Justifying kava to loved ones

[Ed!]

I just scored a 24, and I would actually describe myself much like KarmaG just described herself, but with a penis. Definitely doesn't surprise me that I scored above average.

 

[kavalover]

Regarding the obsessions, I'd be curious to know how people score on the Asperger's Quotient test, here's a self-scoring online version that is pretty good:



http://aq.server8.org/



Obviously, this is not a diagnosis, but could be food for thought and maybe something to look into. I just scored 39 and have an official diagnosis from a psychiatrist. On other versions of the test I've scored in the 35-39 range. Trivia: the AQ test was developed by Simon Baron-Cohen, cousin of Sacha Baron Cohen, who annoys the shit out of me. If you want to learn more about Asperger's Syndrome, I highly recommend "Look Me In The Eye" by John Elder Robison, a lot of it seemed very familiar to me.



I started looking into it because of my daughter, who is more autistic than I am, and the problems that she was having in school, being concerned what was going to happen when she moved on to middle school. I didn't want her to be isolated and end up with the drug crowd by default like I did. Just knowing about it has made a huge difference for her, last year was the first that she had friends at school, she has other Aspie-ish friends and they spend a lot of time creating things on Little Big Planet 2 outside of school, some of it is pretty fricking incredible. I was showing her some stuff about Arduino last night, she's been wanting to do learn some sort of programming--actually, Little Big Planet 2 and using Redstone in Minecraft have been a great intro to that--so I'm going to be getting some Lilypads and accessories for us to play with.

I scored a 33, I'll have to look into this more. Thanks for the info. I've always been the alone nerd who got excellent grades in school but never got any excellent grades in the realm of social abilities. lol. Always worried about how I was perceived, I never wanted to embarrass myself, trying my hardest to fit in but too anxious to actually make it work. Plus there was the fact that as a kid I spent most of my time reading or building things. I always liked playing with prototype boards. Most of my time went to stuff that interested me anyway. I fell into the drug crowd in late middle school by default as you say, and the only way I ever found I was somewhat good at living up to the expectations of societal norms was with drugs. I was a benzo head in high-school and an opiate head during my general studies in college. Now I'm a kava head in my final two years. Without some sort of chemical help though, I'm a mess. Actually no, I'm totally fine. I'm a mess to other people. (smiley: laugh) Kava has been a godsend though compared to anything else I was using.

new2kava wrote:I think the
biggest problem I had justifying kava to my girlfriend was that it is a
root material that is basically extracted to yield psychoactive
compounds. I should probably explain that I am on probation for
extracting alkaloids from another type of root material and even though
in the case of kava no nasty chemicals are used and no controlled
substances are yielded it's more the principle that it involves roots
and extraction that culminates in an intoxicating substance. When I
first started using kava I got the crappy capsules and the tea from a
natural food store and eventually bought root from a local herb shop so
my girlfriend was okay with it. The when I started ordering pounds of it
online she was a little more suspicious but the fact that there was
nothing shady about the packaging and serving and nutrition information
was on the bag made me able to point out that there was nothing even
slightly illegal about it. She was just apprehensive as the root
material that I had gotten myself into trouble was totally legal to buy,
it just became illegal when the extration process began. My next hurdle
was expalining that kava is not any type of "legal high" and is not
illegal anywhere in the world to the best of my knowledge. She was slow
to take to the idea but the fact that it makes me mellow and is
completely legal and not any type of thing that could be considered a
probation violation has warmed her up to it, she still thinks that kava
juice is the most repulsive smelling beverage ever and I actually had to
buy her a new blender as well as cups and bowls as she feels that the
ones I use for kava are contaminated.

Out of curiosity what were you extracting? Sounds like dmt hehe. If you don't want to type about it no worries just figured I'd ask.

 

[kl.new2kava]

  Out of curiosity what were you extracting? Sounds like dmt hehe. If you don't want to type about it no worries just figured I'd ask.

Yeah it was definately DMT being extracted from mimosa hostilis rootbark. The case already been through the system so theirs no legal repurcussions that could arise from me talking about it online. I pled out to; manufacture, attempted manufacture, and pocession. The attemped manufacture is the one that iratates me because I didn't attempt to do anything, LOL. But, still my girlfriend is very suspicious when I get a lb root material in the mail to extract. I totally understand though, but their vastly different substances in terms of effect and most importantly legality.

 

[Kojo Douglas]

I think Kava is benign enough to not really require justification. It is about as objectionable as caffeine.



Then again, I haven't read through this thread and really followed the discussion. But that's just my opinion.

 

[kl..]

Is your girlfriend any more open to it?



I've just told my family members that it helps with my OCD. I've tried so many other things that they just kind of nod and go along with it. If I'm happy, they're happy. My husband won't try it, but he likes me taking it because he can tell it helps me sleep and helps me slow down during the not so good times.



I scored 18 on the test and I have OCD, so I'm thinking I'm not on the spectrum. On the other hand, I teach a pre-school program for kids with ASD so I maybe kind of biased in my answers.

 

[Ed!]

Time will tell with my situation I think. There is skepticism but not open condemnation. My girl has tried it, twice, but kava is really really hard for her to stomach and even the smallest amount seems to put her to sleep.

 

[kl.Lanake]

Been awhile since I posted anything on here but I've been following along faithfully. My family and friends have no problem at all with kava now although few are willing to drink kava with me. My wife was very hesitant about it to begin with but with time and experience she now encourages me to have a shell so I shut up and don't prattle on endlessly.



I was at a work social function at the Cosmopolitan in San Francisco about a year ago. I brought some instant kava with me and asked the bar tender to make a virgin pina colada using the kava. I figured he would tell me he couldn't add anything not provided by the bar. Instead he asked me what is was. He got excited and told me of a trip he had to Vanuatu and asked if he could have some. I obliged of course. The only downer was they didn't have the pina colada mix so I ended up with a kava mojito.



I don't hide the fact that I love kava from anyone and proudly display my "Got Kava?" bumper sticker on my truck.