Experimental Psychedelic Drugs

Yesterday I took my first dose of Sustiva (Efavirenz), the HIV drug. (I would like to repeat here for the record again, I am HIV negative and am taking part in a clinical study at Vanderbilt University) I took it promptly at 8pm on an empty stomach then I laid back to watch a video on how to install a waste vegetable oil kit on my bus. About an hour and 15 minutes into the video the drug hit me and it hit me hard. All of a sudden I noticed the guy on the video describing the installation process sure did have good presentation skills and he sure knows his stuff. These thoughts were so strong that I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying and I had to go back and rewatch that segment. This kept happening over and over...I would be distracted by some small aspect of the video and miss the whole context. I decided to rewatch it all another time when I wasn't under the influence of experimental drugs. I swear, I felt like I was taking part of some 1960's Electric Acid Kool Aid Test. I wouldn't say I hallucinated but my pets quizzical looks took on whole new meanings to me. The researchers had warned me that the drug was a little 'trippy' and as someone who played amatuer guinea pig in his college days, subjecting my body to all types of various chemicals, I felt this medicine would most likely not phase me. I instantly did not want to leave the bus because I did not want to have to conversate with anyone. There would be no hiding the fact that something was 'off' about my behavior. In about 30 minutes I am going to go take my second dose at 8pm. I will have to repeat this for the next 29 days.
Ever since I moved into the bus I have been mostly 'on the wagon'. I rarely ever drink.

I have a working gig tomorrow morning with a guy I met at the gas station. Pretty cool on several levels. He and his wife traveled in their 30ft Airstream in 2006 and they look forward to doing it again. He really took an interest in what I am doing. And he is giving me a paying gig tomorrow morning. Awesome. Plus he has a 30 Gallon fresh water tank that he said he would give me. Very ironic because I was at the gas station filling up my 5&7 gallon water tanks when I met him. By the way his name is Steve.

The Media That Influenced Me

One of the most popular questions I get is why are you doing this. It is tough to come up with a simple answer. But maybe giving a list of movies, television shows, books and songs that influenced me will help complete the picture. I will update this list periodically as I recall more influences.

Into the Wild - (Book & Movie)
Can be credited with giving me the final nudge to actually undertake this project. Movie was pretty true to the book. Utimate freedom seeking mentality.

Survivor (TV) - I always was fascinated with the tough environment the contestants competed in. Always wanted to participate. Was turned off by underhanded personality drama. I only watched the first few seasons.

Frontier House (PBS mini series)- A documentary of 3 families placed in 1880's era Montana to see if they could live off the land. I watched this 6 hr show 5 times. Big inspiration.

Fight Club-(Movie & Book) I really identified with this movie and then I read the book. I subscribe to the notion that our culture has taken a dive because of the importance of materialism and consumerism. It should go without saying, I don't subscribe to the idea of blowing up buildings to achieve a better life.

The Amazing Race-(Television) The greatest reality game type show on TV. Even if it is edited to provide the most dramatic storyline, that is the nature of TV, or nobody would watch.

Eco-Challenge- (Endurance Race) Before he created Survivor, Mark Burnett produced and televised this race in the 90's in which teams raced across countries over the course of 3 weeks. I remember thinking that was the coolest thing I ever saw. Probably ought to be credited with first planting the seed in my mind that there was something else out there.

Road Rules (MTV show)-A show in the 90's that I thought was pretty cool. Mixing travel in an RV and adventure, what a natural combination.

Man Vs Wild-(Discovery TV) Bear Grylls and the survival minded show always captivates me. One of the Discovery shows that got me thinking of videoing my future expeditions.

Survivorman- Similar to Man Vs Wild, but he is also his own camera crew, so he is always truly alone.

Grizzly Man (Movie) This documentary about a guy living in Alaska with Grizzly Bears is fascinating. The guy was a little strange and perhaps misguided, but he took some incredible videos before he got ate.

Alone in the Wilderness (Documentary) A 51 Year old man builds a cabin with only simple hand tools in the Alaskan Wilderness in 1967. His is a story of self sufficiency and resourcefulness. He stayed at his cabin for the next 30 years. A true inspiration.

Into Thin Air- The story of a Fateful Mt Everest climb. One of the first outdoor adventure books I read. It was on the same trip that the IMAX crew was on.

Mythbusters- (Television) Show that made the scientific principle interesting and uses it in real life applications. My whole life sometimes feels like one big experiment at times. Just the way I like it. I like a dash of education in my entertainment.

Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer- These classics are two of the best stories I have ever read. In fact, I need to add 'Make a homemade raft and float down a mile of the Mississippi' one of my things to do before I die.

U2- Almost any song but 'Beautiful Day' in particular. Google the lyrics. Bono said it is basically about "a guy losing everything and being happy about it. Imagine that." The upbeat tune speaks volumes of the attitude.

Vanderbilt Study-Clinical Trials Pt1 Concluded

I have completed my 3 night stay for the clinical research trials. I was discharged yesterday morning, and I slept most of the day yesterday. I had to go back downtown to Vanderbilt this morning at 8am for another blood draw. I will have to do this every couple of days, which is kind of a hassle, but only takes 5 minutes to do it. It is the commute that eats up an hour and a half there and back. I take the city bus of course.
I have been feeling listless and lethargic these past several days. I attribute it as a side effect of the TB medicine I was given. No other side effects though.
I became a touch paranoid during my in patient stay. Probably because they had a camera and infrared lightboard pointing right at my bed. My room was one frequently used for sleep studies. If they were watching me during the study they (I always use the paranoid term 'they' when discussing unknown hospital activities) may have noticed that I scratched as much as a major league ballplayer or maybe I tended to tuck my hand in my waistband while watching TV, not unlike Al Bundy. Or maybe they never turned the camera on...
Here is a video of my final dinner and an excellent example of me taking advantage of being able to choose whatever I want off the menu. What do you expect when you hand a starving man a menu with those kind of options. (you can see the camera above the mural at the beginning of the video)

Vanderbilt Study-Day One

Don't let the title fool ya, It is really day 2 for me but the way they count here yesterday was day zero (Check In) and today is day 1. I was awaken at 6am to check my vitals. At 7am I was given my breakfast, scrambled eggs, english muffin and orange juice. ( I can't believe I got scrambled eggs!!, but that is the only meal they choose for me)

At 7:45 they set me up with what I call my 'docking station', the semi-permanent place they will be doing hourly blood checks on me. Presumably to check medicine levels in my system. I took the 4 pills of the experimental drug today, TMC, at 8am. Then at 9am, 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 4pm, 8pm I had a tube of blood drawn.

I have been kind of bored today as I waited for Nurse Erin to come siphon off some of my life source in the name of science. I surfed online and walked around the corridors. I look forward to tomorrow when I can roam the campus after my 8am blood draw. I don't have anything to do for the rest of the day, except eat and sleep. My next blood draw will be the next morning at 8am but they want me to stay at the hospital so they can feed me and keep an eye on me. I am good with that. I can think of worse things than being stuck in downtown Nashville on a beautiful spring day. Don't hate me because I do science.

Check In for Vandy Study

I checked in today for my initial 3 night stay for the Vanderbilt study. For the first time in a year I will sleeping in a bed within a structure built on a foundation. I have a bright mural on my wall of an African safari, it really warms the otherwise antiseptic room.
I have filled out the menu's for the meals I will be having while I am here. The menu's are the kind that you circle what you want from a list. For tonight's meal I had an individual size pizza, Cheeseburger, Fried Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, a roll, a banana, an apple and oreos. Shortly after Nurse Erin delivered the menu's to the kitchen, that one of the kitchen staff came up to the room, peeked in and asked what time to bring dinner. She was a petite older black woman who looked like she knew her way around a kitchen. But I quickly found out the real reason she came was to get a look at me. She said 'I thought you were going to be a big guy' as she gestured the universal sign of a husky guy, arms bowed out like carrying an unusually large load of laundry. When she came back later she admonished that she 'expected me to eat it all'. I did not let her down. I believe she may have been impressed.
The only meal I was not allowed to chose is tomorrow's breakfast. They have a very specific breakfast picked out for me and they want me to eat it. I will. But I am curious as to what it is and if it will be enough to hold me until lunch.




The table of papers that I had to sign and the vials to collect blood samples.

Loretta Lynn's bus validated me

I don't remember if I posted here that Loretta Lynn's tour bus occasionally parks near me. I have seen it 3 times since being in Nashville. Well today, as it was pulling out I was getting off my bus to walk Nala. A guy in the front passenger seat slid open his window, stuck his head out and yelled "I like your bus!" Clearly a man of discriminating taste. And coming from a real rock star (well, country star) bus I feel quite validated today about my bus.

Beautiful Spring Day

I woke up early this morning. I had to meet some people at 8am to sell them my Fridge/cooler. Then I went and bought myself some donuts to celebrate getting my liver all cleaned out. That about put me into a sugar comatose, I had to take a 30 minute power nap.
Then I got up and got the bus to downtown. The sky was sunny, clear and mild. I hit the library first to check my email, then I went to Centennial Park. I believe this is Nashville's biggest most convenient park. There is a giant building surrounded by thick columns. It looks like something from ancient Greece. (True story, when I went up to see what was inside the building by peering in through glass doors, a little boy and his mom were doing the same and the little boy asked "Is this where God lives? Is he in there?) People were out throwing frisbee's, footballs, kicking soccer balls and laying out in bathing suits getting sun. And it appears someone was using part of the Zeus home for a wedding today.
Fantastic day of just enjoying the weather.

The Vanderbilt stadium is right across the street from the park.


Here is a video of me waiting at the bus stop to catch a bus back to my bus. (I apologize for parts where audio fades)

HIV/TB Study

I may have mentioned before that I have been attempting to get into a few studies that Vanderbilt is doing. I finally got approved to be in the HIV/TB study. The prerequisite was that I had to be healthy, HIV-negative candidate. I got flagged twice because of liver enzyme function test came back marginally high. I attribute the elevated levels to my very poor diet while living on the bus. I have since changed my diet but I still had elevated levers of liver enzymes. To put it in perspective, the normal range for the enzymes are as follows: AST 0-40 and ALT 5-55 , my original scores were AST 45 & ALT 77. This isn't bad, if I had hepatitis or something my ALT could be in the 600 range. Second attempt to lower levels got my AST down to an acceptable 36 but my ALT only came down to a 71. I had purged my body, ate only raw carrots, raw apples and raw asparagus for three days with little change. So I called my brother Keith up who had some cleansing pills and I read online for Liver cleanse and Liver flush. Let me tell you, If something is going to "cleanse" you it isn't going to be pleasant. But I really wanted into this study. I consumed vast quantities of vegetables again along with a gallon of cranberry juice, a gallon of grapefruit juice. After 2 days of that I fasted for half a day and then took 4 tablespoons of Epsom salt (a magnesium salt) mixed it with water and chugged it down. Allow me to be clear here, Epsom salts taken internally is a Very powerful laxative. It will cause your insides to feel like they are boiling and it will clean you out. Not the ideal treatment for someone living on an RV with yet to be completed plumbing. Luckily Walmart restrooms are 24 hours. After a couple of hours of this bliss, I then pour myself a cup of olive oil and squeeze two lemons into it. I down this mixture which had an oddly settling effect on my stomach. The purpose of this was to force my bile ducts to release large amounts of bile to flush out my liver of fats and cholesterol and other toxins.
The thing is that this all worked. I went back yesterday for another blood test and they said my levels were in the acceptable range. My ALT had dropped from 71 to 46, well under the 55 maximum limit.
I check into the hospital next Tuesday to begin the study. I will be there for 3 nights. Here is what I understand the study to be. They are testing a new TB drug for HIV patients taking a particular HIV drug. They are using me as a control study, HIV negative but they will give me the TB drug, observe me for 3 days, let me leave the hospital, I come back in for blood work a few times. Then in 15 days they give me the HIV drug (they refer to it as the get high pill, because of the way it makes you feel) I come in a few more times to give blood, then I have another 3 night hospital stay where they give me the TB drug again and they observe me. After all that is said and done they will pay me $1000. All in the name of science.
This is such an awesome opportunity...I get to see first hand a scientific study being performed, I get to be a part of something that is important, and I get compensated. Another pretty cool life experience coming my way.
I snapped this little self portrait at the bus stop today. It has been windy and overcast. I meant to get the cool little yellow car in the picture but my melon of head is in the way. Bus pulled up so no re-takes. This is after one week of being shower free.

A benefit of staying in the hospital, besides working plumbing, hot meals and air conditioning will be unlimited Wi-Fi. I will be able to work on my blog properly. I will try to document the study to show people what it is like being a guinea pig. I am excited to be a part of this.

New Office Space

I have found the greatest hidden treasure yet, the Nashville Main library. This place is the holy mecca of learning and they accomplish it with such style. By far the swankiest library I have ever been in. Walking in I felt as if I should pay someone an admission fee. It is like a big city museum. Three stories with large checkerboard marble floored foyers, Huge windows with excellent downtown views and Ginormous rooms for me to work in.
I have never been so impressed by a library. Seriously, I had to take pictures cause words just don't do it justice.
This is where I will conduct business (ie get online and find the odd job, new stuff for the bus, research local bohemian communities and such)



Blue back lit columns above copper engravingsNice decorating

My conference room
View from My desk

The Author