The science of opinion ...

Hi all...been a day.  Went to a 'mac 'n cheese' competition in the afternoon, local restaurants for a music school. A fun interlude that gave me a tad of heartburn for a good cause. *G*  I think the local lobster house tipped the scales by loading up the judge's plates. *L*

But anyway...anesthesia revisit....the only times I didn't 'go under' for a procedure was:
-Getting 'fixed', so I'd 'shoot blanks'.  Worth having done, but with a 'local' it felt very weird having the surgeon pull the plumbing about.  Not painful, just....Very difficult to describe a discomfort of that nature...
-My 1st colonoscopy.  Done with a cocaine variant, wide awake but more buzzed than anything done on a 'recreational' occasion.
You could have driven a bus up my backside and I would have been amused, watching the whole event on the screen nearby.
Seeing one's innards, this journey up this vaguely pink rippled tunnel later helped understand how the gerbil must have felt. :)
At the 'end' of the 'trip', we encountered the Lone Polyp.
"We'll take care of that", followed by the flash of the laser.
Then the whole journey in fast reverse....

I thanked them for the 'buzz', laughing.
"I can't remember when I've been that wasted, thanks!  See you this weekend! ;)"  I think they were somewhat amused that I enjoyed myself.

It's good I had a ride home...spouse noted that I was likely one of the few that would go back just for the high despite having a tube stuck in me 'sdrawkcab'....  Not so cheap thrills...

I've been disappointed by any of them since....*damn*L*

@geoffkait , I don't claim to be a comedian, but life in general either seems funny in its' nature, or one has to somehow find a laugh to get through things.

We get upset with each other over things, concepts, or reactions that on occasion my response is "Oh, c'mon.  This is like the 'angels on a pinhead' rant!  It goes Nowhere for Nothing worth the mental energy or anguish!  Calm down and Think."

One wants to toss anything humorous into the middle of it like tear gas. 
Break it up before someone breaks something.  Endless tail-chases over opinions vs. attitudes vs. things unmeasurable except by perception.

...and we should all know quite well by now how perception can effect what we say and think... ;)

MHO...repeat, MHO.

asvjerry,

"Done with a cocaine variant, wide awake but more buzzed than anything done on a 'recreational' occasion."

More likely "a PCP/LSD variant"?

*L*  No, nothing quite that 'heavy duty'.
Best description I can offer is Pink Floyd's "comfortably numb".
Lying on my side, watching the screen, making the occasional observation (or absurdvation), aware of the activity behind my behind.
Absolutely bombed, watching the show on the screen.

"You doing alright?"

"You can make it Better? *drugged chuckle*  Please do."

*bemused laugh from 'back there'*

PCP?  Once...which was Enough.
'Acid'?  Got bored with everything looking like it was composed of polyethylene.  Only entertaining during the initial 'rush' state.
After that, just resigned to being awake for the interval beyond, went on with whatever occupied the time.
Left it behind long ago.

Would only consider it again at the very end...of me.  There had been studies done in Europe in the late '60s'~early '70's by therapists to see if it helped 'end of life' patients deal with the inevitable.

There were some positive signs that it did; 'ego-death' prior to the real deal was the point of the studies.  The thought was that the fear of the end of 'me' was the big issue; that death was natural, the normal result of being alive in the first place....

We only become aware of being alive @ birth, that it's part of that process that we should expect to cease awareness @ death.

Christian theology teaches otherwise...(I was raised Catholic, BTW)
Science and the pursuit of the mysteries of the composition of matter, energies, and all that makes up the universe shows how little we know of it.  How all of this immensity that we occupy on this dinky particle of a planet actually works.

At the end of it...all we can really do is accept it.
It's impressive that we're capable of asking the questions. *G*

But, we're still just Smart.  Not as Wise as we ought to be. ;)

(And how much further can we get 'off topic'. *L*)

asvjerry,

Cocaine "derivatives" (not quite, but its cousins so to say) are usually used for "not-mind-altering-anesthesia". Think local, topical, spinal, etc. PCP cousin (ketamine) could make you talk gibberish while not really being there. Not that I have an answer, or that it matters, but just like that heart attack and pacemaker. Apples in the apple bag, oranges to orange bag. Well, maybe you can ask what it was so, in case you need it next time, you can pick and choose.