Artemis can’t stand my static. I must be moving, and it must not be petting this bluetooth keyboard. I don’t think she feels anything for me as a being, particularly - I think my hands are all that truly matters to her. But should this be a problem? Certainly much less so than depending on the habit of beginning sentences with “but.”

Perhaps that is the way language needs to evolve, but I can’t “stand” for it - a sensation I think I might be beginning to understand, which I certainly did not in all previous youth. It is not necessarily a rational preference. (By that I think I mean: one that I would feel confident rationalizing to you on the spot if you demanded it.) It is somewhat upsetting to find myself in this state - I can imagine it founding much of the mental activity in Western society that grows what we refer to as “hate.”

In my defense: I think my religion (right now, at least) is dignity. Somehow, this rotting, archaic, elderly process of brain mutation has led me to find beginning sentences with “but” simply unfuckingdignified.