I’m frankly in a phase of life where I am seeing with ever fresh clarity all the mistakes I’ve made that have led me to the rather solitary life I lead. And many days I’m just keeping my interactions with others to a minimum so that I don’t create any opportunities to feel shit about my interpersonal skills. But, and so, nonetheless, I manage to find self-pride in very little things.

Like how this week I learned all these keyboard shortcuts to make my editing of a text document faster. Or today, some kid was lingering by the basketball court awkwardly — like heartbreakingly awkward in his own skin. I asked him if he wanted to shoot a few before I headed home and made him a deal that I wasn’t allowed to go home 'til he shot a 3-pointer. I let him have as many tries as he needed until he get one.