Life, people learned, was not easy. Life was not cake. Life was not a carrot cake. It was something else. A get-together on Easter Island. You, the botched clone of you, the Miami Dolphins; Coco-Puffs, paper plates, a dwindling supply of clam juice. That was life.

The economy was up, though, and crime was down. The president brought out graphs on TV, pointed at them. He reminded the people that he was not an evil man, that he, of course, come on now—he just wanted everyone to be happy! In bed, he contemplated the abolition of both anger and unhappiness, the outlawing of them. Could he do that? Did he have the resources? Why hadn't he thought of this before? These days he felt that his thinking was off. Either that, or his thinking about his thinking was off. He began to take pills. Ginseng, Ginkoba. Tic-Tacs. It was an election year, and the future was very uncertain. Leaders all over the globe began to go on TV with graphs, pie charts, and precariously long series of rhetorical questions.

flickr.com/photos/amylin

Trying to adequately pretend to be normal.

i'm curiouser.
i don't really have a nation.
the road is the greatest home i've ever known.

i hitchhike everyday: naturally, like breathing, like dancing.
yes to dancing, always, yes.
tea is my cigarettes. meat isn't food.
i'd rather not use a fork.

i have too much energy for my own good:
i have trouble sleeping at night,
and supplement with frequent daydreaming.

i communicate incessantly.

i have a weakness for handwritten letters & handmade postcards.
i draw on cardboard, candy wrappers, sidewalks, and old windows.
i like wearing other people's clothing.
i wear out the soles of all of my shoes too quickly.

i'm intense and impatient.
i live at my own pace.
i walk fast and far.

music: http://www.last.fm/user/amalijaline

the faint, the pixies, the knife, mew, broken social scene, the arcade fire, animal collective, sufjan stevens, serge gainsbourg, devendra banhart, radiohead, the flaming lips, r.e.m., beck, bjork, do make say think, the yeah yeah yeahs, built to spill, modest mouse, blur, iron & wine, neutral milk hotel, fugazi, air, aphex twin, sugarplant, polmo polpo, hanne hukkelberg, amadou & miriam, coco rosie, mouse on mars, architecture in helsinki, beirut, velvet underground, yann tierson, jens lekman, larkin grimm, peaches, m.i.a., cat power, the books, tunng, juana molina, cansei de ser sexy, macaco, kings of convenience, dark dark dark

movies:
8 1/2, amelie, american history x, baraka, brazil, buffalo 66, le charme discret de la bourgeoisie, un crabe dans la tete, diarios de motocicleta, dogville, donnie darko, the edukators, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, fight club, four eyed monsters, frida, in the realms of the unreal, kandahar, niagara niagara, pi, the science of sleep, the squid and the whale, the weather underground, yellow submarine

food: fresh figs, dates, tea, yogurt, mercimek çorbasi, sütlaç, rice, tea, tea, tea, tea, raisins, plums, berries, honey, nuts

tea
sunshine
time
space
freedom
friendships

time.

*

art, communities, unconventional beauty, city streets, post, second-hand clothing, dumpster diving, mushy/liquid foods, medjool dates, iranian bam dates, fresh figs, dried figs, fake flowers, folded paper, flamenco, cats, contortionists, sauna, hammam, ginger, garlic, eastern and alternative medicine, ayurveda, herbs and spices, hair, sunglasses, sight and sound, thai massage, tea, yerba maté, rakı, vinho verde, bicycles, motorbikes, drawing, sculpture and installations, street art, building and making things, doing...

Most probably, you shouldn't.