River's Questionnaire

I live in whatever town or city or forest or creek will take me. I walk the face of Mother Earth, and call the streets, beaches, and meadows home. 

I could never be tied down to just one area. There is so much beautiful world to see, and so many excellent people to meet. Getting a house is like gluing a book open to one particular page. My story would rather flow and grow.

Im the dandelion seed, carried by Gaia’s breath.

I do have a high security self storage unit in LA, and that’s about the closest thing I pay to rent. That’s where I keep the power armor.

Funny story. I mostly bum it from people.

Maybe it’s more accurate to say I’m a traveling storyteller or guru. Breathwork lessons and a listening ear can be a lot more healing than the drugs and mind tricks a doctor will try to pull on you. 
Long story short, I touch people in a positive way, and they pay their appreciation forward. It only takes a few people a month to make me enough money to live. 

Since I don’t really pay rent and I don’t have very expensive tastes, I usually end up with a few thousand dollars of spending money, just in case.

my expenses are mostly food, weed, and sometimes materials or lodging. 

Within us, two beasts breathe with one mouth: Intellect and Impulse. 

Impulse is who we are at our cores. Sometimes it's ugly, but impulse is the beast of the heart. Lust, rage, and fear, yes, but also love. Most people despise Impulse, call it a monster, but that's our deepest, truest self. But you can't let it rule you. 

Intellect is its sister. The beast of logic, of community, of fitting in. Intellect is dressing up. Intellect is choosing a salad over an ice cream sundae. Intellect is what keeps us alive and allows us to thrive. It's delayed gratification. It's planning and execution. 

If you feed either of these beasts too much, it takes over and kills the other, and the entire system fails. 

I've noticed that my beasts are stronger than most. I can't give in to my impulses or trust my intellect as readily as other people. 

But also, my disability is my strength. I am attuned to the conflict of the inner beast and most people are hardly aware of it. They've got their intellect or impulse so overfed, they find it impossible to cross that line and achieve balance. 

That's what I strive to do. Bring balance. Show balance. Share balance.

I mean, it's gotta be the first time I lost my cool. 

I was 12 years old. Turning 12. It was my birthday. 

Birthdays are supposed to be chill, fun events, but for me, and for many people, they can be really stressful. All eyes are on you. Everyone wants you to act the way they expect, and you gotta be "on" the whole time. Or, that's how I felt then. I don't feel that way anymore. 

But back then, I had to be perfect. I had to know exactly how to act. I had fed my Intellect so long, my Impulse had mutated into a fucking monster. That was the day it came out to say hello. 

It happened right before I opened my presents, and everyone was watching. I just, well, lost my cool. I wish I could say I didn't remember, but I do. I grabbed my birthday cake with a tentacle and ate the whole thing in one bite while everyone screamed and ran. 

I did horrible things that day. Not everyone ran successfully. 

But when I woke up in the woods, I was happy for the first time in my life.