Thinking about the past, present and future.

(This is a temporary tattoo that one of my best friends gave me in 2009 

when we decided to stay up all night on speed and alcohol. 

I think I got the best one).

Name: My proper name is Louise, but not everyone calls me that.

When I was 16, my best friend started calling me Isabelle because I told him that I liked my middle names so much better than my real name. He still calls me Isabelle. Some people call me Stella, which is my other middle name.

My other best friend has called me Corey since I was 16 on account of a weird obsession with Corey Feldman and Corey Haim that we developed. I call him Corey too.

Where I live: In a big beautiful house with five other friends in a place called Eden. We are like a family. We love each other and together we have redecorated the house the way we want it. We are very lucky that we were allowed to do this, but then everything about this house is a blessing.

Age: Too old for a lot of the things that I do, but too young for a lot of the things that I think.

What I like:

Place: My house and my room in particular. It is very big, so big that I thought I wouldn't be able to fill it up, but it holds my entire life quite perfectly. I feel good and safe and at home here.

Weather: I like all weather except overcast. It's too middling. I like extremes. I hate it when the sky is nothing but glaring whiteness that hurts to look at. I feel like it is looking back at me hatefully and oppressively. I also don't like that is it very hard to predict what will happen next.

Sometimes the sun is so hot that it feels like I am slowly dying but I love it anyway. There is something so good about just sitting still in the sun, feeling like you are absorbing something rare.

Rain and dark weather during the day sometimes make me feel very depressed and like I can't go outside, which makes me anxious too, but sometimes it makes me feel comforted.

The weather does strange things to my mind.

Colours: Blue, black, red. I like most colours, really. I used to pick favourites but now I just know what I don't like: orange and yellow.

Sounds: My favourite music, rain on tin, bells, Isaac Hayes' voice.

Smells: Rain on hot asphalt, new books.

Taste: Garlic and chilli. Salty popcorn (no butter).

Other stuff: I like staring at maps and old photos of my city. I can do this for hours.

I like watching my cat sleep. 

I like finding new art and looking at old favourites in equal measure.

I like re-reading my favourite books; it feels like re-living favourite memories and times. My favourite books to re-read are Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.

What I don't like:

Animal cruelty. People who don't care about animal cruelty. Sunburn on my ears. Bananas.

The world as I see it:

An imperfection that we continually have the opportunity to improve. And we must try endlessly until we die.