VERY BRIEF UPDATE

So I haven't been writing here lately, mostly because I've been exhausted out of my head. I'm conflicted in life in general, and being tired is starting to make me depressed.

I want to move back home, and work to get George W. Bush out of office. Campaign for decent healthcare. That sort of thing. Work for social change.

I want to see more of Europe.

I want to ship a Mini to Boston, and then drive it to Oakland.

I want to stay away from men.

I want to fall in love.

No, scratch that. I definitely don't want to fall in love. I just want other people to fall in love with me, and possibly give me presents, or at least compose odes to, I don't know, my hair or something.

I want to never have to work again.

I want to lie down, go to sleep, and never wake up.

I want to spend my mornings working in a garden. Maybe reading newspapers.

I don't want to fight any more. I don't want to want things I can't have.

Anyway.

I went for sushi last Friday and had the following conversation:

Me: ...and two Tako Nigiri.

Sushi Chef: Octopus?

Me: Yes. Tako Nigiri?

SC: Octopus?

Me: Yes, octopus.

SC: You want octopus?

Me: Yees...?

SC: Japanese people like octopus very much. White people no like octopus.

Me: I like octopus very much.

SC: Where have you had octopus?

Me: I'm from California....

SC: AAaaahh!

Yes, it's true. Anyone thinks you're weird, all you have to do is say that you're from California, and they just accept it. Eat puppies for breakfast? Oh. California. Why didn't you say so?

I had this kind of ominous feeling the other day, of..."and so it starts." It was when my flatmate started talking to me about these new "Oyster cards." They're basically transit passes, but you buy them in advance, and you give them all of your personal information, and they track your movements.

They sell these by saying that they are far, far, cheaper than paying for a weekly transit pass, which in turn is cheaper than a daily pass. But they track your movements. And I realised that possibly for the first time in my life, I am making the active decision to go with the more expensive alternative simply because I don't want to give up my personal information and have someone track my movements.

It just felt really ominous. Like the beginning of something. And what was even weirder was listening to my flatmate say, "yes, they track you, oooOOOoooo." This bothered him, and yet he bought it anyway, to save a few quid. It just amazes me how cheaply we will sell our freedom.