I had some bad insomnia a few years ago which was mostly caused by anxiety, so ambien--being a hypnotic and not a sedative, unknown to me upon being prescribed it--didn't do much for me unless I was actively trying to sleep.
So my first time taking ambien was after a three day stretch of anywhere between 1-3 hours of sleep per night. I was running on empty: like I said, anxiety was the source of my insomnia. I was on the verge of delirium, I was barely eating, and it was generally bad time.
I was home from school for winter break, and I had my laptop and all the peripherals setup in our dining room, where I was getting a solid Planet Side 2 sesh in--real solid.
About 15 minutes or so after taking my ambien, something seemed a bit off. I couldn't describe it. In retrospect everything seemed a bit "glowy" or soft, for lack of a better word. Colors were warmer, and everything was super interesting. I didn't know what exactly I was feeling. I made it up to be only a mixture of the medicine and me slowly dying of exhaustion, and decided to head up to bed.
20 minutes have now passed and I'm laying in bed staring at the ceiling, and then I see my comforter start moving in a wave like motion, and the ceiling followed suit. Then my pillows started floating, and swimming around like manta rays, and suddenly it was like I was in a Bed Bath and Beyond aquarium, looking up from the inside of the tank. WHAT THE FUCK. From my perspective at the time though, it made perfect sense. It had my all excited and happy though, so I had no interest in sleeping. So I went back downstairs to play some Planet Side 2, because that's the best thing to do in such a situation. The last thing I remember is looking at the clock and it was a little past midnight, and my mom walked in and asked if I was alright, and I looked at her, grinning, saying, "I'm tripping balls."
Three other instances worth noting, also ambien driven:
1.) Saw a video of me spooning my buddy Derek. I was the big spoon, laughing and complaining about how I wanted to be little spoon.
2.) I was reading an article on my laptop and the words started to fall off the page, letter by letter, then started melting and dripping down the screen. 3.) My girlfriend and I were watching a movie before bed and I had a beer then took my ambien about 30 minutes later. The wood grain on my floor started to sway and a lamp I had in the corner looked like the sun to me, so I looked at my girlfriend and dramatically panned my arm across the room and said, "everything the light touches, is our Kingdom."
So many other good stories, man do I miss ambien :(