the great thing about booze is that, if you seriously overdo it, you can stick your fingers down your throat and the worst of the distress is over. But with anything else, you have to ride it out.

Sometimes, less is more.

keep to the Fen Causeway

1. Be 16 again
   
2. Do what I wanted to do then: be an actor, a playwright, spend my life in the theatre

As for you, young Nomad, look after 17, but be more ambitious. Write something that makes grown men cry for joy.

And 20's wrong. You don't become a father at some point. It takes much longer.

(Old fart shuffles off.)

Boris Vian	English translation by Dror (with help from Shawna)
" Je voudrais pas crever "	"I wouldn't want to die"
Je voudrais pas crever Avant d'avoir connu Les chiens noirs du Mexique Qui dorment sans rêver Les singes à cul nu Dévoreurs de tropiques Les araignées d'argent Au nid truffé de bulles Je voudrais pas crever Sans savoir si la lune Sous son faux air de thune A un coté pointu Si le soleil est froid Si les quatre saisons Ne sont vraiment que quatre Sans avoir essayé De porter une robe Sur les grands boulevards Sans avoir regardé Dans un regard d'égout Sans avoir mis mon zobe Dans des coinstots bizarres Je voudrais pas finir Sans connaître la lèpre Ou les sept maladies Qu'on attrape là-bas Le bon ni le mauvais Ne me feraient de peine Si si si je savais Que j'en aurai l'étrenne Et il y a z aussi Tout ce que je connais Tout ce que j'apprécie Que je sais qui me plaît Le fond vert de la mer Où valsent les brins d'algues Sur le sable ondulé L'herbe grillée de juin La terre qui craquelle L'odeur des conifères Et les baisers de celle Que ceci que cela La belle que voilà Mon Ourson, l'Ursula Je voudrais pas crever Avant d'avoir usé Sa bouche avec ma bouche Son corps avec mes mains Le reste avec mes yeux J'en dis pas plus faut bien Rester révérencieux Je voudrais pas mourir Sans qu'on ait inventé Les roses éternelles La journée de deux heures La mer à la montagne La montagne à la mer La fin de la douleur Les journaux en couleur Tous les enfants contents Et tant de trucs encore Qui dorment dans les crânes Des géniaux ingénieurs Des jardiniers joviaux Des soucieux socialistes Des urbains urbanistes Et des pensifs penseurs Tant de choses à voir A voir et à z-entendre Tant de temps à attendre A chercher dans le noir Et moi je vois la fin Qui grouille et qui s'amène Avec sa gueule moche Et qui m'ouvre ses bras De grenouille bancroche Je voudrais pas crever Non monsieur non madame Avant d'avoir tâté Le gout qui me tourmente Le gout qu'est le plus fort Je voudrais pas crever Avant d'avoir gouté La saveur de la mort...	I wouldn't want to die Before having known The black mexican dogs Who sleep without dreaming The butt-naked monkeys Gobbling up tropics The silver spiders in Webs riddled with bubbles I wouldn't want to die Not knowing if the moon Behind its fake nickel look Has a sharper side If the sun is cold If the four seasons Are really only four Not having tried To wear a dress On the boulevards Not having peeped Through a sewer peephole Not having put my dick Inside weirdo corners I wouldn't want to end Without experiencing leprosy Or the seven diseases One catches over there Neither the good nor the bad Would cause me some sorrow If if if I knew that I would get it firsthand And there iz also Everything I know Everything I like That I know that I like The green bottom of the sea Where the seaweeds waltz On the rippled sand The burnt grass in June The crackling earth The smell of conifers And the kisses of the one She's this and she's that The belle here she comes My bearcub, Ursula I wouldn't want to die Before having used up Her mouth with my mouth Her body with my hands The rest with my eyes I say no more one should Remain polite I wouldn't want to fade Without someone inventing Eternal roses The two hour day The sea at the mountain The mountain at the sea The end of pain Newspapers in color All children happy And so many other tricks That sleep inside the brains Of genius engineers Of jovial garderners Of concerned socialists Of urban urbanists And of thoughtful thinkers So many things to see To see and to hear So much time to wait Searching in the dark And me I see the end It swarms and it comes closer With its ugly face And it opens its arms to me Like a cripplety frog I wouldn't want to die No sir no madam Before having tested The taste which torments me The taste which is the strongest I wouldn't want to die Before having tasted The flavour of death...

 

1. See the Pyramids, the site of the Pharos of alexandria, and the site of the hanging gardens of Babylon.
   
2. watch the sunrise over the Hymalayas
   
3. Learn at least one new language
   
4. Write that book that sits in note form
   
5. Visit Italy for more than three steps
   
6. travel the length of the Rhine by Boat
   
7. Spend a winter in a cabin in the hills with no human contact.
   
8. Actually attend an ET meetup ;)
   
9. return to sunset in the Sahara