Fellow pot smokers, I need your help!

Ladies and gentleman, I come to you with a problem. It's not a serious problem, but something that has always bothered me a little bit about smoking weed, and I'm fairly certain it has bothered others as well. So I'd like to see if any of you out there have a solution to share with me (and by extension, the rest of the world). My problem is that sometimes I get high, and I really enjoy it, but then I don't want to be high anymore. Sometimes I want to come back down to earth. For instance, say I'm at a friend's place in the middle of the day and we smoke a joint. Eventually I'll have to go home, and if I'm going by public transit, I don't want to be high along the way. It's uncomfortable and unpleasant. So, as stupid as this may sound, I need to know if there's anything I can do to get rid of my high and the unpleasant side- and after-effects. Any suggestions at all would be helpful. Now, since I'm not just asking for me, but for the benefit of everyone, please pass on to all of your pothead friends and get them to come and contribute their input. Also, just tell me anything else that's helpful or interesting about smoking weed that perhaps the rest of us don't know. If we're lucky, we'll get a whole weed encyclopedia off the ground.

What the fuck is wrong with people?

I wandered into a public toiled to take a shit. And it was a pretty good one. You know those shits you really enjoy? The ones where you manage to get really comfortable on the toilet, everything comes out real nice and easy, and when it's all done, you feel really refreshed? Well, I had one of those, and when I came out of the stall, I saw a guy washing his hands after presumably taking a piss (I can presume this because there was only one toilet in this bathroom and I was using it). This guy was washing his hands vigorously, as if he had just spilled a batch of pure liquid herpes on them. I kept an eye on him as I washed my own hands. I finished, and proceeded to dry my hands off with some paper towel, all the while continuing to monitor this stranger's behaviour. I deliberately took a really long time drying off, just because this guy had been washing his hands for so long, and I was curious to see how much longer he could go. Finally, he finishes up, grabs about eight paper towels (I had only needed two), making sure, of course, that his hands did not come in contact with the dispenser. After thoroughly drying his hands and forearms, he threw the used paper towel in the trash. But he wasn't done yet. He then grabbed one more piece while opening the door to leave, used it to prevent his hand from touching the door handle. As the door was swinging closed, he tossed this last piece of paper into the trash and he was out of my life forever.

What amazes me the most as I reflect upon this episode is that this kind of behaviour has become normal. Our society is so utterly and thoroughly fucked up that we are actually expected to behave this way. We are encouraged to fear germs, and dirt, and bugs, and to do anything we can to avoid infection. In fact, germophobia has become a massive industry. I once saw a commercial where someone was being followed around and they were pointing out every time he touched something where he might potentially be getting infected. I think it was an ad for some kind of anti-bacterial soap. Does anyone else see how insane this is? And there's a lot of this kinda shit being sold to us: hand sanitizer, antibacterial air and fabric refresher, antibacterial household cleansers, I've even heard of anti-bacterial toothbrushes!

Now, the first point that needs to be made about this stuff is that It's actually bad for you. For one, there are bacteria all over your body that are essential. Your whole body, including your skin, is an ecosystem. When you use hand sanitizer or any of that other shit, it throws the system out of whack and allows harmful bacteria to take over. Don't believe me? Do some research; google 'antibacterial products' and see what comes up. Secondly, even if this shit was good for you, is this really the way we want to live? Do we want to live in a society where we are afraid of door handles and railings, and embracing each other with hugs, kisses, and handshakes for god's sake? Is it really that important that we add five or ten years to our uninteresting lives? I think we've got to stop being such colossal pussies about our health and about hygiene and sanitation. If someone sneezes and a few snot droplets escape into the atmosphere, you probably won't get sick. And if you do, use it as an excuse to lay in bed for a few days, although if you're so uptight, you probably don't even know how to enjoy that. And if someone a block away is smoking a cigarette and you smell it, you probably won't get lung cancer the next day, so just fucking relax. And ladies please, don't put hand-sanitizer on your babies. I've heard about this, and it's disgusting. In fact, it should be considered child abuse.

Expectations of a new blog

I am not sure what to expect of this blog, but if I can get a few people to read this thing, It'll end up being a really fun project and something a lot of people can enjoy. One of the great things about the internet is that it opens up all these new lines of communication and can be a great tool for expanding ones mind. Unfortunately, it seems to have contributed to the dumbing down of the general population. Perhaps this is because with the internet, it is way too easy to be entertained; the mind no longer has to work for its excitement and stimulation, for it is all now available at the push of a button.

It was the same with TV. Just think about the difference between watching television and reading books, or even listening to the radio. If you're listening to a radio program, the kind that used to be incredibly popular before television became ubiquitous, you'd have to actually imagine what the characters and settings looked like, forcing you to project yourself onto the story and really engage with it. The result was that while everyone heard the same program, they all saw it in their own unique way, with the mind only too happy to fill in the blanks. Some say the internet is different from television in that it offers you whatever you want; you can listen to the radio, read books, newspapers and magazines, look at photographs, and do a whole shitload of other things, all on the internet. And they're right. But its really no coincidence that youtube is one of the most popular websites there is.

So I'd be thrilled if I could get a few people to read what I have to say and maybe even enjoy it. It is however discouraging that I cannot think of a single blog that is wildly popular, though I could just be missing something. And if there is a blog that is ridiculously famous, its probably about something really fucking stupid, like celebrity gossip. So even if I were a brilliant writer with really powerful insight, it'd be hard to have very high hopes for this thing. If I did want to make it big, I'd make some incredibly stupid but still catchy movie, hope a lot of people watch it on youtube, and try and parlay it into a moronic reality TV show. Now that's how you get ahead.

A place for my thoughts

Hello, and welcome to my first foray into the world of blogging. There is no great story behind the genesis of this blog. In fact, I'm fairly certain it is starting for the same basic purpose of almost every other blog; to act as a storage and display space for the varyingly stupid, scary, pointless, interesting, fascinating, critical, comical, cynical, political, spiritual, philosophical, maniacal, anecdotal, insightful, beautiful, fantastical, fucked up, lovely, perverted, optimistic, pessimistic, narcissistic, nihilistic, noble, offensive and utterly or mildly disturbing contents of his or her mind. In short, I've got too many thoughts, and I need a place to put them. I figured the Internet was a good place to start.

Just in case I ever accumulate any kind of audience, I should make a few things clear. First, I have no idea how often I will post to this thing. I could post twice in one day, and then not for another month. It could ultimately end up depending on how much weed I've been smoking. Second, I'm not going to try to tell anyone what they want to hear. If you agree with me, that's cool, and if you don't, even better. There's little I enjoy more than inconsequential debate and discussion (I've never had either that were of consequence, so I can't say what that's like), which is why I also encourage you to post your comments. If I say something dumb, something you find offensive, something you disagree with, something that you know to be downright wrong or anything else that invokes some sort of response (which should happen often, assuming anybody actually reads this thing) post it; we will all be richer for it. I should also add that anything I post will basically be unedited, unrefined, and will have some degree of spontaneity; hell, I'll probably end up regretting some of the shit that I say. It will also most likely be rare that I say something original. These are just a few things to bear in mind. Furthermore, the content of each blog will for the most part be random, whatever that means. And finally, YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ IT. If my musings rub you the wrong way or simply aren't your cup of tea, find something else to read.