Celebrating 4-20

It has come to my attention that the Australians, who I love deeply*, do not celebrate 4-20. It seems to be a uniquely American holiday, like, Thanksgiving.

Allow me to enlighten you with details about my rich Northern Californian culture. You see, 4-20 oh hell, is a holiday that celebrates marijuana use. Here in hippie-lovin' San Francisco it's a rather big event. If you add the fact that Earth Day is two days later you can see that it's a pretty pro Earth and earth's "products" weekend for many. Why do we celebrate it on 4-20... just go here and then come back.

Okay, so it's a fun holiday and I celebrated it by going over to meet some friends to pay traditional homage to the day and then going to get some Vietnamese food. At the restaurant what seemed like the two owners, a married couple, got into a yelling screaming shouting match in front of all the customers. It kind of killed the 4-20 peaceful energy a bit. The man came over to take our orders and he was utterly pissed. We were not sure the source of the conflict but we were worried it was us because we had arrived a bit late for our reservation time. We considered leaving but ultimately hunger won out and we stayed.

This exchange should give you an idea of his mood.

Me: "Hi, could you please tell me what vegetables come in the mixed vegetab--

Owner Guy: "Cabbage."

Me: "Okay, do any other--

Owner Guy: "Cabbage!"

Me: "That'll be fine."

Owner Guy: "CABBAGE!!"

Me: "Ok, great. I'll have that then."

He was (if it's possible) even less helpful and more rude to my friend Clara. He went back to the kitchen and the screaming continued between him and his squat wife. Nobody there could speak any English so we had no idea what was happening. I was rooting for the wife simply because she was yelling at the guy who yelled at me.

Finally the Owner Guy put on his jacket and stormed out of the restaurant. Then all of the sudden we get some other guy who comes out of nowhere who speaks perfect English. His English was probably better than mine. If he were here, I'd have him writing this blog post.

The food turned out to be very good and I wish I had more of it now.

Then I went back to my friend Clara's place to eat some junk food and watch Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Then I saw and episode of Extras and she immediately fell asleep. I headed home just as the bars were closing and watched the drunken goodbyes and cabs being hailed by the drinking contingent of San Francisco. What kins of 4-20 celebration is drinking beer. Drinking on a holy day such as 4-20 is just disrespectful. I may not be Jewish but if I enter a temple where Judaism is practiced I put on a Yarmulke (Yah-Ma-Kah) as custom requires. It's a courtesy. So the least these bar people can do is get stoned on one day out of the year. The beer will still be there on Saturday, you drunken tools. Sacrilegious, hops-heads! I caught the bus, made it home, walked the pups, (not a euphemism) and passed out.

* I've really only loved a few of them deeply, deeply.

Here are some images of other ways people chose to celebrate 4-20.

Happy 4-20 and Happy Earth Day. Go hug a worm!