Yesterday I booked a plane for saturday.
Two weeks back and forth to Stockholm.
I thought it was a great idea.
I'd escape the swineplague,
get to reunite with my friends,
hear our new Enter the Hunt single on the radio
and ride my bike in the swedish archipelago.
I could chill out and see how things progressed
and in worst case stay home
and forfeit my ticket back here.

Then I spoke to my homies on Skype.
They gathered behind the webcam
and were all extremely amuzed by the fact
that I'm coming back home
due to the Swine Flu scare.

I had already decided
that I wasn't gonna listen to anybody
but my own heart and gut feeling.
This usually works very well for me.
But there was something my friends in Stockholm said
that changed the whole scenario completely.



At home I'm used to observing USA from afar.
From there I can easily keep my distance,
see through the charade
and games of the puppet masters.
But here I'm IN the nightmare.

- Man, don't forget, they said,
You're in the USA. That's how they do it over there.
They scare the living hell out of people.
Every winter when the first flakes of snow fall on the ground
TV and radio yells at you to go indoors,
park the car, seal the windows
and prepare for what not.
You're in the fear factory, bro.
The very home of the soap opera!"



Today everything felt different.
It was like waking up after having been exposed
to a spell of paranoia, a projection of fear.
A fever ray, if you will.
And it had just cost me five hundred dollars
for a plane ticket I now know I wont use.

Of course I would much rather die
in the woods than in the city.
The thing is just that I'm not gonna die now.
It's simply not my time.
I listen inwards and just know
that I'm not going anywhere.
To me
what this is all about
is that I've just had my first close encounter
with one of most american phenomenon of all:
Paranoia.

Now I'm initiated.
Welcome to A m e r i c a .










(Drawing of deformed face photographed
from the graphic novel "Black Hole"
by Charles Burns)