Living awesome

Remember to vote YES on Prop 19 next Tuesday!

2010-10-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

Proposition 19, also known as the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, is a California ballot proposition which will be on the November 2, 2010 California statewide ballot. It legalizes various marijuana-related activities, allows local governments to regulate these activities, permits local governments to impose and collect marijuana-related fees and taxes, and authorizes various criminal and civil penalties.^[1] In March 2010 it qualified to be on the November statewide ballot.^[2] It requires a simple majority in order to pass, and would take effect the day after the election.^[3] Yes on 19 is the official advocacy group for the initiative.

Proponents^[4] of Proposition 19 argue that it would help with California's budget shortfall and redirect law enforcement resources to more dangerous crime, while opponents^[5] claim that its gaps and flaws will have serious unintended consequences on public safety, workplaces, and federal funding. As of October 2010, even if the proposition is passed, the sale of marijuana will remain illegal under federal law via the Controlled Substances Act.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Drug Enforcement Agency's argumnet against Legalization

2010-10-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

Oh come on! Save me from the fucking stupidity.

God Damn you America

2010-10-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile in Europe:

The tossed cannabis that became a canine curiosity

2010-10-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

The patient arrived at the Friendship Heights hospital slack-jawed and glassy-eyed.

"He was very twitchy," reports Nicola Moore, the physician who admitted him. "His pupils were dilated. When he walked, he looked . . . " Well, he looked stoned.
The caretaker who accompanied him to the hospital was concerned. Her charge had been completely listless for hours, ever since lunchtime when, as was his custom, he'd gone out to urinate on the lawn.
The patient was Senator, a six-pound, 5-month-old toy poodle. Tox screens confirmed what Moore, a veterinarian at the Friendship Hospital for Animals, had suspected. Senator was on drugs. Marijuana. High as a kite.
What happened: Cynthia Painter, a Chevy Chase housewife who recently relocated from Atlanta, had taken Senator for a walk around her well-appointed building with his best friend, a neighborhood Shih Tzu. Senator picked up what looked like a cigarette butt, which Painter immediately wrested away. "I'm not afraid to stick my hands in there," she confides. "I've had kids."
But the tobacky, it seems, was wacky.
"It's actually pretty frequent," says Ashley Hughes, another veterinarian at the hospital. "Pot, I would say maybe every three months. And medications -- we get a lot of dogs in here for Adderall toxicity." On rare occasions, they'll get a dog on cocaine, or one on crack, or one that drank a whole sea of vodka. (The owner kept it in water bottles around the house.)
That's how it usually happens. The dogs are using because the owners are using. Moore and Hughes could remember few other cases in which a pet had ingested street drugs (which makes sense, if you think about it. You're not going to leave a high-value item like a joint outside on the ground).
"The owners bring them in because they're unsteady, or they look like they're having a seizure," Hughes says. "But really, they're just really high."
Any urban pet owner will tell you that they never fully appreciated the diverse microcosm of the sidewalk until they walked a dog there. "Garbage, pizza rinds, rat poison," says Sarah Bownman, a veterinarian at CityPaws clinic in Northwest Washington, rattling off the more common villains. "People come from [nearby] Meridian Park because their dogs got into human waste."

"Meat products," says Gary Weitzman, CEO of the Washington Animal Rescue League. "One of my dogs is a witching rod for chicken bones."

As for Senator, after a few days of appearing "not quite himself," he is back to normal. In fact, Painter says, "he is spoiled rotten."

My favorite part: "But the tobacky, it seems, was wacky."

How do you deal with bad trips?

2010-10-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

Twice, in my history of usage, have I almost encountered a bad trip. Each time I could feel it creeping up on me, but I felt like my subconscious just blocked it out.

The first time was on Friday the 13th. Some friends and I had taken shrooms about 30 minutes before and we were crossing a busy intersection. An elderly dude fell over in the middle of the crosswalk and started screaming for help. It's a Friday night, and people are everywhere, but nobody had the decency to help this man except me and my tripping friends.

There was a point where I thought to myself 'This is going to get bad.' and I could feel the bad thoughts creeping up on me. There were people everywhere and I just KNEW that they could see I was coming up on shrooms. Also, seeing this distressing, tragic situation unfold was quite unsettling.

So, we get this guy off the road and he's complaining about his arm, and hinting at a possible heart attack about to happen. I somehow collect my wits and call 911 (this went against almost every drug user instinct, but I wasn't gonna let this dude die). As I was talking with the dispatcher, one of my friends straight up faints in the middle of this crowd (he let the bad trip get to him, it was a rough rest of the night for him). This is the point where I just started to freak the fuck out, but then I thought to myself 'No, take control of this situation. You're on shrooms, realize that now, but hold yourself together only a little longer. At the very least the trip will be over in a few hours.' Afterwards, I still look on this day as the point where I 'learned' to 'control' my mind.

Next time was with DMT. It was my first time, and after the exhale I immediately see all the crazy visual fractals everywhere and because it hit so hard I thought I was gonna lose my shit completely. Somehow I picked up my lighter, it became my sword, and protected me throughout the trip. I just remember picking up the lighter and thinking 'It's gonna be alright, it's a short drug, make it last!' All was well after that.

Basically, it's all in your head. Bad trips and good trips are all relative. Some people I know don't see the difference, and they will ride it out regardless because they see it as part of that inner, psychedelic exploration.

My friend passed away from an E overdose early this morning

2010-10-13T05:39:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder, make sure you get your tabs from a reliable source and be safe. When you put any unknown substance into your cake hole, you risk death. U.S.P drugs and organic based botanicals are the only things that are relatively safe for human consumption. Take heed and mark these words from one who knows exactly of what she speaks of.

:[

Promoting HIV Prevention and risk reduction

2010-10-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

For the last two months I have been actively participating in an HIVy 101 course at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. The goals is to educate youth about HIV and how to reduce the likely hood of contracting the virus.

On my way home from todays course I decided to fly a sign and educate anyone that cared to listen while also passing out condoms, lube, and pamphlets. I spent the majority of my day at the Beverly / Vermont metro/bus stop.

Here are some basic facts and statistics:

V is the human immunodeficiencyvirus. It is the virus that can lead toacquired immune deficiencysyndrome, or AIDS. CDC estimates that about 56,000 people in the United States contracted HIV in 2006.
There are two types of HIV, HIV-1 and HIV-2. In the United States, unless otherwise noted, the term “HIV” primarily refers to HIV-1.
Both types of HIV damage a person’s body by destroying specific blood cells, called CD4+ T cells, which are crucial to helping the body fight diseases.

HIV is spread primarily by:

Not using a condom when having sex with a person who has HIV. All unprotected sex with someone who has HIV contains some risk. However:
- Unprotected anal sex is riskier than unprotected vaginal sex.
- Among men who have sex with other men, unprotected receptive anal sex is riskier than unprotected insertive anal sex.
Having multiple sex partners or the presence of other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can increase the risk of infection during sex. Unprotected oral sex can also be a risk for HIV transmission, but it is a much lower risk than anal or vaginal sex.
Sharing needles, syringes, rinse water, or other equipment used to prepare illicit drugs for injection.
Being born to an infected mother—HIV can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy, birth, or breast-feeding.

Less common modes of transmission include:
Being “stuck” with an HIV-contaminated needle or other sharp object. This risk pertains mainly to healthcare workers.

Receiving blood transfusions, blood products, or organ/tissue transplants that are contaminated with HIV. This risk is extremely remote due to the rigorous testing of the U.S. blood supply and donated organs/tissue.

HIV may also be transmitted through unsafe or unsanitary injections or other medical or dental practices. However, the risk is also remote with current safety standards in the U.S.

Eating food that has been pre-chewed by an HIV-infected person. The contamination occurs when infected blood from a caregiver’s mouth mixes with food while chewing. This appears to be a rare occurrence and has only been documented among infants whose caregiver gave them pre-chewed food.

Being bitten by a person with HIV. Each of the very small number of cases has included severe trauma with extensive tissue damage and the presence of blood. There is no risk of transmission if the skin is not broken.

Contact between broken skin, wounds, or mucous membranes and HIV-infected blood or blood-contaminated body fluids. These reports have also been extremely rare.

There is an extremely remote chance that HIV could be transmitted during “French” or deep, open-mouth kissing with an HIV-infected person if the HIV-infected person’s mouth or gums are bleeding.

Tattooing or body piercing present a potential risk of HIV transmission, but no cases of HIV transmission from these activities have been documented. Only sterile equipment should be used for tattooing or body piercing.

There have been a few documented cases in Europe and North Africa where infants have been infected by unsafe injections and then transmitted HIV to their mothers through breastfeeding. There have been no documented cases of this mode of transmission in the U.S.

HIV cannot reproduce outside the human body. It is not spread by:

Air or water.
Insects, including mosquitoes. Studies conducted by CDC researchers and others have shown no evidence of HIV transmission from insects.
Saliva, tears, or sweat. There is no documented case of HIV being transmitted by spitting.
Casual contact like shaking hands or sharing dishes.
Closed-mouth or “social” kissing.

Most people will develop detectable antibodies that can be detected by the most commonly used tests in the United States within 2 to 8 weeks (the average is 25 days) of their infection. Ninety-seven percent (97%) of persons will develop detectable antibodies in the first 3 months.

How can HIV be prevented?

Because the most common ways HIV is transmitted is through anal or vaginal sex or sharing drug injection equipment with a person infected with HIV, it is important to take steps to reduce the risks associated with these. They include:

Know your HIV status. Everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 should be tested for HIV at least once. If you are at increased risk for HIV, you should be tested for HIV at least once a year.

If you have HIV, you can get medical care, treatment, and supportive services to help you stay healthy and reduce your ability to transmit the virus to others.
If you are pregnant and find that you have HIV, treatments are available to reduce the chance that your baby will have HIV.

Correct and consistent condom use. Latex condoms are highly effective at preventing transmission of HIV and some other sexually transmitted diseases. “Natural” or lambskin condoms do not provide sufficient protection against HIV infection.

Get tested and treated for STDs and insist that your partners do too.
Locate an STD testing site.

Male circumcision has also been shown to reduce the risk of HIV transmission from women to men during vaginal sex.

f you inject drugs, you should use clean needles and works when injecting.
Locate resources on substance abuse treatment.

Obtain medical treatment immediately if you think you were exposed to HIV. Sometimes, HIV medications can prevent infection if they are started quickly. This is called post-exposure prophylaxis.

Participate in risk reduction programs. Programs exist to help people make healthy decisions, such as negotiating condom use or discussing HIV status. Your health department can refer you to programs in your area.

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/default.htm

Legalization to Regulation

2010-10-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

The words we are using in concerns to legalizing marijuana aren't working. Conservatives are latching onto this one word and using it as a means to make people think it will be as easy to buy as a can of soda. People are hearing it and assuming it will give their children more access.

When in reality, we're not trying to legalize marijuana on a full scale. We're trying to regulate it for the adult market, just as we do alcohol and tobacco. I strongly believe if we start using the word "regulate" instead of "legalize", a lot of these unbased claims will start to disappear as it becomes more clear to the average Joe whats going on.

Thoughts?

What is your favorite girl scout cookie? Win free cookies!

2010-10-12T08:01:00.000-07:00

My favorite were always the Thin Mints in a freezer although I have heard the that Samoas are far superior to Thin Mints. The three C's (caramel, coconut, and chocolate) can't be beat!

Hey it is that time of the month . . . Welp for Canadians that is!

2010-10-11T18:42:00.000-07:00

Hey what are they doing to that worm? Wait . . . OH GOD NO!!!

Diary+of+an+N.John - lol waffles

Apparently Thanksgiving comes early for those lucky canucks.

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day (Canadian French: Jour de l'Action de grâce), occurring on the second Monday in October (since 1959), is an annual Canadian holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season. Although the original act of Parliament references God and the holiday is celebrated in churches, the holiday is now mostly celebrated in a secular manner.

On January 31, 1957, the Canadian Parliament proclaimed:

“

A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed … to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.

”

So if you did not know this and would like to no more about those crazy friendly Canadians this is the perfect opportunity to check out my favorite ~~Calgarians~~ Vancourvrians(?) blog (The daily musings of one currently laid off, unemployed mechanics apprentice and his tireless search for workings) at:

http://diarynjohn.blogspot.com/

Unwanted Compliments

2010-10-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

I have recently rejoined the dating world after a self imposed hiatus. One of the things I find bothersome is when a prospective date will comment of my looks before getting to know me. It makes it seem, to me anywas, he is shallow and/or just wants sex. I am talking about comments along the lines of telling me i have nice curves or a nice butt. I can handle them saying i look nice tonight or nonspecific things. I am not comfotable with comments on my looks that most men make and have told them so but they don't listen or apologize and say something along the lines of but you are sexy...

Am I being a total prude or do other women feel similar? How do you deal with it?

Ani-Emo

2010-10-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

Okay my roommate has been watching a lot of anime lately, and I have had the honor to watch Soul Eater.

I find myself identifying more and more with Crona.

Crona is a very naive and submissive person who is constantly pestered by his weapon (my thoughts). Crona is incredibly nervous and jumpy, and the slightest thing can make him/her frightened. Crona is also incredibly emotional and sensitive.

Crona is so negative about everything that after writing a poem, it was so depressing it managed to make Black Star, Maka, Marie, Soul, and Sid hide in a corner after reading it. Crona tries to adapt to interacting with more people (which may take some time because of Medusa's abusive treatment). However, Crona shows signs of slowly opening up to the people around him/her, and becomes touched at how the others care about him/her, up until the point he/she thinks he/she does not deserve so much attention

Crona is mostly more relaxed around Maka (anyone that I know well). Unless Maka comes and fetches him/her, Crona normally stays in a corner of any room, and will cower in it if frightened, calling the corner of his/her room 'Mr. Corner'. Crona mostly interacts with others only when Maka is present, since Maka can easily tune in to Crona's Soul Wavelength to be understanding and calming when needed. Crona also expresses unusual determination when it comes to helping or protecting Maka. Due to Crona's lack of interaction with others (other than eating their souls), Crona has nearly no experience in interacting with other people, hence Crona's catchphrase, "I don't know how to deal with [???]..." Crona cannot adapt to new situations and can panic easily, and finds it difficult to make decisions.

Shopping for bananas :3

2010-10-10T21:24:00.000-07:00

Here is me fooling around in West Hollywood. My roommate snapped the pic. What are the craziest stunts you have done in public?

What do you think people will find hysterical/shocking when they review our soceity in 100 years from now?

2010-10-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

I hope will be how fat we were, how prevalent police brutality was, and how drugs were once illegal.

Am I the only one?

2010-10-10T12:14:00.000-07:00

I constantly feel like this lonely creature among a pack of the uncaring. Constantly ridiculed, questioned, and neglected by the world will it ever get better?

I jumped around colleges a lot before I settled and graduated. All said and done, I ended up with a little over 100,000 in student loan debts, the majority of which is private. Two months before I graduated Sallie Mae (who hold the majority of my debt) stopped all consolidation of private loans due to the economy. Combine that with 2 months of missed credit card payments (2 months and my credit score droped 180 points) and I couldn't find anyone to consolidate my loans even when I was employed full time. I'm living at home, unemployed, scraping by doing freelance web design and development but its just not enough. I've managed to pay half of them so far but the other have are approaching default. I have collectors calling me 14 hours a day 7 days a week. My family is poor and has always been poor so there is no financial support from them outside of a roof over my head. Every day that goes by I can just feel myself slipping deeper and deeper into depression, an issue I've had since I was a child.
I'm not looking for pity. I signed the papers and I brought this upon myself. I was a stupid kid, but thats not an excuse. I need to take responsibility and fix this myself but I just don't know what to do. It's become harder and harder to motivate myself because I truly feel like I have no hope any longer. I send out applications both for industry jobs and shit jobs and there is just nothing. I just can't deal with this any longer. Honestly the only reason I haven't put a bullet in my head is because some of my loans (the ones I have been paying) have family cosigners and I cannot allow my horrible decisions to affect them. I hate my life and I hate myself for what i've done to it.
Any advice is welcome, be it financial, personal or otherwise.

I am super horny ALL the time!

2010-10-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

I have a problem, the problem is I need sex. Ever since I was young I have had an over active sex drive. Weed hits me hard and even though I am normally hypersensitive to touch, it causes me to feel like
I am rolling.

How do you deal with this?

Here is my coping device when no one is available to help me!

What are personality types anyways? Part 1

2010-10-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

Well first let's delve into the basics:

We can assess our personalities though the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

Personality typing is a tool with many uses. It's especially notable for it's helpfulness in the areas of growth and self-development. Learning and applying the theories of personality type can be a powerful and rewarding experience, if it is used as a tool for discovery, rather than as a method for putting people into boxes, or as an excuse for behavior.

The sixteen personality types which we use in our assessment are based on the well-known research of Carl Jung, Katharine C. Briggs, and Isabel Briggs Myers. Carl Jung first developed the theory that individuals each had a psychological type. He believed that there were two basic kinds of "functions" which humans used in their lives: how we take in information (how we "perceive" things), and how we make decisions. He believed that within these two categories, there were two opposite ways of functioning. We can perceive information via 1) our senses, or 2) our intuition. We can make decisions based on 1) objective logic, or 2) subjective feelings. Jung believed that we all use these four functions in our lives, but that each individual uses the different functions with a varying amount of success and frequency. He believed that we could identify an order of preference for these functions within individuals. The function which someone uses most frequently is their "dominant" function. The dominant function is supported by an auxiliary (2nd) function, tertiary (3rd) function, and inferior (4th) function. He asserted that individuals either "extraverted" or "introverted" their dominant function. He felt that the dominant function was so important, that it overshadowed all of the other functions in terms of defining personality type. Therefore, Jung defined eight personality types:
Extraverted Sensing (modern types: ESFP, ESTP)
Introverted Sensing (modern types: ISTJ, ISFJ)
Extraverted Intuition (modern types: ENFP, ENTP)
Introverted Intuition (modern types: INFJ, INTJ)
Extraverted Thinking (modern types: ESTJ, ENTJ)
Introverted Thinking (modern types: ISTP, INTP)
Extraverted Feeling (modern types: ESFJ, ENFJ)
Introverted Feeling (modern types: INFP, ISFP)

C. G. Jung died in 1961, without ever having presented a systematic summary of his psychology. For the past thirty years his ideas have been explained, explored and amplified by thousands of others, with varying results.

Uses for this information include:

Inter-personal Relationships How can we improve our awareness of another individual's Personality Type, and therefore increase our understanding of their reactions to situations, and know how to best communicate with them on a level which they will understand?

Education How can we develop different teaching methods to effectively educate different types of people?

Counselling How we can help individuals understand themselves better, and become better able to deal with their strengths and weaknesses?

Why start blogging?

2010-10-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

I am starting this blog to set myself on the path of self-enlightenment and self-improvement. My life has been filled with a great number of obstacles and although I have not always made the best decisions, I am determined to improve myself. Recently I am taken steps to understand how I think and learn, why I make the same mistakes, and how I can change.

The Jung-Briggs Personality Tests have been a helpful tool to analyze myself, the conclusion is my personality type is INTP

Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving

Profile: INTP

INTPs are pensive, analytical folks. They may venture so deeply into thought as to seem detached, and often actually are oblivious to the world around them.

This is just a quick overview- more will come soon!

Pretentious Diary Entry #8 "woop woop I am high"

2010-09-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

So I have been obsessing over what is wrong with myself for the last few weeks.

I see that I should stop trying to look for something that is wrong when there is nothing there.

Alex, a friend that was staying with us recently due to being homeless, was hired for a full-time office job in philly. :3

Pretentious Diary Entry #7 "Oh joy"

2010-09-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

I have not had a single interview yet, no source of income, missed class due to illness, have court costs, and a hospital bill.

:[

I must not be trying hard enough.

I cannot focus.

I hate me.

Pretentious Diary Entry #6 "Good Gift"

2010-09-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

Negative habitual thoughts are invading my head again. They are difficult to ignore, because they are far more intense.

Anxiety issues.

Janessa's gift ideas:

Earrings, hand made
~~Crayon lego blocks~~
stress ball toys
ruffle + scarf
bag/bp
LOL irony buttons
beanie
clth esq.

Pretentious Diary Entry #5 "unMOTIVATED"

2010-09-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

As you can guess I have been extremely unmotivated as of late. My Music Appreciation class was very interesting and seems promising. Dr. Henderson, my professor, seems to be able to connect with us while avoiding the cliche, boring, monotone professor stereotype that many of my previous teachers were oh so able to fulfill.

My anti-depressant does not seem to be working very effectively and I am still self-medding with cannabis. Anxiety, stress, and procrastination/apathy plague me.

I am still attempting to join English and Math courses, but most classes are already pretty full.

Pretentious Diary Entry #4 "Ugh"

2010-08-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

I filled out paperwork for food stamps, and had the hottest, most miserable day.

Pretentious Diary Entry #3 "No Money, No Weed, No Luck"

2010-08-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Dany and I left for the tattoo parlor so he could buy a new nose ring. He plans on doing a salt water extraction since it has been inflamed lately. I bought PJ pants, returned my library books, and forgot to go to the TREP thing.

Also no more monies or weed. ;[

Pretentious Diary Entry #2 "The Talk with Doc"

2010-08-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

Dr. Suyat and I discussed my stability, and in the end I was advised to find a psychologist. Participating in todays support group was nice and obviously beneficial. If I continue attending the group, I should be able to learn about the ***** program I will participate in. I went by my bank and was extremely uncomfortable.

Anxiety is manageable as long as I continue to medicate with mj.

The Department of Social Services still has not returned my call or scheduled a return appointment for me, so that means more waiting for food stamps.

I researched car + rental packages for my mothers' visit over Turkey Day.