plpgsql - TIMESTAMP variables in EXTRACT

Hi all,

I have the following in a plpgsql proc on 7.3.4:

<code>
DECLARE
...
curTime TIMESTAMP;
ppsCnt INT;

BEGIN
...

-- this works
SELECT INTO curTime localtimestamp;

-- get unix seconds from current time (doesn't work)
SELECT INTO ppsCnt EXTRACT (EPOCH FROM TIMESTAMP curTime );
-- parser complains here ^

-- get unix seconds from random string (works)
SELECT INTO ppsCnt EXTRACT (EPOCH FROM TIMESTAMP
\'1990-05-04 01:02:03\' );

-- do stuff with ppsCnt and curTime
...

</code>

Here are the error messages:
WARNING: Error occurred while executing PL/pgSQL function XXX
WARNING: line XXX at select into variables
ERROR: parser: parse error at or near "$1" at character XX

All I would like to do is get the current time and convert
it to an integer value. Am I attempting to do the impossible or
is this another simpler way to shove unix seconds of the current
time in a variable? Please also inform me as to why my current
syntax is invalid.

Thanks,
Matthew