coasting to sleep

it's hard to listen to terrence mckenna and not be impressed by the man's brilliance. so much more impressive is his writing, at once both academic and invigorating. his blurring of the line between medicinal and psychotropic plants and regular nutrition is subtle, but very clever, and the idea that all of these systems are so deeply interconnected with the animal world is at once obvious and surprising. it's less of a question of "what effect will consuming this have on me" than of "how does this effect play a role in the grand scheme of things".

---tabata this morning was as meh as i was feeling before i began: i'm still a bit too tired to be enthusiastically making an effort. not that i didn't make an effort, mind. the day was fairly unexciting, although there's a definite sense of making progress. in the evening i found my way to a really cool bar called la casa del popolo. the atmosphere was awesome and the local beer was great, and the place was packed with cool people, quite a few of them comic artists and publishers.

now if only i spoke french, it wouldn't have been so awkward. i finished my beer, bought a book (an opportunity to support the artist and maybe learn a bit), and walked to the nearest metro. dinner at my aunt's was really nice.

one weird thing, though. for me, at any rate. it turns out that for canadians, people who hit the slopes with knees pads or wrist protection are total nerds; it's just not done! everything i've read and experienced to the contrary. well, i guess i'll just be the nerd, then.


---first-world problems: i can't figure out if i'm supposed to toss all my recycling into the big bins as is, or if i'm supposed to waste plastic to bag it first :S