Over 29 essays, I have shared many cute details about my mundane existence. I’m scared of bugs. I like a good board-game bar. My eyes light up when I see a Target in a new neighborhood. Do you feel like we could be friends?
If not, I had better start reminding you that you know these things. Repeated exposure to low-resolution facts is important. Some of the mistake was mine: I wrote “spotted lanternfly,” not “bugs.” I’m getting better at this.
If I “brought my whole self” to this blog, it would be exhausting and pedantic. Certain interests and private preoccupations have to be bracketed so that association can become enjoyable in itself. The most comforting songs to repeat have simple choruses.
We’re building some lore here. I’ll say the first half and you can fill in the rest. “You guys know what my mother is like.” (TODO: write her as a recurring character.) “You guys already know where I’m going.” (TODO: establish a morning routine.)
A deep, traumatic story is not a shortcut to intimacy. This pain that transformed my value system tells you almost nothing about what spending an afternoon with me would be like. Here is something more useful: I always buy Diet Coke at the airport.
Eventually I want you to see me walk into Hudson News and know what I am about to do. Knowing somebody partly means being able to predict them. The creator gives thousands of people cheap opportunities to be right.