Day 9 - February 24th

Day 9 - February 24th
Friday Hotel Room
Uncomfortable
Peeps at the crack
Things start to look bad
Mad blackouts

        Part of Sam's drug dealing operation was that along with renting his house in the inner suburbs of Adelaide, he'd get a hotel room at the Oakes just near Light Sq in the city every weekend. This was so he had a central base of operations to go back to throughout the night, rather than stashing everything in a car which he then had to find parking for. He could also then take a suitcase with changes of clothes, and we all had somewhere other than the club to drink and take drugs at. It saved us money on exorbitant drink prices in the clubs, and to be honest the dancefloor was always loud and sweaty anyway... it was almost as if we were becoming less interested in people and more interested in getting fucked up. Withdrawing into our warm, cosy shell.
        Most of the guys had started smoking ice, and I joined in a little too, although never as much as everyone else. I was hesitant to throw myself back into that life after having experienced something else in Bolivia. I didn't know what the other thing was that I wanted to do yet, maybe keep writing and be a journalist? Although I didn't really know how that would work on a practical level - “Okay, I want to be a journalist, now what? What building to I go to, where do I sign up?”
        I'd also done comedy a few times before I left for Bolivia, and that was something that I was thinking I'd maybe keep going with. Plus I was still at uni, studying politics. I wasn't sure, but I just had a feeling that I didn't want to smoke ice.

        One of these nights at the hotel – I can't remember whether it was this one or one further down the line – Sam proclaimed that he was, for the first time in over two years, going in to town without any drugs on his person. He donned a cape, crown, faux-gold-tipped wooden walking-stick, and finally a t-shirt with the word 'DEALER' scrawled across a poker chip on the front. Only children could ever be so cocky, imagining that in conquering our insignificant little world that we'd outsmarted everyone. We all thought it was absolutely hilarious.

Click here to read the next part - Day 10 - February 25th