There’s some sort of electric thrill to enjoying a moment of world recognition, however indirect and minimal it might be. So imagine my shock and joy as I lay on the floor of the gym, headphones on, trying desperately to distract myself from the agony of ab crunches with a podcast of NPR’s Selected Shorts, when I hear:
“I just just moved into a house I had rented in Wallingford…” [What, OUR Wallingford? Or Wallingford, Connecticut, maybe?] “…a sleepy, liberal, family-oriented neighborhood in Seattle. I imagined it, in some ways, to be my dream house” [it IS us!]
Such a trivial thing, but I still wanted to tug at someone next to me and say “hey, hey, we’re famous!”
If your thrills come as cheap as mine, check out Nancy Jooyoun Kim’s “Love (or Live Cargo)” on the January 3rd, 2019 episode, Morality Tales. It’s a pleasant chuckle, and will resonate familiar with many, I’m sure.
I can’t help but response to your line “as I lay on the floor of the gym, headphones on, trying desperately to distract myself from the agony of ab crunches with a podcast.” Exercise only works if it helps you get more in touch with your body. So much people do today as “fitness” only further distances the person from bodily experience at a time when such distancing is a major problem (witness the obesity epidemic). Sorry, but as a psychiatrist I found myself needing to respond. cj
Awww, man. I’m doing it wrong?
Silver lining, at least you’re doing something!
I grew up in Spokane, and had a similar jolt when it got mentioned in Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love!