Left Behind

I've been reading the archives of my old blogs lately and boy, has it ever been bittersweet. Funny how time passes, isn't it? A lot of these posts are only a few years old, but they feel like they're a million miles away.

Nobody ever told me how lonely it can get cataloguing books. There's always my coworkers, I suppose, but damn if I can find a way to relate to them beyond simple pleasantries. I can tell some of them are getting annoyed with my terminal aloofness. It's just a pattern I've seen repeated with every social circle I've been in orbit in. Sometimes I burst forth like a shining shimmering social butterfly, most of the time I'm stick in my rigid social coccoon.

Anyone remember the old South Park cartoon with the Underpants Gnomes? (Stay with me, here.) They steal underpants for some seemingly greater reason, and when pressed on the issue they offer up this now-infamous chart:

1. Underpants
2. ????
3. Profit!

This three-part business plan has been parodied to heck. Strangely enough, I find it somehow connects to my life. I just never knew what my "step 1" was. I thought as soon as I figured out my first step, the rest of my life would fall neatly into place.

Question marks are assholes.