Gates also writes about experimenting with drugs. He did LSD a few times, even feeling its effects during a dental procedure the next morning after dropping acid on senior skip day. He also got drunk for the first time and passed out in the Lakeside teachers’ lounge. He smoked pot, saying it was to look cool. He gave up LSD after doing it four or five times, realizing it wasn’t beneficial.
He shares that he asked a girl on a date and told her he’d dialed the phone with his toes, which didn’t work out as he hoped.
The memoir didn’t come out as initially planned. When he started gathering material over five years ago for an autobiography, the first draft wasn’t satisfactory. Some parts were too detailed while others lacked detail. Then he decided to split his story into a series of separate books, which made the project make sense to him.
