Just a bit that bothered me in your post.
Having a lack of proficiency for spelling is not a sign of stupidity or ignorance, and anyone who believes otherwise should talk to some of the college student's I've met in my life. Majoring in Anthropology moving into Bio-chemistry or Ethno-musicology, and on a research project using some machine I can vaguely remember the name of (Spectrometer or something similar).
She's a brilliant friend of mine, just the part of the mind that associates words with their spellings operates differently than others. She spells phonetically, I spell photographically (I see the word in my head exactly as I've read it before).
However, what bothers me is the blatant disregard for school as a whole. Yes, you should never believe everything you read or are told. However a proper education is the most powerful influence on one's ability to interpret, understand and navigate the world we live in without having to learn first hand by trial and error.
Don't mistake this for brainwashing, use it as an exercise to learn from other's mistakes and see different points of view.
How I wish I could still be in the academic world... it's amazing the things I could be doing if I could learn all day instead of work all day. I chose the wrong career
Oh as for the definition of "Tripping", the first time I ate mushrooms, I finally understood the meaning of it. Before then, I always took it as like "tripping" like tripping over yourself. No... it's taking a trip through the depths of your mind and beyond. Of course that's just my definition.