Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Once, when I was younger, I thought I could be someone else. 

I'd move to Casablanca, open a bar, and I'd meet Ingrid Bergman. 

Or more realistically - whether actually more realistic or not - I'd tune in on a better life, something more suited to my true self. 

Toward that end, I had to undergo training. 

I read The Greening of America, and I saw Easy Rider three times. 

But like a boat with a twisted rudder, I kept coming back to the same place. 

I wasn't anywhere. 

I was myself, waiting on the shore for me to return.

― Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World