Work and Play

Most jobs that I have held have really just been a balance of work and play. In the end it is always more like play disguised as work. (Except for a two-day temp data entry job I held in high school. That was really boring). Working in the scene shop is always play, until someone falls through a trap door. . . or three people do. . . or your boss loses his mind. The bookstore was kind of like play because I got to hang out with my mum and read children's picture books. The archive is play because I get to watch cartoons if I want and hang out with fun people. If you don't understand why the archive is play then you haven't been reading my blog very closely. This is Steve playing (the ukulele). The archive is a fun joint. Teaching 16 year olds about the SAT is play because I get to make bad jokes and still sometimes get laughs. . . or total silence, which is fun too. Perhaps it is just my attitude that makes my work play; it is hard to say.
Well it is funny that my last post was about writing letters because I received a letter from the lovely Kim Owen (one of my cousins) last night! This amply stamped letter explained her job to me, which certainly does seem like play. Kim got a job as a bartender in Wellington (supposedly close to her flat and school). I think she just sort of fell into the job. . . makes me wonder why it is so hard to get a job as a bartender in the states. Not only does Kim dispense alcohol, but she also dispenses drugs. Oh the legal kind! Don't worry! Like "Red Hearts" a.k.a. ecstasy/speed. Yep, it is a legal drug in New Zealand, that ecstasy. I usually like to think of myself as pretty liberal as far as my views on drug usage go (not my own drug usage), but this strikes me as not the best idea ever. I suppose on the one had it could be considered better than the way drugs are handled in the US because at least in NZ the people will actually get exactly what they are paying for (the drug should be pure). Then again, because it is legal I feel that more people are going to be trying it, doing it with more frequency and in some cases getting addicted to it.
Ecstasy is an upper in simple terms. It fools around with your seretonin levels and acts as both a stimulant and psychedelic, producing an energizing effect, as well as distortions in time and perception and enhanced enjoyment from tactile experiences. (Anyone from SHP will remember the ecstasy presentation we were given in high school). On rare occasions the use of ecstasy can lead to death due to a sharp increase in your body temperature causing your vital organs to give up. I would think that if regulated, death would be even more rare. Yet even if the party pills sold on the street in NZ (Kim sells these pills out of a window onto the street) are not as strong perhaps as the ecstasy found "on the street" (in a much more sinister way) in the states, I figure it still must have the same sort of effects, like neurotoxicity. In addition, most party pill users in NZ usually take party pills in lieu of illegal drugs or in conjunction with them. Most people enjoy taking party pills for the energy they give you as well as the sense of euphoria and apparently most people who take party pills also think that they are a lower health risk than either alcohol or weed. I would find that difficult to accept as fact.
So I looked up party pills. Check out this product website. I can see why they are appealing with that packaging and those descriptions. It all sounds so innocent and candy-like!
Kim also says that she sells "energy pills" and "sex pills." First of all I would like to point out how uncreative these drug names are because there is also a "recovery pill" that people take after having used "party pills" to soften the edge of a hangover (oh yes, I did my research). Second of all, "sex pills"? Kim went into all sorts of details on the party pills and then only upon brief recollection mentioned the sex pills. Clearly the sex pills ought to have been given more attention in the letter. They sound like legalized date rape drugs. I can't imagine that this is what they really are though. I think they "enhance" sexual pleasure. Oh New Zealand, you amaze and amuse me. I can't ever see party, energy, recovery, or sex pills being sold so commonplace in this Puritan America.