When I was studying at the library in college, I'd sometimes take a break by going to one of the public computers and checking out what people had searched for on Google. I'd email my favorites to friends--everything from "ham recipe" to "who was derrida". Try it on your own computer--type a letter into Google and wait a second. A whole list of past search terms will come up.

I did the experiment on my own computer to see what I'd been searching for and pasted some of the results here--no editing. To be honest, I'm stunned at what an accurate representation it is of my life and activities. In a review of the new A.J. Liebling anthology in Harper's this month, Lee Siegel draws the distinction between a profile and a portrait.

A profile is an outline, a concise rendering of the most salient facts, though the facts may be inessential and even inaccurate in their generality. A literary profile is the verbal equivalent of a drawing, painting, or photograph: just one side of a person, that side he or she wants to make public. A portrait, on the other hand, is a revelation, an exposure. A portrait aspires to full disclosure; it captures a person in chiaroscuro, both the revealed as well as the secret places.

My Google search terms certainly haven't reached portrait status yet. They can't infer motivation or relationships, or give terms the weight they deserve (I can tell you that "dc hospital" reflected a much more pressing need than did "difficult open jar"). But as the internet becomes a major way that we navigate our lives, these search terms are coming closer to forming a meaningful narrative I ever imagined they would when I was sitting in Sawyer Library. So read below--check out what it's like to Google, Emily-style. Anything ring any bells for anyone? Tim, remember when you asked about what "half six" meant?

• aiight

• alan parsons project
• all points bulletin
• amgen salary ceo
• aqua teen hunger force avatar
• around the sun
• astro bunnies

• believe bracelet

• berthe morisot
• black cat dc
• book cover editions
• bread lines
• british "half six"
• building museum dc
• bulk sms

• dc concert

• dc day trips
• dc hospital
• democracy radio
• difficult open jar
• download quicksilver
• drupal post through email

• raise your voice

• read paper online americans
• rem
• rembrandt poster
• remove gum shirt
• riding lobster poster
• road data

A quick aside: This will only give you the list of items you've searched for on your own computer. A week or so ago, Google took it a step further by suggesting words based on other common searches. Check out Google Suggest to see what I mean.