"October 20, 2441"
The community tutors say it's a good idea to keep a diary. You get to practice writing, and it improves your ability to reflect on life. That's what they say. So I thought I'd give it a try.
Since I don't really know where to start, I'll just follow the guidelines. You know, begin with the odd bit of autobiographical stuff, and then just write about what my days are like and what's important to me.
Well - my name is Lauryn Simeoni. I'm 20 years old, and I have three hobbies: aerobics, cooking and astronautics. Yeah, I know, it sounds like I'm some kind of airhear bimbo, right? But I'm not. Okay, so I'll probably never be a great writer or anything like that, but my I.Q. is actually quite a bit above average. I'm good in Math and a slew of other technical fields, and I was first (oh yes I was!) in my Shuttle Piloting class. I'm quite proud of that.
Also, good cooking is no "airhead" discipline, I assure you! Preparing various kinds of food in the right way, so as to get just the right taste out of them, is tricky business indeed. But once you get into it, you can never go back! You will be a slave to your taste buds! Maybe one day I'll talk about my pineapple salad, or my squished walnut dressing, or my ice cream recipes, or...
And, it's really the same with aerobics. The thing about never going back once you're into it, I mean. Once that awareness of your body sinks in, you just cannot imagine ever letting your shape slip back to the old standards. Your body craves the exertion. At least mine does!
So those are my hobbies. I have lots of other interests, but they're mostly theoretical, meaning that they involve reading. I download books several times a week. Not a lot of prose literature; it's mostly history and science and autobiographies. A bit of psychology, too. I don't have time to read every day, but it's close. I try to go through a couple of books a week.
Brant, one of my boyfriends, is trying to get me into philosophy. It's the one really large subject that I've never really bothered with. I'm not sure why, but it just seems so dry to me. I'm satisfied with all the other subjects I study. It's not fair on Brant, though; he's one of the most intelligent guys I know, and he takes his relationship with me really seriously. So he thinks I should be interested in the same things as he is. Which I guess is true.
Then again, is it, really? We're different people. Just because he's found the meaning of life in his philosophy books, that doesn't mean that *my* meaning of life is necessarily the same as his, does it? Oh well, I don't want to get into that now.
The story of my life is pretty short, actually. I was born and raised right here in the Utopia Movement, and I've never been unhappy with that. I know how people live in the rest of the world, and it's quite clear that our way is better. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before the practises of the Utopia Movement spread to the entire planet.
Our system of autonomous, moneyless communities tied together by a "ghost government" which is only there in the shape of a set of shared ideals just works phenomenally well. People volunteer to do the necessary work, always in the company of friends, which keeps you in a good mood (all the really crappy work is automated, after all), and there's always plenty of time left to do whatever you want.
Speaking of which; I suddenly realize that I left out a quite important interest of mine just before: boyssss! Ah, those marvelous male creatures! Most good-looking guys could score with me if they wanted to. I'm simply in awe of every Adonis that comes my way, ohhh yesss! So many boys, so little time... Sigh!
This is not to say, mind you, that I only go for the good-looking ones. It's only fair to give the others a chance, too. I consider intelligence almost as great a plus as good looks. Almost. I admit that most of my boyfriends are very good-looking, while I haven't really devoted that much time to digging up the really intelligent ones.
I figure it's a stage I'm going through. Right now I'm young and full of energy, and I just can't stay off those pretty boys (and I gather the feeling is mutual!), but when I really think about it, the kind of boyfriend that ultimately satisfies me the most, intellectually and emotionally, is the kind that is so fascinated with me that he only feels alive when he's near me. *That's* the kind of guy I would really find it meaningful to comfort and care for. That's the kind of love I want to end up with, eventually. And whether he looks good or not is really not important.
But now, while I'm young and sort of explosive-like (y'know? Eeeeeeehh, gotta have it!!), I find good looks important in a guy. Mostly.
I should go on a bit about my own looks, really. Most of my boyfriends say those are my greatest asset. Guess they're just horny; boy will be boys, right? I don't mind, though. I'm getting just as much out of it as they are. In fact, I heard about this old foreign writer from the 20th century whose idea of beautiful prose was to write down his erotic experiences just after he'd actually had them. Make love to a woman, and then roll over and write down what it was like. I immediately thought, "Wow, what a great idea!" And you know, I think I'll do the very same thing!
I was talking about my looks, though. My boyfriends say I'm "exotic". I never really could figure out exactly what it means to be "exotic", but I guess it's something about the inter-racial mix I'm a product of. You see, my father is an Afro-American. His family line isn't very well documented, but we know that a couple of caucasian links got into it somewhere; our name, for instance: Simeoni, comes from an Italian great-grandfather. So he's got a nice blend of genes from several races.