In My Life

Fall of 2004. That was the time where I used to stay evenings in cafes reading Nabokov. Actually, I only stayed in a cafe in the evening reading Nabokov once. I was reading Pnin, and was eating one of those deliciously cold lemon squares. I'm sure it wasn't something I did just on a whim either, I probably had to wait at the place for some reason. I'd say the dentist, but that's only cause my teeth hurt now. And besides that would cast an incurably unromantic pall over the whole thing. What I want to say is, isn't it wonderful? I only did the thing once, but now a whole era of my life is associated with being "the time where I'd do" such a thing. This little manoeuvre of extrapolation just saved me hundreds of dollars in melting lemon squares that I'd all remember as variations on the one lemon square. Hours spent in cafes, thinking of what to do next, feeling slightly awkward. And there's only so many times you can re-read Pnin.