First Place
OhioDood's Essay:
From learning about ORyens belt in Astronomy to listening to my least favorite professor preach about ethos and pathos, I learned a lot about the world we live in and what it takes to succeed in todays society. There was one very important thing I learned outside of the classroom though. It may not be a so-called life lesson and some may even frown upon what I discovered, but its changed my life nonetheless. What did I learn you may ask? I learned the positive effects of marijuana, and how, despite what the government, our parents, and even Hollywood with such films as Reefer Madness say about pot, it brings out the best in people.
OK, before I go any further, let me introduce who I am. My name is (name removed), and I am a 19 year old preparing for my sophomore year at college. Prior to my freshman year at college, I decided I would attend a University which was 2 ½ hours away from my home in Ohio. None of my friends would be attending the University, but I always thought myself to be an outgoing person, and I believed I would have no problems making friends. I was extremely wrong though. When I got to the small University, everyone already had their group of friends from high school around. It seemed I was the only out-of-towner. I was miserable for the entire first half of the year, and my roommate, who was as obnoxious as they came, didnt help the situation. I decided that after I finished up my freshman year of college, I would no longer be attending that University. The first day of the 2nd semester would change all of that.
I went to my first class of the day, and I sat down near the back of the room. Preparing for another dull lecture about class rules seeing as how it was the first day of the class, I was rather excited when I saw a familiar face walk in. His name was Dan, he was in the room right across from me in my dorm, but besides that I knew very little of him besides that he and my roommate always hung out. Dan would always ask me to go with them when they hung out, but I always said no simply because of the fact that every second I was away from my roommate was a second I wouldnt trade for anything. Dan and I talked the entire period, and later I asked him what he and my roommate do all the time. Dan replied, We go and we smoke, do you smoke? Well, I had never smoked pot in my life, so I told him that. Dan was a great guy and didnt say anything more of the matter. After class, we walked back to our dorm together when he realized he had forgotten his weed in his car and had wanted to smoke later that night. He asked me if Id like to go with him to his car. Even though his car was a 15 minute walk from where we were on campus, I agreed to go.
When we got to his car, he started packing his one hitter. He packed it with enough weed that he could have gotten 3 one hits out of it. He asked me if Id like to smoke with him later, and said even though he knows I dont smoke, he would have felt rude not asking. I told him I would, but I didnt have the cash to pay him back and I didnt want to mooch of him like that. He insisted that if I wanted to smoke then to tell him because he was looking for someone to smoke with. I got really nervous, as this was a big decision for me, but I agreed to smoke with him later. I could tell that he was extremely excited.
Later that night, the time had come. He came over to my room and asked me if I was ready to go, so I got my keys and I began to follow him. I expected to go outside and find a place to smoke, but we went directly into his room. His roommate wasnt there, so he suggested we just pull the one-hitters out of his window. I was once again nervous, this time about being caught, but I agreed once more. He showed me how to hit it and said to keep it in as long as I could. Next, it was my turn. I grabbed the one hitter, which he had packed for me. I lit it up and inhaled as hard as I possibly could. I coughed so hard that I thought the end of my life might be near, but man did that herb taste good! He ended up taking 3 one hits that night and made me go hit for hit with him. I was beyond destroyed, and to this day I ache for the day when I will be that ripped again. After we were done smoking, we began to talk. . Not like people talk usually when they meet for the first time, it was much deeper than that. I found out that, like myself, Dan was from Ohio and had very few friends at the University. I also learned that he didnt care for my roommate at all, and that he had smoked my roommate up dozens of times while my roommate had no smoked him up once. I was getting tired, so I told him I had to go. He said, OK, but promise me well do this again.
Right, I replied.
Dan and I hung out everyday for the next couple weeks, but without smoking because we had smoked the last of his green. We developed the best friendship Ive ever had with someone. He told me everything, I told him everything, and together we had an amazing time. One weekend, I decided I was going to go home, and on the way home I couldnt stop thinking about how thankful I was that I met Dan. I decided I wanted to surprise him, but I couldnt think of what I wanted to do for him. Then it hit me, the answer was so obvious. When I got home, I called my buddy that had a reputation for smoking a lot of weed. I asked him if he knew where I could get any marijuana. . I was going to surprise Dan with some weed. The buddy that I called ended up selling me 3/8ths of an ounce for 150. He called the weed snowball, and it was a lot whiter than the weed Dan and I smoked. Being a one time smoker, I had no idea of whether this was good or bad, so I called him up. Dan, I said, Is there different kinds of weed, and what makes weed good?
Well, the more white the better, he told me, and naturally I was ecstatic. You always want a lot of orange hairs and the bigger the leaves the better. I glanced down at the fat sack I had bought and noticed TONS of orange hairs, so the excitement was getting better and better. I couldnt tell if the leaves were big or not, as I had nothing to compare to since it was the first time I had ever bought weed, but today, I can tell you that the leaves were beautiful and huge.
I was so excited on the 2 ½ hour drive back to the University, it felt like I had been driving for 2 ½ days by the time I got there. I immediately went to Dans room. His roommate was in there, which was terrible because I had to wait even longer to show Dan what I had purchased. After playing PS2 for about an hour, Dans roommate finally left. I reached into my cargo pocket and pulled out the fat sack! Dan was so happy, and asked how much I wanted him to pay. I told him nothing. He still insisted on paying, but obviously I didnt make him. (I later found 60 bucks hidden in my CD case, which to this day he wont confess was him that left it there, but thats just the kind of guy Dan is.)
I told Dan I wanted to smoke that night, but he said we couldnt because his roommate wasnt going to be gone long. I asked Dan if he would like to go outside and find a place to smoke, and he said Sure, but Im warning you. I geek out hard. That was fine by me though, because all I could think of was that fat sack of snowball that I had just showed him. We went out of our dorm and up the main street of the campus where there was a trail through the woods for people to walk on. Now, even though I didnt have many friends at the school and I rarely got out, everyone including myself knew that was where people went to smoke their ganja. We started going down that path, but Dan insisted we couldnt smoke there because the University police check down there frequently. So, we walked down the path and then we went into the woods, dodging thorn bushes, walking down the steepest of hills, and eventually we found this little crick. Inside the crick was the biggest rock Ive ever seen in my life. Dan said, This is it, man.
