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Today is 419, April 19th. Tomorrow is 420.

Point. Last year, when I was a co-op over at Peartree, I accidentally let it slip that 420 was a number of dubious significance. At a staff meeting, I horrified and bemused my coworkers when I explained that 4:20 (p.m. OR a.m.) is illegal marijuana smoking time. As much as these account executives and IT managers liked wearing their professional veneers, they were suitably intrigued by a subculture tradition that I had taken for granted and they had never heard of. I grinned deviously as I told them that their suburbanite kids were probably at home, fucked out of their minds, while they cleaned up their workstations and filled out TPS reports at the end of each workday. Everyone left that evening looking a little bit anxious. Innocence lost, I suppose. But somebody had to tell them, and I did it gleefully. It was always fun to mess with their heads.

Point. Me and Selene used to intently watch the digital clock in P2115 every Wednesday afternoon as discussion droned around us. When 4:20 was spelled out in red, we would smirk and nudge each other while all the other kids in our seminar would eye us curiously. For one minute we were giddy and ridiculous, smokeless tributaries to the magic number. Pimlott noticed one day and we told him too. Spread the word, open up. Recognize. Canada is a fine nation of drug-users, a burgeoning Amsterdam.

Point. While 4:20 is notable, 420 is something else altogether. It's an entire day, not just a minute that creeps by in lazy late afternoons and then again in the dead of night. It's a guaranteed write-off. It's 4:20 for 24 hours. It's Hitler's birthday, but we try to forget that part.

Point. Nobody really knows where 420 came from. People talk about the police code for a drug bust (FALSE) or rearranging Bob Marley's name in some weird numerical formula (WHAT THE FUCK?). There are claims that marijuana contains exactly 420 chemicals, or that the Beatles' "Come Together" (4:20 in length) sparked some ideas. Tool thinks that 420 came from an H.P. Lovecraft story about "curious mirage-plants". Everybody has a theory but nobody knows. 420 is a modern mythology without a past and maybe that's appropriate: an ambiguous holiday for an invisible lifestyle.

Point. Nearly every clock in the movie Pulp Fiction is set to 4:20. Guess what time the broken clock in our basement thinks it is?

Point. 420 isn't for everyone. Drinking isn't for everyone. Meat-market clubbing isn't for everyone. Team curling isn't for everyone. Shetland ponies aren't for everyone. We have incredibly diverse interests, us human-type people. 420 isn't for everyone. And that's okay.

Point. Tomorrow is 420.

Posted by Chris at 12:52 PM >> Commentations (4)