothers company.... we wandered around the city finding all kinds of crazy art and architecture. if your into buildings and crazy architecture... I'd definitely recommend going to Rotterdam. Being that it's so new, there are numerous examples of really out there designs... I'll get some pics up too...


I'd recommend the Architecture Institute... It is an incredible modern museum and showcases the crazy buildings in the city...

After a long day of walking around teh city, we head back home.... I decide to go out to the bar to meet my buddy Noah. He's another american living in Leiden... studying just like me... So we chill out and play a few games of chess... He had the remnants of a 5 gram bag of No.1 from The Double AA in Leiden... a nice heavy indica for relatively cheap... he paid 30 for 5 grams... 6 euro a gram.... not bad... we roll up some moster fatties and spark up

(it's a little bar next to the Leidseplein where some days you can smoke in the whole bar... other days theres a little smoking room where you can smoke weed/cigs)

twas a fun night.. excellent weekend,


peace and happy toking!
Hippy

The harvest is IN!!

So i must admit I've raved on here numerous times about my favorite shop, the Leidseplein but with good reason, their cannabis is primo and i have yet another example.

I've been smoking the Northern lights special for some time, and though it's a good smoke, some batches are a bit too airy and under developed... they're the Indoor grow from what I've found out. They also have Northern Lights Bio (which means grown in soil) and perhaps outdoors... although I don't know for sure... In any case they've been out of the Bio for a few weeks and I hadn't tried much of it... but to my pleasant surprise they have a wonderful new harvest!

the buds are tightly compacted and full of lovely yellow hairs and tons of white crystals... the smell is heavenly... a very piney aroma with an almost fresh hint of lemon...

Hitting it in the vape gives an interesting flavor. at first when it's heating up there is a slight woody musky flavor, but once the moisture is out the piney goodness just seeps in there...


The heavy high is clear thinking, with a body effect, but not fully debilitating... I don't get too much couch lock with this... it's a great smoke to ride on down the road to the park... or sit in and relax

gotta say my new favorite strain... I'll be buying a lot
here's some pics!

Life's been far too busy lately to give a really long and intricate update...
Right now I'm sitting in the library trying to wrap my brain around the influence of Post Modernism on Archaeological theory..........

yeah... it's a pain in the ass to say the least. I've been using my iolite vape pretty much exclusively for the past week or so... Gotta say it's a life saver.... I use MUUUUCH less weed and still get incredibly high.... Here I could easily go through an eighth in a day rolling joints... now it takes nearly a week for the same amount of weed.... now that's the wonders of technology eh? getting us higher for less!


I'm hopefully planning another trip into amsterdam one of these weekends... I need to clear my mind of all this extraneous academic jargon and have a simple, peaceful day....

I've been practicing my guitar work and associated harmonica ramblings... I hope to find a good street and Busk for a bit.... just for the hell of it... something to do eh? so if you see a funny looking guy with a guitar, harmonica and a seriously glazed look in his eyes.... playing "Piano man" on the guitar.....that could be me!


anyone elseo have experience with busking in the Dam? perhaps if i make a little cash it can fund my cannabis


peace all
hippy

it's been a week since my loved one has made it over from the States and oh what a week it's been!


The day I heard that she had been accepted to the same University i was, I started counting down until she came to live with me again. I spent half a month getting the apartment ready for her arrival
(mind you I had moved into my new apartment before heading off to england the night before my flight... I literally finished moving everything at midnight on monday... and left tuesday at 7AM.... so suffice it to say the place looked pretty bad)

I bought IKEA chairs and tables, pictures, kitchen gear, and all those things necessary for an apartment..

Finally she got here last week.... and of course while the place was a vast improvement over before... it wasn't what she called "woman clean" I guess spending half a year living as a bachelor took it's toll... no worries though I was over the moon to have her here with me...

She's not really a smoker... has it on rare occations... but she's quite alright with my partaking ...

We decided to head on into Amsterdam on Sunday for the Uitmarkt. Apparently the start of the Amsterdam cultural season. Throughout the city there were booths everywhere advertising the hundreds of plays and theatrical art projects in the upcomming year. We came in by train and arrived at 2 walking out to a sunny, albeit windy day. The city was packed to the brim and we speedily avoided the crowds of tourists and the RLD....

zipping down the Zeedijk we walk through China town just chatting away. As we approach the Nieuwmarkt we see massive structures up in the square. We approach and start to hear a distinctly dutch tune. On stage was a band in traditional clothing, playing their instruments and jamming away! It's great to see these kinds of cultural festivals in Amsterdam. As much as I enjoy the smoking culture, and the normal touristy bits, it's good to see how the locals celebrate their own culture. It's only after living here for half a year that I've come tp appreciate these things... We zip down to the east following a neverending line of stands. Each with a different theatre company/ performance arts group advertising their productions... it was great!

The only real problem was that everything was in Dutch... Sadly our language skills are seriously lacking... but oh well... we'll pick it up eventually

After walking around the waterlooplein area I posed a request for a coffeeshop stop. The Mrs. was fine with it and we popped into Old Amsterdam...

Walked up to the bar to see Marco smiling back. I asked if he had any White cheese in at the moment seeing as it's my absolute favorite smoke so far....

But alas it wasn't to be... He said he was out and wouldn't have any more for about 3 weeks.... perhaps i'll plan an impromptu bike ride up one weekend to stock up of course

He did have a new product called New Cheese. Having never tried the UK strain of cheese, my experience is limited to what I can get in the Dam. I've had the Big buddha cheese and HGF's cheese (which is my favorite by the way)... so i thought what the hey? give it a go...

The buds were quite tightly packed and there weren't many crystals... I smelled and there was that distinct cheese flavor there.. It was a bit more sour smelling than HGF... and not as strong... I bought a gram and skinned up a spliff. It definitely had the heavy body high of a cheese, It was a nice smooth smoke as well... I didn't cough it down... and I was quite content for the rest of the afternoon...

After a bit more wandering through a book market (again most were in Dutch... but a few stands had English books and that was cool) We found a ferry giving rides to different events... again for free! So we boarded the last ferry of the day and bombed around the canals... all the while listening to Accordian music on the boat.... It was a great day sucking in dutchie culture!

On the way back to the station I stopped by at HGF to pick up a little bit more bud... Grabbed myself a gram of the Silver pearl, and headed back on the train and back home.

Overall a very nice day trip up to the Dam..... Now and again these small days remind me why I moved to this country....


peace,
hippy

Rollin down the Highway


Being back in Holland is a bit of a culture shock, mostly the shock of having human made technology surrounding me... no tents and fields... indoor plumbing... television.... wireless internet... those kinds of things...


I've been smoking quite a bit since comming back, Mostly back to my usual spliffs, but i've been slowly introducing my vaporizer into my smoking repertoire... It's a different experience, a different high and I really do like it... It's a definite saver of weed. The amount I've vaped is barely over a gram and I've used the thing tons of times... I swear I can get high after 1 session which amounts to about 1/2 to 2/3 of a normal Bowl... about a third of what I put into a spliff...

I still enjoy the ritual and satisfaction one gets by rolling a really nice, well done spliff... The craftsmanship and talent is lost when loading up a vape... which is why I haven't given them up.... (also there is that niccotine fix i get from the tobacco since I've quit ciggies)

I've found a wonderful smoke from a local shop called Goa.

(not to be confused with theGoa in Amsterdam)

The weed is Called "Q" and is €8.50 per gram. has a lovely fruity/skunky smell, quite strong, but not overwhelming.
Looking at it the weed is dense, with large buds covered with white crystals and hairs. It's sticky, but breaks apart easily... not too wet...

It's an excellent all around body high with a bit of cerebral sensations... nothing visual or extreme, but a good overall sensation. It actually made me want to study, and i brought out my research and did some notes!...

I'll get some pictures up later but this is a real gem. I'd recommend it to all those interested in a good strong but uplifting high....

Random bike rides throughout the town and country remind me how much I love my bike and how well holland works for it. ah well... off to another fun time reading and enjoying life...

peace to all!

hippy

Back in Civilization
It's been over a month since I've been on the boards... but i've been on a unique adventure exploring the human past and the human psyche....

what happens when you comfine a dozen or so human beings to a farmers field in southwestern Oxfordshire to brave the english summer with tents and a rickety kitchen just to dig up some old roman and iron age structures?
their only outlets from this cycle is the trips to the pub and occational visits to Tesco....

you end up with far too much drinking and debauchery with many frayed nerves and brain cells... you end up half crazy by the end of it.

and that was my past month! wee! I can't remember... well much of anything past 9pm...


although I do remember a fateful night filled with cider, beer, gin, and copious amounts of wine..... i have a hazy memory of screaming obscenities at someone's inordinately large tent....

this night started out as a group meal I had cooked for the campsite... homemade spaghetti and meatballs from scratch...
I had spent the day doing my normal archaeological duties... a bit of digging here, a bit of soil flotation there.... some photos and my day was up.... As I'm driving the tractor back to the campsite, with the other diggers bouncing precariously on the back trailer, I could feel the cool breeze and see the changing clouds forming overhead. They would swirl by at amazing speeds... we bumbled along through the rolling fields of wheat... and what should appear over the horizon.....but a nuclear power plant...

good ol' england eh?

we slowly pull into the campsite and I immediately banish everyone from the kitchen save my soux chef... and we begin the mad rush of cooking for 16 people.... I heated up the sauce I had made from the night before and starting mixing up the ground beef... we ended up with 62 meatballs... more than enough for everyone

After two hours and quite a bit of wine and spirits imbibed... we brought forth the masterpiece of fresh pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs with garlic bread and tons of red and white wine.... It was an instant success! the table was silent... which is always a good sing for the chef... everyone's too busy eating to speak!

well we kept eating and drinking... i swear I polished off another bottle of wine... after some semi-embarassing dance moves, someone cleverly pointed out the the pub closed in 20 mintues...

not wanting to end the night... we headed over to the pub.... where i proceeded to play a VERY drunken game of pool with my supervisor... and nearly kill one of the locals sitting at the bar....


all in all was a good night....

then waking up the next morning having to mattock back half a meter of rocky subsoil... ahh what a wonderful life us archaeologists live...


but that was pretty much the whole 4 weeks... lots of craziness filled with a bit of archaeology... here and there...

but now i'm forever thankful to be back in the real world with indoor plumbing, modern conveniences like 4 walls and a roof.... and flush toilets are my best friends!



peace,
hippy

Hookah on the Beach

Beach hookahs
So I know I haven't been around for a while, but I've been back in the US and I have to say...Life there is just soooo hectic... Every day there was this errand to run, and these people to visit... and this to go see.. my god...

no green in sight either... i decided to give myself a break... seeing as how I smoke far too much... give myself some tolerance back... and it's worked to an extent... it's taking far less to get me high...

My travels back to the Netherlands were scarred with crazy weather and bad delays... followed by unexpected surprises...
I was delayed overnight in NYC having to fly then to Chicago, to fly to Amsterdam.... and since I was on a crappy airline like United, they only flew out once a day.... figures there had to be horrendous thunderstorms so I couldnt even get to Chicago...

but it wasn't all bad... I was able to chill at my cousins house for the night.... when her boyfriend came home at like 4 AM... (he's a musician who just did a show in Charleston SC and drove back)... he offered a nice bowl of some excellent NYC weed.... which is always enjoyable after a long day...

The biggest surprise had to be when I arrived back home to find a new package! my portable vaporiser... the iolite... was at the post office!!
I hopped on the bike and rode down over there.... grabbed it and went searching for the open coffeeshop...

picked up some amnesia and hurried on home.... after some annoying starts and a few bugs... it started to work...

and my oh my how high did i fly!!! i smoked maybe half a bowls worth, a third of a joint's worth.... and my god was my head soaring... as was my body.... which is interesting from the Amnesia haze...

now there's one slight problem.... I messed up filling the butane and I broke the can of butane lighter fluid.... and since I'm in the netherlands.... where nothing needed is open on the weekends.... I'm still without lighter fluid...... back to the joints i guess... at least for a few days...



now... on to the beach...

It was the 4th of July... one of the biggest holidays in America. Fireworks, picnics, parades, the whole works... and I was sitting in my room wondering what to do... the weather was lovely... a hot sun but cool breeze gently wafting through the air.... occationally giving you a refreshing blow.... i'd been sitting thinking... and smoking.... and sitting.... when my roommate knocks on my door!

my hilarious dutch roommate is 18 years old and just going into higher education... in some ways he's very mature... works, has internships, goes to school... and others he's still just a kid... when he talks about his "high school" like romances it makes me chuckle a bit...he's really a good kid though...

him and his buddy were going to the beach... a half hour bus ride from Leiden... after a bit of cajoling... (i was enjoying my seat thinking about going somewhere...) we hopped on the bus....took the quick ride into town... my roommates friend... lets call him marty... went to a private english speaking school in Denmark... and was quite curious about american culture... Definitely an intellectual... as the bus rolled on down the road we discussed politics, healthcare, the new american president... everything I love to talk about with Non Americans... The more I hear how others perceive my culture, helps me better understand their culture... plus it's nice to right a few wrongs from watching too much MTV and news...


We roll up to the beach and disembark... out near Noordwijk... (check out the hostel there flying pig... really nice)
P.S.- to the brazillian and polish guys... sorry I missed ya! But i bet you had a blast in the cultural craziness if you went to leiden.... the city is a carnival...


aaaaaanyways....
As we hit the beach you get this strong cool, fresh breeze, with only a hint of salt... the sand streched for what seemed like miles and miles... and it was really packed.... hundreds of red and yellow wind blockers and umbrellas...

we set up camp near the water and marty proceeds to pull out his hookah pipe... perfect for beach weather of course!... and I pull out my bag of Northern lights and Amnesia Haze...

what a lovely combination.... so he packs it up... but realizes that he forgot the freakin hose!! hahaha... no matter we sucked out the metal hole and got plenty baked.... plus the brews they brought were like 11.6% Alcohol! crazy dutchies!


As we sit I began to notice the many people walking by... and yes... i'll admit it... I looked at the hot girls in bikinis.... but to be honest who wouldn't? It's a beautiful sight on a beautiful beach and I'm appreciating all that is good in the world....

so in my stoned haze i drifted off to sleep.... with the warm sun on my back, the cool breeze, the sound of the waves lightly washing up on the shore... kids laughing and playing... splashing... people enjoying life....




until I woke up 2 hours later..... as red as a lobster!!!! god damn pasty white heritage!!!

gah!

we meandered on back to the bus at around 7 and went back to Leiden... stopped at the train station to get some pasta from Juliana's... a nice chain with really good healthy meals... cooked fast... they just boil fresh pasta, pick basil and reheat sauce and mix it all together... so lovely..


so I'm back until tuesday morning.... when I fly out to England for a month long camping session digging in the dirt



things learned today:
bring more sunscreen!

smoke a hookah on the beach!!!



peace,
hippy