Sometimes I got my majors mixed up. A number of my fellow religious-studies students - muddled agnostics who didn't know which way was up, who were in the thrall of reason, that fool's gold for the bright - reminded me of the three-toed sloth; and the three-toed sloth, such a beautiful example of the miracle of life, reminded me of God.

I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality.

What works in a story is very different than what works in cinema. For example, dialogue in books: If you translate it too faithfully, it sounds a little stilted, because we often don't speak the way we speak in novels. Oral language is much punchier, shorter sentences.

You bring joy and pain in equal measure. Joy because you are with me, but pain because it wont be for long.

Zoo is an artificial territory, an approximation. Civilization is our natural territory.

Words are much better at relating emotions and thoughts.

Words are cold, muddy toads trying to understand sprites dancing in a field-but they're all we have.