i should point out that i tried some edibles as i was out. i decided it's the best way to experiment, because i can move a little - something i find absolutely necessary on psilocybin. i can't sit still and veg, i need to go climb a mountain (i do not recommend scaling mountains on hallucinogens). that, and i didn't want to walk into the solstice as a neophyte. i ended up doubling up on the 2s 4 times (meaning i ate the whole little thing of chocolate), and what i can report is that the feeling is neither great nor awful. it often felt more like a state of confusion - a weak mushroom trip - than being actually high on anything, although it did come in after a while. you don't get high the first time you smoke up, right? but, remember: marijuana is classed as a hallucinogen, too. that comparison is not that odd. it's enough to warrant further experimentation, but i think i'm needing either at least 4 at once, or more or less to double up on the 2s every hour like i did. i'll have to play with it.
i have two 5s left to try. i suspect a 5 will be something close to a trip, so i'm going to give myself until the solstice to detox. and, i'll learn the hard way if that's too much at once. i suspect it's either too much or just right.
on the way back from my second trip (to the grocery store), something very bizarre happened - i looked up and noticed there were some angry men yelling at me to stop. da fuck?
well, when angry men are yelling at you, you should never stop to talk to them, regardless of the circumstance, and no matter who they are. ever. period. no exceptions.
civilized people don't yell at people to stop as they're walking down the street. there's just no context...
so, who were these idiots? it was clear that they thought i stole something, but nothing else was. were they some kind of vigilante group? some kind of gang? a religious police? transphobes? rapists? i had no idea - all i knew is that there were some angry men yelling at me to stop, and i was hardly going to listen to them.
so, i yelled at them to fuck off and told them i'd call the cops if they didn't. that had no effect at all, they just kept yelling at me.
eventually, it became clear that it was the manager from the store i was in and he wanted me to show him a receipt, but that knowledge didn't help the situation much. if i was in the store, querying me for a proof of purchase may be harassing and unnecessary, but i'd probably comply. chasing me down the street like this just opens up questions about his motives. was he going to beat me up when he caught me? steal my food and claim i didn't pay for it? i just kept walking...
and, he calls the police, believe it or not.
so, now i'm thinking to myself "this guy can't be such an idiot". not only does he follow me home from the store in a menacing and disturbing way, and yell threatening things at me as i'm walking, but he calls the cops in to document it, creating evidence that the incident occurred. "great", i'm thinking. "the human rights tribunal will love this".
and, what other conclusion can i come to? i know i paid for this food. so, what is he going to say? that he saw me steal something i paid for and that i have a receipt for? that's obviously absurd - he obviously didn't see me steal anything, because i didn't steal anything. rather, he must have judged me by my appearance, decided i look like somebody that would steal something and then chased me down the street yelling at me.
*ka-ching*.
"there has been a grocer's error in your favour. collect $5,000."
we're still walking down the street, and a cop pulls up. i showed him my receipt. we compared it to the items. i asked the manager for his name ('yusuf'. he works at the freshco at tecumseh & huron church.), informed him that a lawsuit was imminent and walked off.
i'm going to send them a fax, to start, explaining the scenario from a reasonable person's perspective. the manager's excuse was "i asked you nicely to show me your receipt", but that is an absolutely bizarre perspective, given that he thinks that justifies chasing me down the street, yelling at me. in his mind, my refusal to stop was proof of guilt, rather than reasonable self-preservation in the face of a scary strange man chasing me down the street and yelling at me. even if i did steal something, you don't chase people down the street like that in a society that is governed by the rule of law. what you do is check the video, call the cops and identify the suspect. that kind of vigilantism is barbaric and has no place in a civilized society. the fact that he didn't understand that - that he thought it was perfectly ok to chase me down the street - is absolutely mind-boggling.
i spend a lot of money at the store on a regular basis. i would suspect that, when i call yusuf's boss, his primary concern is going to be maintaining me as a customer, not standing up for his dipshit, racist, vigilante justice employee. as such, i suspect that a simple fax will be enough to get me my three demands:
1) i want an apology
2) i want some disciplinary action and retraining for 'yusuf'. he can't be chasing people down the street yelling at them, in this country. that's preposterous on it's face.
3) given that i was accused of theft, i think a generous voucher is a proper compensation. $5000, perhaps.
or, i'll get the police report and use it to file a human rights complaint. their choice.
in the end, i got everything except soy milk & strawberries. i thought that the metro was open 24/7, but the pandemic has modified the hours. so, i went out there to find it closed, then rode around a little longer to find another closed metro. ugh. i got a few things at a zehr's a few minutes before 22:00, found myself out of luck at a walmart open until 23:00 and now have a snowstorm to go find soy milk in.
i actually want to wait until it turns over into snow, first. i can bike reasonably well through mild snow. it's the cold rain that's death.
so, i'm going to type up a fax and get it to the freshco management. let's see if this is easy or hard...