North London Days

It's been over 3 months since I began this blog. When it began it was meant to be something which reflected my general outlook on life. It's become something a little more than that and this is partly due to the fact that my life has changed quite drastically. It's the realisation that there is nothing is safe and secure about it. There are times when I feel like the last few years have passed by in some quiet delusion. I was blind to the events happening around me. Now I'm wide awake and not sure what anything is anymore. All of it feels like it could be taken in an instant. I'm in what I've just realised is my third living space this year. I began out west and after going south I've ended up in the north of London. Maybe I'll finish up in the east - who knows?

I've been thinking about the other people I write about in the blog too. I try and keep the actual identity obscure enough for them to maybe know its them but not enough for a casual bystander to know who I'm talking about. It is strange telling this story, and I cannot do it without them. Most are reading this and living through my journey. I hope they realise that I'm not going to compromise them.

I have been reading this book about the development of the Hip-Hop culture called "Can't Stop Won't Stop - A History Of The Hip-Hop Generation". I've not read a lot yet but it's amazing. The author, Jeff Chang, approaches his subject by describing any generation as a fiction. He states that the reasons for this are to impose a narrative on them. Once we can tell it as a story it's easier for the rest of us to follow the course of action to its conclusion. He sees these uses as some kind of elaborate plot device. I know all good stories have to have beginnings, middles, and ends. I am not sure what or where this ends, and I will probably keep writing beyond the search for a new job. This is, as I've said countless times before, a way of my making sense of this world. Whatever you do, don't stop reading. I'm writing this so I hope some will see something of their own experience in this. I'm not universal, I'm just telling my story as it unfolds.