Oh my god.

Shambhala was everything I could have ever asked for and more. All the hype, all the buildup, it was all true. None of it was exaggerated. It was hands down the far and away best time of my life. Saturday night was like something out of a movie.

I can't even write at the moment. I'll come back later.

Dear lord, I'm already planning next years trip to Sham.

UPDATE

Ok, a few hours later and I'm ready to sit down and focus some energy on writing about the most flawless victory weekend I've ever had. I kid you not, everything went perfectly. Even when things happened that I was scared would totally kill my buzz for the whole event, it didn't mess things up! I was fucking untouchable! It was like life finally nodded its head and said "You know, I think Nick has had enough. Lets give him something nice."

Shambhala was my metaphorically rainbow. It was life's way of saying "Wow, I'm sorry that I fucked you so hard and rough and without warning or lubricant. Here's something cool. I promise not to do it again. For a while."

We arrived apparently at JUST the right time, because it was only a 3 hour wait to get into the event grounds. Three hours sounds like a long time... but people the day previous had stories of waiting upwards of 12 hours in line. So I count myself lucky. I think I only met 1 person who waited in line less time than I did. Rock on. Next, we lucked out and managed to find a spot at the BEST camping spot in the whole forest; right beside the river. Every morning I woke my raver ass up by diving straight into the Salmo river, which was frigid as an old nun, and it woke me up real good. On blistering hot days, a freezing cold river is EXACTLY where you want to be. Kat and Dave ended up camping right near us since we'd scored such a good spot... which pissed me off at first. I'd specifically told Kat that I wanted space from her and Dave, and she said that she agreed because she wanted her privacy. I guess that isn't as important when there's prime real estate on the line? It didn't really matter though... all the time away from her hit me like a bucket of river water when I hung out with her again. I'm seeing all these flaws, all these parts of her that I wonder how I ever put up with. Camping near her probably helped put the nails in the coffin for my heartache, as it were. Perfect timing, I must say.

First actual day (Friday) of Shambhala: cute girl flirts me up while she comes down to swim in the river. I work my magic (actually won't take too much credit for this, as she was mostly coming onto me) and I score some Shambhalove before I most of the stages even open. This wasn't such a big deal for the actual sex of it all, because it really wasn't all that great. But it just felt really goddamn good to have a girl find me attractive enough to actively pursue me. It reminded me that I am a good looking guy, I can still please women. I spend the rest of the day wandering around the event grounds, watching the opening badass of each stage, and just generally standing in awe of the scope of Shambhala.

Second day (Saturday): I spend the majority of the day socializing with random people. You can just walk up to a campsite, sit down in a chair, and strike up conversation. Nobody even thinks twice. Everybody is so welcoming and friendly, its like you're on a different planet. And generous. Holy jeeze. So much free drugs being offered to me. In the spirit of Shambhala, I went nuts and had a good time... I did nothing dangerous or addictive, but touched on a few things that I otherwise will never touch outside of Shambhala. Saturday day was spent with a very healthy buzz going on.

Saturday night was the real event. Around 3 or 4, I bumped into Matt. We ended up at The Village, which is the Dubstep stage (which pushes 100 000 watts of power through it speakers; Matt said its the most powerful stage in North America) and rocked out. Datsik was playing, who is a DJ from Kelowna, and he knocked me straight on my ass. I've never been so proud to be from the Okanagan... both the best DJs I saw at Shambhala (both on saturday night) were both from here at home. Dancing with Matt was intense... that dude is a fucking animal on the dancefloor. Just after Datsik's set started, clouds roll in and it pours rain... which just added to the atmosphere. Dubstep has a very dirty, industrial, almost post-apocalyptic feel to it... and here we are, with probably 300+ other people at this stage, in the pouring rain, just as the sun is coming up.... and the bass is strong enough to blow my mind. The only thing I can compare it to is the rave scene from the second Matrix movie. With all the lighting effects that the stage had, the rain looked like a ton of glitter in the air. Words can't even express how amazing it was. It felt like I was in a movie. It was completely surreal. Even more so since I was there with Matt. Jackie and him got to hang out plenty before Rustic, but Sham was definitely party time for him and I. I have some amazing shots from that night, can't wait to get them onto my computer.

Sunday was a blur, to be honest. I just relaxed all day, waiting for the night.... it was the last night of Shambhala, and some pretty big names were plaing in the Village (like Bassnectar, who Kat fucking loves) and Matt and I got there early to secure a good spot to party at... we ended up getting a beautiful place on the balcony that had a clear view of the DJ booth. We danced straight until 3am. I was so sore by the end of it. I'm not sure which DJ it was that tossed it on, but they played a dubstep remix of the Cranberries song "Zombie" which just exploded my whole world. Its an amazing song by an amazing band, and the DJ blew it to a whole new level. Me and Matt went fucking wild when it came on. It was probably the greatest track I heard over the whole time I was there.

Monday was spent all packing and saying goodbye. I probably won't see Matt for a long time, probably not until next summer (if he even makes it to Sham next year) so we spent a bit more time hanging out before we got going.

As a side thing, I'm feeling guilty for taking some enjoyment out of the fact that Kat ruined a large part of Shambhala for herself. She left penticton too late and missed one night, had a terrible trip on mushrooms saturday night and spent the whole night crying and having a nervous breakdown in her tent, and got uncomfortably high on MDMA on sunday night and ended up getting sick and leaving Bassnectar after 20 minutes. It seems that without me there to keep a leash on her and remind her what is and isn't a good idea, remind her that binging has consequences and that more is usually not the best idea... she goes overboard. And you know, she deserves it. I've spent months in pain thanks to this girl. She abandoned me at my time of greatest need, stabbed me right through my back and into my heart when I was already weak and on my knees. She thought only of herself, and set my life into a chain of events that continued to keep me wrapped in depression until very very recently. I do not exaggerate when I say that Shambhala is the first thing in 5 months to have happened to me that didn't have something shitty attached to it. It was the breaking point of my bad luck, and apparently my karmatic scales are balanced with me on one side and her on the other... she's had a great time reaping the benefits of her timely ejection of me from her life. And now, her own flaws ruined something she's been looking forward to for longer than I've even known her.

I'm ready to get back out into the world. I'm ready to go back to school in the fall, throw myself back into life, and enjoy it. Depression is gone. Success and victory are just over the horizon.

I can't wait to go back next year. It was fucking amazing with the friends that I brought, especially Josh. But I want to bring more next year. So many friends were in my thoughts while I was there, and I'm so excited to show this to people who will love it as much as I will. Jackie and Ashley especially.

In signing off, I'll drop off a youtube link to a similar remix of the Zombie song I mentioned. Its not the one I heard, but its close enough to satisfy me for the time being while I search for the real deal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDyxSu2Yv7A

ANOTHER UPDATE:

Haven't found a recorded version of the Zombie mix that Subvert played, but I found a YouTube video of the actual event while I was there! This is the exact mix I was raving about!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTA45-hNP6I&feature=autofb