(no subject)

I finished And the Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman this past week. I've been reading small bits and pieces since picking it up in the office. It's in a category i don't quite know how to define: art book? graphic personal narrative? It's certainly beyond simply illustrated. I've enjoyed the naive art, personal narrative, and optimism. I was interested during my reading to see how aware i was at wondering about the author’s background (Is she Black? Jewish? Yes, Jewish.)

...

So, i just ate a slice of custard apple aka cherimoya fruit. Fortunately, i googled the fruit while eating it and found, before i cracked the seed between my teeth, that "human ingestion of 0.15 g of the dark-yellow resin isolated from the seeds produces dilated pupils, intense photophobia, vomiting, nausea, dryness of the mouth, burning in the throat, flatulence, and other symptoms resembling the effects of atropine. A dose of 0.5 g, injected into a medium-sized dog, caused profuse vomiting." That was from a reliable site. I'd finished eating the slice before i ran across the random assertion that "Even better, eating the skin can result in paralysis for a period of 4 to 5 hours."

My colleague pointed out that i was essentially paralyzed as i surfed looking for information, so there's that.

I have an odd feeling in my head, but i think it's psychosomatic anxiety, not a neurotoxin.