Music in my ears

[charliesmum]

I really want an iPod, and can't afford one. Tragic, no?

I think I might tell my family to just chip in and buy me one for Christmas. Thing is, I don't often get to listen to music. Though I could fool myself into thinking I'd start exersising because I'll have the music to distract me. Or something.

Currently I'm listening to my MP3 player, which I do love, because over at house_music this lovely person made MP3s of songs from the show House, and I was able to get the ones I like on my player. My player, however, only holds a few songs, not the bazillion an iPod holds.

Question for ya'all.

Pot smoking. There was this post on buddhists and the guy was basically wondering if it would go against his practise to 'keep his friend company' by smoking pot, or something. Some people took me to task for pointing out that, whatever one's personal view, pot is illegal, and therefore you could be messing with your karma by going against the 'right thinking' thing. Many people pointed out that some laws are meant to be broken. Frankly I don't think a bunch of people smoking pot constitutes civil disobedience, but maybe my own experiences are colouring my opinion. What do you think?

I just think, by a certain age, one should outgrow things like drinking to excess* and smoking pot. And I do think one could have a couple of glasses of wine and be fine, but smoking pot immediately impairs you.

Anyhoodles, what are your opinions?

*not to say one still can't do that on occasion - one suffers for it more than one did when one was young

Comments

[hiddengrotto.livejournal.com]

Weed. I have had many experiences with the herb, indeed... but I think that I have to agree with you. At a certain age, it's just stupid. Weed is a young person's drug, not a middle-ager's... but what we're seeing these days is a bunch of former hippies that grew up with the stuff and think that they're still young enough to use and be cool... instead they end up just looking like pathetic wannabes.

(this is from my own experience of dealing with my father still smoking from time to time.)

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

My husband's company is building one of those active adult communities, you know, over 55 types, and one couple asked my husband if the people around there were 'cool', or if they'd call the cops should this couple smoke a doobie or two in their back yard.

Silly.

Oh - any chance I'll get a copy of your Much Ado performance?

[hihankara.livejournal.com]

Late comment...

As you might remember I'm in a paralegal course at UCLA and my latest professor is a DA with 36 yrs experience. I asked him a hypothetical today, since we were talking about search and seizure laws, and aiding and abeting criminals blahblahblah.

Anyway, I said look, I had a roommate in undergrad who smoked pot and thought it was just fine to invite all of her friends over for a pot smoking party. I kicked them all out because I was freaked out that someone would smell it and arrest me, since I lived there too, even if I wasnt partaking. He said not only would smelling it give them probable cause to knock on my door, but that they would definately have cause to arrest me as well, even if I wasnt participating (which he pointed out would be difficult to prove.)

So the moral of the story is, if you arent interested in accepting the possible criminal consequences of your guests' or housemates' illegal activities, done let people do it in your back yard. :P

[aurictech.livejournal.com]

I really want an iPod, and can't afford one. Tragic, no?

Well, unless you have your heart set on an iPod for some reason, you can usually find other hard-drive-based MP3 players for far less money. Forex, Wal-Mart has the 40 GB Creative Labs Zen MP3 player available online for $213.64. The iPod listed on Wal-Mart's site costs more ($269) and has half the hard drive capacity.

[femaelstrom27.livejournal.com]

The first thing that sprang to my mind was that -- as far as I know -- Buddhism teaches that you should be good to yourself. And pot smoking screws with your body in a big way, so in my opinion it would go against the practice. But I don't know more about Buddhism than what my friend Lily has told me.

[wolfma.livejournal.com]

I fully agree that you shouldn't drink to excess or do hard drugs after a certain age. I really would like to get drunk, as they say, off my ass, sometimes, but I know I have too many responsibilities.

And I think civil disobedience should be something a little more effectual than killing off mass numbers of brain cells. That's just my opinion.

it's jess. can't figure out how to login here

[jessii-6.livejournal.com]

first of all, there are many hard-disk based music players. iPod happens to be one of the more expensive ones. Get another company and it'll be cheaper. ...the best - but definitely not the chapest are iRiver. Also try looking on ebay and auction sites.
As for drinking and smoking pot... I wouldn't. I don't think it has any karma effect, however - I consider karma as something that directly has something to do with other people, so IMO since smoking pot doesn't really hurt anyone else it shouldn't be an issue.

Re: it's jess. can't figure out how to login here

[jessii-6.livejournal.com]

it forced me to login because yo udon't accept anonymous. thank god for remembering the filled-out forms when going back (I still can't login from this page. I went to the main one)

[sphinxvictorian.livejournal.com]

Well, I have to weigh in and say that I don't think that any kind of drug use is good. My mother died of alcoholism, and I've known too many people who basically lose a lot of their braincells from smoking pot. I don't know the Buddhist take on things, but my own personal moral code would tell me, if something is illegal, don't do it. But, at the same time, there are laws in some states that would prevent me from being with my darling Lija (my partner of 11+ years) and I would cheerfully flout those laws. And I'm sure the pot-smokers would say that they have just as much right to flout the pot-smoking laws because it's their bodies and their right to use them as they choose. So I don't know, it's a tough call for a liberal ex-California girl, now a Vermont girl.

[chavvah.livejournal.com]

Hey, you can get refurbished iPods for cheaper than new. Just a thought.

I bought my mum an iPod Shuffle for her birthday, which is in November. I am very excited about it.

[sphinxvictorian.livejournal.com]

And can I just say I love your mood icons! The A&E P&P is so wonderful! Can I just recommend the recent version of the story, Bride and Prejudice directed by Gurinder Chadha, the woman who directed Bend it Like Beckham. It's a wonderful modern take using Bollywood tropes and Indian culture in place of the Regency manners. It's really great.

Oh, and I also just saw Leave a Contribution in the Little Box! I love that movie!! And in particular, the old wise man and the snarky little bird on his head. "Ach! It's so stimulating being your head!" "Remember: the way forward is sometimes the way back." "Oy! Can you believe this crap!" Such wonderful writing, thank the gods for Terry Jones.

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

Isn't it cool how you can meet someone on LJ in one forum and discover you have many things in common?

Labyrinth is one of my favorite movies ever. My son just discovered it, too, and he loves it. He named his hamster Ludo.

I love the BBC/A&E version of P&P so much. And want to see the Bride and Prejudice because it looked really funny.

And in case you are at all interested - I wrote a slashy drabble about Charlotte Lucas's love for Elizabeth (http://www.livejournal.com/users/charliesmum/100500.html).

[sphinxvictorian.livejournal.com]

So glad to find out you write slash! I do a little myself, mostly M/M. I'm a one-story-per-fandom kind of girl, though. I've done one for PotC, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Cadfael, X-Men (the movies), and Nero Wolfe. I also wrote a fanfic for Highlander the series. I'm not terribly prolific but I enjoy dabbling my hand in every once in a while.

[carlanime.livejournal.com]

While I don't personally smoke pot (or anything else--I had asthma in my teens, and smoke disagrees with me; I can't even be in the same room with cigarette smoke), I see where they're coming from on the "civil disobedience" thing. The history of how marijuana (which I may be spelling wrong) became illegal is disturbing at best, and features a lot of big-company coersion (Dupont) and racist slurs. The current use of marijuana laws to rope in "minor criminals" for possession and frighten them into testifying appals me, both for its disrespectful treatment of those people and the damage it does to the ideals of our justice system. I'm not happy that Canadian police work often resorts to intimidation and "eyewitness" testimony from semi-stoned vulnerable street people; I would infinitely prefer Canada's courts to rely on physical evidence.

So I personally do support decriminalization, although I don't use pot and have actually had the experience of being the only completely sober person at a rally. Yes, I know: I'm no fun. Go me. :)

[chrysantza.livejournal.com]

I want an Ipod but can't afford one either. That makes two of us! I'm sure the prices will come down eventually.

As for the pot: I don't think breaking a man-made law, per se, incurs bad karma. Some laws are just silly, some are downright unjust and cruel. I don't think marijuana should be illegal, so your friend isn't incurring any karma by breaking this silly law. Drug laws, by and large, punish the poor and powerless, so I think they're bad karma in a way.

But I'd say that pot isn't that good for you, and it's rather dumb for a middle-aged guy to be smoking it unless there are medical reasons, so he might be damaging himself. If there's any karmic retribution to be had, it's there. Not in law-breaking, but in any harm he does to his body and mind.

[ailurophiledj.livejournal.com]

Well, I bought the iPod Nano...you know, the real tiny one? Only cuz I had the money. I have no kids (unless if you count 3 cats), I'm not married, I live in a cheap apt, probably only get abt 4 or 5 bills a month. :-) so why not spluge on myself.

However, if you find youself that you want to listen to more music for your buck, get the Creative. You can get some that are 10 gb/20gb etc. The less gb there is, the cheaper the device there is. iPod does the exact same things that any other mp3 player does...it's just the cool factor. I like the nano simply because its small enough to wear while working (I'm a vet tech, and having the dogs barking in my ears actually hurts...and I'm deaf), and the fact that it's a flash based player, so if I drop it or bang into something, it won't cause damage as a hard drive based player (and those are the 20/40gb models). Which is perfect for excersing. Technology is changing, so I bet in abt 2 or 3 years, you'll see 10/20 gb models flash based players. And the stuff you had "way back when" would be furtile.
Plus if you get a nice sized player, you can put ALL of your music on it...listen to it when you're driving, listen to it while cleaning the house, listen to it while you're waiting for a doctor's appt or whatever. Maybe the smaller size of your mp3 player is holding you back from listening to it often. When I was thinking abt getting a mp3 player, I thought I can't really use it often because I have cds, and I'm not music obsessed, and I used to couldn't bring it to work (I worked in surgery, then transferred to overnights). Now..I use it whenever I can. In my car, at home, working, etc.

Remember those old days where 8 tracks were considered so cool? Then records came out, and it became a god send?! :-) Of course....I wasn't alive back then to know. sorry. :-) My time, was probably when CDs came out...I was forced to wait 4 years or so AFTER cds came out to get my own cd player.


I have no clue abt buddhist reglion. But, I had smoke pot when I was younger. I didn't have a "stash" or anything like that. I smoked probably like 10 times TOTAL in my whole life...if someone offered me pot now, I would look at them and say, that's for hippies and younger folks. Gawd..I'm getting old.

[bookgrrrl.livejournal.com]

"right thinking" according to whom?

I think one should have the right to do whatever one wishes with ones body as long as they do not harm others.

I don't know much about Buddhism, and I'm one of those wacky anti-authoritarian types, so take this w/ that background.

Current drug laws have led to the US imprisioning 701 perople per 100,000, that's second only to Rwanda in number of citizens per capita imprisoned. I'd have to get into some more stats to talk about the race and class issues this raises as well. (source=wikipedia, prisons) (and yes, of course those aren't all on drug offenses, I could look for those numbers later if you'd like).

Aaaaaaanyhow- If there's a tenet of Buddhism that is about maintaining the sanctity and purity of ones body, then maybe I could see the point, but really- it's a plant, a natural thing- ya dig?

(all of this coming from a non-pot smoking individual who is cracked out on yet another natural substance- caffiene.)

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

Yah, that's true enough. The point I tried to make is that it is breaking the law - whether or not it is a useful law. Buddhism does say one shouldn't take intoxicants, and also there's this whole 'right thinking, right acting' thing.

I don't know that I'm against pot persae - makes a person stupid, that much I do know, but if that's his bag, then whatever. I did think it was funny becuase the person on the forum I think was just looking for a way to justify it.

Thing with Buddhism is, there is no one telling you what you 'shouldn't' do. It's up to you. It's your enlightenment. It's pretty cool really.

And yeah - I'm all about coffee. :)

no offense...

[fromthispeak.livejournal.com]

but I have to say that there are a number of laws on the books that I dont agree with per se.

An earlier discussion referenced Focaultian theory on boudaries and the need to trangree them to understand their use/purpose/value. Is pot a young persons drug? Maybe. I have admitted to being a stoner for a period in time, but gave it up to pursue a higher purpose. (No pun intended.) But the law... well that really didn't have a thing to do with it considering that I respectfully suggest that laws are not always made out of what is good and right. But I think someone already got more specific on that point...so I'll stop there.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

I've always said: "I'd rather deal with a pot head than a drunk."

Drunks are unpredictable. One second they're sweet as can be, the next, they're beligerant and dangerous. I've never seen a pot head get violent (not to say they don't, but I've never encountered it). They pretty much stay mellow, they'll hit on you, you distract them with something shiny and they forget, they get something to eat, and then they fall asleep.

Fankly, I come from a mindset (thanks Dad! his idea...) that some drugs should be legalized, sold to people over 18, and then tax the shit out of 'em like you do alcohol and gasoline. Pot should definitely be on the legal list, IMHO. Nicotine is way more addictive than THC and really is the gateway drug to the really dangerous crap.

Also, possession of small amount of marijuanna isn't illegal in all U.S. states (altough dealing invariably is) and in many other states, no one bothers to enforce the possession laws (unless, again, dealing comes into play).

That said, I agree with your other part. Once you get beyond college, pot and alcohol isn't such a big deal for most people. Most people, in fact, can take or leave pot and alcohol even if it's sitting right in front of them and people are imbibing. Heaven knows I've been the sober one in both situations in more than once instance. People who tend to get hooked on marijuanna would also get hooked on something else, just like some people get hooked on alcohol or nicotine or other mind-altering agents.

I guess what I'm saying is: there are more effective ways to conduct civil disobediance to draconian federal drug than smoking pot. Pushing for legalization on a state level is a way to push back. Smoking pot? Not so much. You'd end up falling asleep in the middle of the rally (j/k). I'd say the federal prohibition on pot in the U.S. in 1937 was the result of a bad mix of hysteria and big timber interests. Prior to that date it was mostly legal, although some states were starting prohibition laws of their own or imposing some form of control so it would be less accessible.

One bad side effect to the marijuanna ban is that industrial marijunna (the kind that would only get you high if you smoked a dobbie the the size of a telephone pole) has the potential for a broad range of applications (paper, cloth, etc.) if it's growth was more encourage and use of the plants was opened up a bit.

While I don't disagree with you, I just think there's more of a complicated history on the marijuanna prohibition that (setting aside the question of legality) makes the question a little more complicated and, for some people, offers a certain amount of wiggle room.

Wikipedia has a good entry here.

[sierram.livejournal.com]

As a teen I smoked alot of the "stuff" and for sure it killed off so many of my brain cells!If only I knew then what I know now...bad shit,all around as is excess boozing.I drink a glass of red wine a day,never more,never less,and it does help me to unwind just abit after a long day.Lowered my cholestoral,too!:)

[october31st.livejournal.com]

I don't believe pot should be criminalized the way it currently is. That said, I do believe smoking pot interferes with Buddhist practice in that it interferes with your direct experience with reality, just as any mind-altering drug would. That said, I believe there are plenty of things worse for one's practice than pot-smoking. That said, that doesn't make it not a bad thing either. That said, who the hell am I to judge?

That said, I use too many qualifiers :)

[purplemer3.livejournal.com]

That's funny you should say that about the iPod. I desperately want one too, for no apparent reason. I have a significantly cheaper MP3 player that works perfectly well, yet I have this jealousy of people who have iPods. Makes no sense. Must be the marketing.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

From what I know of pot, the effects can last long after you've come down from the high from a single occasion. Alcohol takes longer to kill you directly (killing you indirectly can happen from anything).

If I'm going to play with my own head, sleep deprivation is cheaper and easier to obtain.