just so you know, a lot of these things can happen with prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medicine, particularly the psychotropic kind: SSRIs, antipsychotics, stimulants, hell, even cough syrup. so don't assume i'm talking about the illicit substances. and when i am, recognize that everyday i see all sorts of drug users/abusers/addicts roll into the ER, so it's not surprising that i have a clinical perspective on all this. finally, i must admit, my political stance is that a few illicit substances should probably be legalized. hell, if ethanol and nicotine are legal, well, there are certainly a few illicit substances more benign than these. anyone who has ever read a pharmacology textbook will realize this. but without further ado, some anecdotes:

1. do not expose people who have epilepsy or who are on drugs to this website: madamechao.com. i saw one of their productions on public access the other night, and it was freaky even to the unaltered mind. actually, it was quite reminiscent to "the ring," so much so that one of my friends decided to call the apartment with his cel phone and tell us that we had one week left to live.

2. some interesting combinations to try when you're really hungry: litchi gummy candy with rum (we used captain morgan, but i'm sure anything will suffice.) sweet corn puffs with dried mangoes. (you'd probably need to go to an asian market for these, except for, i suppose, the rum.)

3. the ending of stanislaw lem's book the chain of chance has a really good description of drug-induced delirium. it's actually very gripping, and reads very authentically.

well, at 1am on a sunday morning, my mind is not in the best condition, so i'll stop here for now.